Bob McKillop

Bob McKillop
Sport(s)	Basketball
Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	Davidson
Record	401-263 (.603)
Biographical details
Born	July 13, 1950 (1950-07-13) Queens, New York, USA
Playing career
1969 1970–1972	East Carolina Hofstra
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1973–1978 1978–1979 1979–1989 1989–present	Holy Trinity HS Davidson (asst.) Long Island Lutheran HS Davidson
Accomplishments and honors
Championships SoCon Tournament Championship (1998, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008) SoCon Regular Season Championship (1996, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012) SoCon Division Championship (1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012)
Awards NABC Coach of the Year (2008) Clair Bee Coach of the Year (2008) SoCon Coach of the Year (1994, 1996, 1997, 2002, 2005, 2007)

Robert "Bob" McKillop (born July 13, 1950) is an American college basketball coach and current head coach of the Davidson College Wildcats men's basketball team.

Early basketball career

Born in Queens, New York, McKillop grew up in Queens and on Long Island and played for Chaminade High School in Mineola. McKillop went on to play college ball for East Carolina University before transferring to Hofstra University. At Hofstra he was named team MVP. After graduating in 1972 with a degree in history, he was briefly signed as a free agent by the Philadelphia 76ers, but was cut.

Coaching career

He then accepted a job teaching history and coaching basketball back on Long Island at Holy Trinity Diocesan High School in Hicksville. There, McKillop achieved an 86–25 record. In 1978 he became an assistant coach at Davidson for one year before returning to high school ball at Long Island Lutheran Middle and High School in Brookville. McKillop compiled a record there of 182–51, winning five New York State Championships.

Head coach at Davidson

In 1989, McKillop returned to Davidson as head coach. He has coached Davidson longer than any other, has won more games there than any coach, and his 230 Southern Conference wins are more than any coach in league history. He has been the SoCon Coach of the Year seven times, has won ten conference division titles, five tournament championships, and taken his team to five NCAA tournaments and four postseason NITs. All this winning hasn't come at any academic sacrifice, as 95 per cent of his Davidson lettermen have graduated. In 2006 the Wildcats won the Southern Conference tournament and went on to face No. 2 seeded Ohio St. in the NCAA tournament. Fifteenth seeded Davidson led 29–25 at halftime before falling 70–62. On January 27, 2007, McKillop reached 300 wins with a 79–59 victory over Western Carolina in Belk Arena. On February 26, 2011 he reached 400 wins with a 78-67 victory over UNC Greensboro.

Despite the recent success of the Wildcats, 2007 promised to be a rebuilding year, as McKillop lost seven seniors, accounting for 76% of scoring. Nevertheless, Davidson finished the year with an overall record of 24–4 and 17–1 in the SoCon. They were ranked 31st in the nation by the ESPN/USA Today poll and #4 among mid-majors. In the months of December, January and February, the Wildcats lost a total of one game.

On March 3, 2007, the Wildcats won their second straight Southern Conference Tournament Championship, and third in 5 years, an accomplishment that should silence critics who claimed McKillop could not win at tournament time. Davidson defeated College of Charleston 72–65, after waltzing past Furman and UT Chattanooga in the earlier rounds. In 2007, McKillop's Wildcats represented the Southern Conference in the NCAA tournament by battling number 4 seed Maryland losing by 12 at Buffalo.

In 2008, after compiling a perfect regular season conference record, the Wildcats ran their record to three straight Southern Conference Tournament Championships, beating Elon University in the title game. They entered the NCAA tournament as a 10-seed and took down 7-seed Gonzaga, for their first NCAA Tournament win since 1969. They then won their second-round game against the 2-seed Georgetown to advance to the Sweet 16. Almost a week after beating Georgetown, McKillop and Davidson stunned the world by upsetting the 3 seed and regular season Big Ten champions Wisconsin. This win put Davidson in the Elite Eight for the first time since Lefty Driesell got them there in 1969.

The 2008 season has been a testament to McKillop's recruiting prowess, as they have been carried by the shooting of Stephen Curry, who did not get a second look from most of the bigger programs.

Family

McKillop and his wife, Kathy, have three children. Kerrin is a 2002 graduate of Davidson, while Matt is a 2006 Davidson graduate; he played for his father from 2003–2006, and earned four varsity letters. After assisting former Wildcat player and assistant coach Jason Zimmerman at Emory University in Atlanta, Matt has been named as an assistant coach to his father at Davidson College. The youngest McKillop, Brendan, graduated from Davidson in 2010 after a four year career.

Head coaching record

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Davidson (Independent) (1989–1990)
1989–1990	Davidson	4–24
Davidson (Big South Conference) (1990–1992)
1990–1991	Davidson	10–19	6–8	4th
1991–1992	Davidson	11–17	6–8	6th
Davidson (Southern Conference) (1992–present)
1992–1993	Davidson	14–14	10–8	5th
1993–1994	Davidson	22–8	13–5	T–2nd	NIT 1st Round
1994–1995	Davidson	14–13	7–7	3rd (North)
1995–1996	Davidson	25–5	14–0	1st (North)	NIT 1st Round
1996–1997	Davidson	18–10	10–4	T–1st (North)
1997–1998	Davidson	20–10	13–2	T–1st (North)	NCAA 1st Round
1998–1999	Davidson	16–11	11–5	2nd (North)
1999–2000	Davidson	15–13	10–6	2nd (North)
2000–2001	Davidson	15–17	7–9	T–3rd (North)
2001–2002	Davidson	21–10	11–5	T–1st (North)	NCAA 1st Round
2002–2003	Davidson	17–10	11–5	T–1st (North)
2003–2004	Davidson	17–12	11–5	T–1st (South)
2004–2005	Davidson	23–9	16–0	1st (South)	NIT 3rd Round
2005–2006	Davidson	20–11	10–5	2nd (South)	NCAA 1st Round
2006–2007	Davidson	29–5	17–1	1st (South)	NCAA 1st Round
2007–2008	Davidson	29–7	20–0	1st (South)	NCAA Elite Eight
2008–2009	Davidson	27–8	18–2	1st (South)	NIT 2nd Round
2009–2010	Davidson	16–15	11–7	3rd (South)
2010–2011	Davidson	18–15	10–8	4th (South)	CBI Quarterfinals
2011–2012	Davidson	20–7	14–2	1st (South)
Davidson:		383–248	232–94
Total:		383–248
National champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference tournament champion       Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference division champion

External links

• Davidson Profile
• 100th Anniversary Davidson Basketball (PDF)
• Matt McKillop's Emory profile