Washburn Ichabods Men's Basketball
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The Washburn Ichabods men's basketball team represents
Washburn University Washburn University (WU), formally Washburn University of Topeka, is a public university in Topeka, Kansas, United States. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs as well as professional programs in law and business. The university enroll ...
in
Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeastern Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2020 cen ...
, in the
NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...
men's
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
competition. The team is currently coached by Brett Ballard, who is in his eighth year at the helm. Ballard replaced Bob Chipman, who retired after the 2016–17 season. The Ichabods currently compete in the
Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. Its fourteen me ...
(MIAA). The basketball team plays its home games in Lee Arena on campus.


Overview

Washburn annually plays a thirty-game conference schedule that is preceded by an out-of-conference schedule that includes three exhibition games. The conference schedule consists of playing every MIAA member at least once, some twice.


History

Washburn's basketball program began in with the 1905–06 season, forty years after the university was founded. Overall, the team has won 21 conference championships and one national title.


The beginning: 1905–1921

Beginning with the 1905–06 season, the program's first, Harry C. Byrd was chosen to lead the program. In his first four seasons as head coach, Byrd led the Ichabods to winning records and a total of 31–20. In 1909–10 season, Byrd led the Ichabods their first conference championship. In Byrd's 16 years as head coach, he led the team to nine winning seasons and seven losing seasons, compiling a record of 116–112–1.


A new era: two new conferences (1921–1946)

In 1921, Dwight Ream took over the program for one season. After Ream left with an 8–9 record, Mike Vosburg took over for the 1922–23 season. Vosburg left with a 7–11 record. After two years with two different coaches,
McPherson College McPherson College is a private college associated with the Church of the Brethren and located in McPherson, Kansas, United States. It was chartered in 1887 and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. History During their 1887 annual m ...
coach,
Dutch Lonborg Arthur C. "Dutch" Lonborg (March 16, 1898 – January 31, 1985) was an American college football, college basketball, and college baseball player, coach, and athletics administrator. Basketball The Gardner, Illinois native coached for 23 years a ...
, became head coach. From 1923 to 1927, Lonborg led the Ichabods to a 61–14–1 record, producing the second, and last, of the team's two ties as well as winning two conference regular season championships. Lonborg is a member of the
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...
. When Lonborg left after the 1926–27 season, Washburn entered a new era: Roy Wynne was named head coach, and the school joined the newly created
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The Central Intercollegiate Conference (CIC) was an American intercollegiate athletic conference that operated from 1928 to 1968. It was less often referred to as the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (CIAC), particularly towards the begi ...
. During Wynne's three seasons as head coach, he produced a 29–22 record. Following Wynne's departure, McPherson's football coach, George Gardner, took over. Coaching for three seasons and a total record of 19–28, Gardner was fired and was replaced by Elmer Holm. Holm's first season was a losing season and the last year in the CIAC. In 1934, Washburn moved joined the
Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the fourth-oldest collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the Midwestern Unite ...
. Holm led the team for two more seasons, ending with a record of 21–36. In 1936, Dee Errikson took over team, leading for the next ten seasons and through World War II. Errikson led the team to an overall record of 67–122, making him one of the most unsuccessful coaches in Washburn history. , - style="background: #012757" , colspan="6" style="text-align:center;", , - style="background: #012757; color: white" , colspan="6" style="text-align:center;", ''No Conference – World War II''


Post-World War II: 1946–1979

For the next thirty years after World War II, the Washburn saw five coaches come and go, with the addition of an interim for three games. In 1946, Washburn rejoined the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference after competing in the Missouri Valley for nine seasons and no conference for three during the war. After the war, Washburn hired
Topeka High School Topeka High School (THS) is a public secondary school in Topeka, Kansas, United States. It serves students in grades 9 to 12, and is one of five high schools operated by the Topeka USD 501 school district. In the 2010–2011 school year, there w ...
basketball coach Adrian Miller, for would coach for five seasons. Before Miller took the helm of the team, Washburn went nearly 20 years without a winning season and although Miller went 8–11 overall in his first season, Miller quickly turned the team around in 1947–48 going 15–9. For the next three seasons, Miller led the Ichabods to 10 wins or more. After the 1950–51 season, Miller resigned with a 64–46 record to become an insurance agent. After Miller resigned, Washburn hired former assistant Marion McDonald, who previously served as assistant coach for Fort Hays Kansas State College. In 1960, Norm Short took over for the Ichabods for the next six seasons, leading the team to a 46–74 record, with only one winning season. After a 5–20 overall and 2–6 conference record in 1965–66, Short resigned. Short coached at
Central Missouri State The University of Central Missouri (UCM) is a public university in Warrensburg, Missouri, United States. In 2024, enrollment was 13,734 students from 48 states and 52 countries on its 1,561-acre campus. UCM offers 150 programs of study, inclu ...
from 1966 to 1972. , - style="background: #012757" , colspan="6" style="text-align:center;", , - style="background: #012757" , colspan="6" style="text-align:center;", Great Plains Athletic Conference , - style="background: #012757" , colspan="6" style="text-align:center;",


Bob Chipman era: 1979–present

In 1979, Washburn assistant head coach Bob Chipman took over the program. During his first five years as head coach, Chipman led the Ichabods to a 105–46 overall record, winning three MIAA tournament championships from 1982 through 1984. Two seasons later, Chipman led the Ichabods to Washburn's first – as well as his first – NAIA basketball championship. The following season, the Ichabods won the conference regular-season championship. In 1989, the Ichabods made the move from the NAIA to the NCAA Division II, which also meant they would join a new conference: the Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association. After joining the MIAA, Chipman led his teams to nine conference regular-season championships, four conference championships, 11 NCAA tournament appearances and a national runner-up in 2001. Chipman retired at the end of the 2016–17 season. , - style="background: #D21241; color:white" , colspan="6" style="text-align:center;", Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association


References


External links

* {{Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association men's basketball navbox