Harry Statham

Statham began his coaching career while an undergraduate student at McKendree. He guided the boys' basketball team at O'Fallon Junior High School in Illinois while taking college courses at night.

From O'Fallon, Statham moved on to coach the varsity boys' basketball team for two seasons at Manito Forman High School (Manito, Illinois). His 1961-62 squad had a 9–16 record and his 1962-63 squad finished 10–13. Statham then moved on to Dwight Township High School (Dwight, Illinois) where he coached for three seasons from 1963 to 1966, posting a cumulative win–loss record of 24–45.[4]

In his tenure at McKendree, a member of the American Midwest Conference (AMC), Statham has led the Bearcats to post-season play 40 times in 46 seasons. Statham has coached McKendree to all 15 of its NAIA national men's basketball championship tournament berths, including five straight appearances from 1999-2004. Since his first season in 1966-67, Statham's teams have averaged nearly 23 wins per season. His teams have won 20 or more games 35 times. McKendree also ranks among the NAIA's top programs in terms of winning percentage over the past decade.[5]

Statham has had 70 players receive post-season accolades. Ten of those players have earned NAIA All-America honors. Eric Hobbie, the most recent All-American, garnered first-team NAIA Division I All-America honors in 2009-10 after earning second-team recognition in 2008-09. Additionally, Statham has coached three players who were drafted in the professional ranks: Paul Funkhouser, a supplemental pick of the NBA's Chicago Bulls and the Carolina Cougars of the American Basketball Association; Dale Haverman, a fifth-round pick of the Seattle SuperSonics in 1977; and Matt Laur, a fourth round pick of the National Basketball Development League (D-League) draft by the Columbus Riverdragons. Many McKendree athletes who Statham has coached have gone on to successful coaching careers on both the high school and collegiate levels.[6]

About his players, Statham said, "I always recruit the right kinds of players. We do not want thugs that play good basketball. We want them to be good, solid people. We don't want people that are going to flunk out. We want good people, good students and good basketball players—in that order."[7]

Regarding his coaching philosophy, Statham said, "We do things consistently well. Our program is sound. We're very team-oriented, and we've tried to sell that from the very beginning. When you play hard and play together and do things fundamentally sound, you're going to be competitive. Our primary focus is to play hard, play well and try to do it as a team."[8] Statham's on-court demeanor does not include yelling and ref-baiting[9] Said Statham, "I don't like the [television] color commentators (saying) how you gotta work the referee and draw a T. We're trying to play the right way. They're out there saying you've got to bend the rules, step out there a little bit. They turn me off, I really don't enjoy that."[10]

In addition to his coaching duties, from 1966 to May 2010, Statham served as the university's athletic director, and he is an assistant professor of health and human performance.

This Bearcat squad opened the season with 22 straight victories en route to a school-record 35 wins and the University's first-ever NAIA Tournament berth. In the first round of the tournament, McKendree and its opponent Huron College (S.D.), scored a record 231 points, as the Bearcats triumphed 124–107. The combined point total set an NAIA Tournament record that stood until 2006.

Statham led this team to a quarterfinal spot in the NAIA Tournament. The Bearcats defeated two higher-ranked opponents to reach the NAIA Elite Eight, the team's best-ever finish at the national tournament until the success of the 2002-03 team.

McKendree compiled a 34–4 overall record. A 10–0 mark in the AMC marked the first time that the Bearcats went undefeated in the league. At the 2003 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament, McKendree posted three victories to advance to the NAIA Final Four. The Bearcats lost to eventual national champions Concordia University (California) in the semi-finals. During the season, the Bearcats earned their first No. 1 ranking in the NAIA poll and entered the NAIA national tournament as the No. 2 seed, the highest seed ever for McKendree. The Bearcats also notched three winning streaks of at least 10 games during the season. Matt Laur was recognized as NAIA Player of the Year, the first McKendree athlete to earn the award in Division I. Laur also became the Bearcats’ all-time leading scorer in 2002-03.

McKendree used a late-season surge and runner-up finish in the American Midwest Conference Tournament to earn its first NAIA Division I National Championship bid in three years. Statham guided the Bearcats to an overall record of 23–12 and an 8–4 mark in AMC regular-season play. In the 2007 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament, the Bearcats topped Mountain State (West Virginia) in the first round and lost and were eliminated in the second round by Faulkner University (Alabama).

Statham entered the 2007-08 season with 938 coaching victories and as the all-time wins leader in men's college basketball history at the four-year level. He, Don Meyer, and Bob Knight were at the time the only men's basketball coaches at senior colleges or universities with 900 coaching wins.

This team finished the season with a 27–7 record. In the 2008 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament, the Bearcats beat Texas Wesleyan University in the first round and were eliminated in the second round by Campbellsville University.

At the end of the 2009 season, Statham had won 995 games at McKendree, the most by any men's four-year college coach. The Bearcats won the AMC with a perfect 14-0 record in conference play. The 2008-2009 Bearcats finished 30-6 on the season and made it to the Elite 8 in the 2009 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament. They defeated Northwestern Oklahoma State University by a score of 83-58 in the first round, and defeated Texas Wesleyan University by a score of 87-75 in the second round. Then the Bearcats lost to MidAmerica Nazarene University in the Elite 8, by a score of 59-55.

On Monday, March 5, 2018, after a 12-16 season, Statham was informed by the McKendree Athletic Director that the school was seeking either his retirement or resignation. The next day, the school announced that Statham's time as coach had ended. Soon after, Statham took to social media, posting ""The release that came out, from the school, implied I resigned or retired. That was not the case. I am getting phone calls and email from friends who thought I retired," and continued, "I said I did not want to retire and didn't want to retire. I said I wasn't a quitter, wanted to leave on a winning note or a winning season."[11]