PEORIA, Ill. -- Former University of Evansville head coach Steve Merfeld is staying in the Missouri Valley Conference as a member of the Bradley University men's basketball staff, sixth-year Braves head coach Jim Les announced today. Merfeld assumes the position created by the retirement of Bradley assistant Chuck Buescher.
“I have really respected Steve as we have coached against each other the last five years and I look forward to adding his knowledge and experience to our basketball program,” said Les. “With seven new players, Steve's knowledge of our league and the types of players we need to succeed in The Valley were important factors that added to his hiring. I also think it says a great deal about the state of our program that someone with Steve's credentials is willing to step into an assistant's role and help us continue to move forward.”
Merfeld is a 10-year head coaching veteran, beginning with five seasons at the helm of the Hampton program from 1997 through 2002, followed by the last five years at Bradley's Valley rival Evansville. He owns a 144-148 (.493) career record, as well as two regular-season conference titles, two conference tournament titles and two trips to the NCAA Tournament, in those 10 seasons as a college head coach.
“My family and I are thrilled to be a part of Bradley Basketball,” said Merfeld. “I have witnessed first hand the great progress that Coach Les and his staff and players have made these past five years. The next step in the progression is winning a Missouri Valley Conference championship and I am excited to assist this program in any way I can to meet that goal.
“I also understand the major contributions that Chuck Buescher had on the program the past two years,” Merfeld added, “and I hope that my contributions can measure up to the precedent and standards that have been set.”
Merfeld led Hampton to a winning record in four of his five years, finishing with a 90-57 record that was capped by back-to-back sweeps of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament titles in 2001 and 2002. His 15th-seeded Pirates knocked off No. 2 seed Iowa State in the first round of the 2001 NCAA Tournament, setting off a celebration that remains a popular video highlight during NCAA Tournament coverage. After Hampton became just the fourth No. 15 seed to win a NCAA Tournament game in 2001, Merfeld's Pirates became the first-ever 15-seed winner to return to the NCAA Tournament the following season. In his final season at Hampton, Merfeld led the 2001-02 Pirates to a school-record 26 wins, although one of the team's seven losses was an 87-84, double-overtime setback to Bradley Dec. 21, 2001 at Carver Arena.
Merfeld replaced longtime Evansville head coach Jim Crews in 2002 and directed the Purple Aces to a 54-91 record the last five seasons, including a 4-6 mark against Bradley, and his Evansville teams collected 11 victories against postseason squads (7 NCAA, 4 NIT). In addition to four All-Missouri Valley Conference players, he coached two-time Academic All-American Clint Cuffle (2003, 2004) and a trio of 1,000-point scorers on his 2006-07 squad.
A 1984 graduate of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Merfeld was a 10-year assistant for current George Mason coach Jim Larranaga at Bowling Green prior to joining the Hampton staff as an assistant in 1996. During his time with the Falcons, Merfeld established himself as a highly-regarded recruiter and is credited with signing Antonio Daniels, the fourth pick in the 1997 NBA Draft. He also landed three Mid-American Conference Rookies of the Year in a five-year span, including Daniels and Anthony Stacey, both of whom went on to be named the league's Player of the Year in 1997 and 2000, respectively.
Bradley is coming off consecutive 22-win seasons for the first time since 1959 and 1960 and have advanced to the postseason -- 2006 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 and 2007 MasterCard NIT second round -- in back-to-back seasons for the first time since a four-year run from 1994 through 1997. The 2007-08 Braves boast the top two returning scorers in The Valley -- senior guards Jeremy Crouch and Daniel Ruffin both averaged 13.8 points per game last season -- and will replace their four senior graduates with a 7-man recruiting class that has been ranked as high as 24th nationally.
Merfeld becomes the first Valley head coach to assume an assistant position within the league since Gary Garner joined the Tulsa staff for the 1988-89 season following a seven-year run as the head coach at Drake from 1981 through 1988. Garner went on to become the head coach at Southeast Missouri State in 1997 and held that post for nine years.
