Air Force Academy – When Air Force’s Jeff Bzdelik and DePaul’s Jerry Wainwright place their teams on the Clune Arena court tonight in the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament, it emphasizes how coaches can operate in a small world.
Both have roots in Chicago. A lot of their basketball upbringing was led by the same people, and as they worked their way through the coaching maze, neither thought they’d eventually be coaching a game at the academy.
But here they are, and the winner will take his team to Madison Square Garden in New York for the semifinals Tuesday.
“It’s a small world indeed,” Bzdelik said. “We have a mutual coach who helped us both by the name of Norm Goodman, who is one of the best coaches regardless of what level in basketball. He coached several decades in Chicago. Jerry was Norm’s assistant, and Norm worked a lot of our basketball camps at Northwestern.”
Bzdelik’s path to tonight’s game came through the college ranks and the NBA. Wainwright’s path came through the high school ranks and a series of college stops as a head coach at North Carolina-Wilmington and Richmond.
But for Wainwright, the return to Air Force and Colorado Springs was somewhat like going back to his old stomping grounds. He played basketball and graduated from Colorado College in 1968.
“I never even thought about being a coach at that time,” Wainwright said.
He went into the business world, but returned to the area to get a master’s degree at the University of Denver in the early 1970s. He was the head basketball coach for one season at Montrose High School on the Western Slope, but returned to Chicago.
“We made it to the state tournament,” Wainwright said. “They were hiring in Colorado and I think because of my degree at Colorado College, I wound up at Montrose way over there in the mountains. We lost in the tournament to Mullen.
“I never wanted to be a college coach. It worked out that way. I got burned out in high school and wanted to see what happened if I walked away.”
He’s in the NIT against Air Force, and against a coach who knows him well.
“They’re all business and they are rock solid,” Bzdelik said of DePaul. “They won’t beat themselves. They’re physically tough, mentally tough and very talented.”
Wainwright says his players know what they’re up against tonight.
“We’ve played teams with similar styles like Northwestern and Georgetown,” Wainwright said. “We call Georgetown ‘Princeton offense on steroids.’ They have some big players.”
Air Force men vs. DePaul
What: NIT quarterfinal game
When: Tonight, 7 p.m.
Where: Clune Arena, Air Force
Records: DePaul (20-13, 9-7 Big East Conference); Air Force (25-8, 10-6 Mountain West Conference)
TV/radio: ESPN2/KVOR 740 AM (Colorado Springs)
Notes: DePaul posted a 4-7 record in games against teams that reached the NCAA Tournament. … The Blue Demons are 3-0 against Air Force, winning the most recent meeting 86-66 in January 1979. … Air Force went 5-4 against teams in the NCAA field. … The Falcons have won 56 of their past 58 at Clune Arena.
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
