Followers of the men’s basketball program at the Air Force Academy had to wonder if A.J. Kuhle and his teammates on the 2003-04 team were magicians. Before that incredible season eight years ago, it seemed Air Force was out of its league in NCAA Division I basketball. After all, the Falcons hadn’t had a winning season in 26 years.
Then, out of the blue, Joe Scott-coached Air Force won its first Mountain West Conference title and played in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 42 years. Kuhle, now an assistant coach for Scott at the University of Denver, was the floor leader on a 22-7 team that started the Falcons on a five-year run of 106 victories and turned Clune Arena into a college basketball hotbed.
Before the remarkable run was over, Air Force played in another NCAA Tournament as well as in the National Invitation Tournament.
“We had great unity from the cadet wing,” Kuhle said, looking back to his senior season. “Everybody seemed to be united behind our team’s goals. We were like every other cadet, just trying to do above and beyond the norm.”
After years of meager attendance, Clune Arena became the place to be. Sellout crowds were frequent and the bandbox rocked on game day.
“We won a conference championship,” Scott said. “That’s about all you have to say. We were building and the players we had were really good.”
Kuhle was a team co-captain his senior season. He ranked fourth among the Falcons in scoring (averaging 8.1 points) and led them in assists as a 6-foot-5 guard and forward. He was known for contributing a clutch basket when Air Force needed it most.
In their previous three seasons under Scott, the Falcons finished 3-11 in each conference season. On the breakthrough team, Kuhle and Joel Gerlach were seniors. Tim Keller, Nick Welch and Antoine Hood rounded out the starting five. Jacob Burtschi and Matt McCraw also played a lot.
After DU completed a practice session last week, Scott reminisced about that Air Force team eight years ago. He said Kuhle and Gerlach, a 6-6 forward from Bear Creek High School, provided great senior leadership.
“They helped our younger players a lot,” Scott said. “They had fought through some hard times and they were steeled players.”
After splitting the first four games of nonconference play, the 2003-04 Falcons ripped off 13 victories in a row. The string included road victories over Colorado State and New Mexico to open conference play. New Mexico was pounded 68-42.
“When we won the two road games to start the conference, I thought we’d be pretty good,” Kuhle said. “We played some games in Sweden during the summer and I thought we were coming together as a team. There were some disappointments. We lost at BYU late in the season, things like that. But they didn’t outweigh the success of the total journey.”
Kuhle brought a winning attitude to Air Force from his high school days at De La Salle in Concord, Calif. His teams at De La Salle were 112-7 overall, including a 31-1 senior season. He picked Air Force over Saint Mary’s and California, both with much better basketball tradition.
“Coach Scott had a plan and a vision, and I saw myself fitting in,” Kuhle said. “I thought we had a chance to be good.”
The 2003-04 Falcons made basketball relevant at Air Force. The season ended in Denver at the Pepsi Center, where 19,405 watched the Falcons’ 63-52 loss to North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament. The 22 victories and conference championship — the Falcons were 12-2 in the Mountain West — shifted AFA basketball into gear.
Kuhle is looking to make the move up the coaching ladder. He was an assistant coach at Air Force before joining the DU staff in 2007. He wants to run his own Division I program someday or land a coaching job in the NBA.
“The Air Force Academy was a great experience and getting through it was the culmination of a four-year journey,” Kuhle said. “There were times when I had to laugh a little bit to get through it. I was among a special group of players. We remain close and communicate regularly with each other still today.”
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
Kuhle bio
Born: Aug. 17, 1981, in Mission Viejo, Calif.
High school: De La Salle in Concord, Calif.
College: Air Force Academy
Family: Father Bruce, mother Linda, brother Eric
Hobby: Cooking
Goal: Become a college head basketball coach
