Kickin' It
Kai Caddy

We have no idea how lucky we are. Greatness is among us. I don’t think many students at UCA know that greatness is so close and has been here so long.

That greatness is Sugar Bears coach Ron Marvel. Marvel has been the head man at UCA longer than most of us have been alive.

While most media guides have a team’s record against all opponents, this year’s Sugar Bears media guide features Marvel’s records against all opponents. At first glance you think it is UCA’s record against all-opponents.

Marvel arrived in Conway to take over the Sugar Bears program in 1980. He took a team that had just struggled through three losing seasons and won 17 games. He then won 20 games for seven straight seasons before winning only 19 in 1988-89.

His worst season in 24 years was 1996-97 when he went 14-14.

That’s the only season Marvel failed to have a winning record. But he has still not had a losing season. Some may argue that, but 14-14 is not losing. Not winning, but not losing.

A couple of 16- and 17-win seasons are about as bad as you’re going to get from Marvel. I don’t know about you, but 16 or 17 wins a year is not that bad.

Coaches all over the country would kill for an average winning percentage like Marvel’s. His teams average 20 wins a year. This is 20 wins out of anywhere from 25-30 games.

Prior to this season Marvel had a 468-196 record overall. He wins 70 percent of the games he coaches.

Those 468 wins make him the winningest women’s college basketball coach in Arkansas and the winningest coach at UCA in any sport. He’s quick to tell you, though, that he has also lost more games than anyone in the state.

Coach Marvel has coached six All-Americans, eight All-GSC players, seven All-AIC players and numerous other greats. It’s a rare treat to see this man coach. He may be the only coach to ever stay with a school for the period of time that he has. Sticking around a school for 24 years is simply not done in today’s college athletics. Big D-1 contracts and the national spotlight lure great D-2 coaches away in this day and age, but not Marvel. He has remained as humble as he probably was when he accepted the job in 1980.

He’s been winning so long, he’s probably forgotten how to lose.

Last season Marvel took the Sugar Bears to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight and a record of 28-6. Never before had Marvel won 28 games. The records keep coming. He’s not done yet.

This year’s group of players is sort of an odd mixture. There are three seniors and two juniors, no sophomores and six freshmen.

Any coach would probably tell you that having half your team be freshmen isn’t going to result in tons of wins, but it seems to be working so far.

After a shaky start to the season, the Sugar Bears have now hit their stride and are marching toward the postseason, entering the week sitting at No. 1 in the Gulf South standings. The talented freshmen have started to figure things out. The upperclassmen have taken them under their wings and have accepted them. Now the sky is the limit.

Marvel is still striving for that national championship, and he is not the only one. During a chat with talented freshman Renita Dobbins, she said she wants that No. 1 ranking.

Marvel hasn’t done it alone this year, and he would be the first to tell you. His top assistant (and former player) Checola Seals works closely with all the players and has strong relationships with most of them. She also works as Marvel’s recruiting coordinator and deserves a lot of credit for this talented freshman class.

Jeremy Carson, Tramale Ealy and Kristen Frase round out the coaching staff. Frase, of course, was the only senior on last season’s Elite Eight team. Another winning season looks to be in store for Marvel, barring some serious meltdown.

There is also no telling how long Marvel will remain at the helm of the Sugar Bears.

As he told a pair of Echo sports editors before the season: “They always tell me that you’ll know when it’s time.

“I haven’t felt that yet. But I guess when it’s time, I’ll know.”