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Davidson Basketball: Bob McKillop’s soon to be 30 years of consistency and success

By Jason Burgess

BOISE, ID - MARCH 15: Head coach Bob McKillop of the Davidson Wildcats looks on in the first half against the Kentucky Wildcats during the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Taco Bell Arena on March 15, 2018 in Boise, Idaho. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
BOISE, ID - MARCH 15: Head coach Bob McKillop of the Davidson Wildcats looks on in the first half against the Kentucky Wildcats during the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Taco Bell Arena on March 15, 2018 in Boise, Idaho. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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Bob McKillop is about to embark on his 30th season at Davidson. Few coaches have been as consistent and successful as Mckillop at the mid-major level.

When Davidson basketball is mentioned, the first words out of people’s mouths are inevitably Steph Curry. Rightfully so I suppose given what he did for the school in 2008 and has since done in conquering the NBA. The next words to be uttered should be Bob McKillop and consistency.

McKillop is entering his 30th season as the head man at Davidson. In that time, he has seen the small North Carolina college grow from a Division I independent in 1989 to a perennial contender in the Atlantic 10. He has won 554 games over the last 29 seasons, had a below .500 record just four times (once in the last 26 seasons) and been to either the NCAA or NIT Tournaments 15 times.

These numbers may not seem like much if you are a member of college basketball’s elite, but for a school that enrolls less than 1,900 students and played in the Big South and Southern conferences before joining the Atlantic 10 in 2014, Davidson College personifies mid-major college basketball.

Davidson is one of those small schools, like the majority of those that compete at the Division I level, where the success of their men’s basketball program helps fund the rest of the athletic programs at the school.  One might think that after the school’s run the Elite Eight in 2008 and Curry’s success that the school would be sitting pretty compared to it’s Southern Conference counterparts in terms of a basketball budget. This 2012 report paints a different picture. At the time Davidson’s basketball budget ranked 3rd in the SoCon at just over two million dollars, in contrast to Louisville whose budget was over $15 million.

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The team’s move to the Atlantic 10 in 2014 surely gave the Wildcats’ budget a boost, right? Not according to this report from this past April. Their budget of $2.6 million ranks last in the 14-team A-10.

Despite the obvious monetary disadvantages McKillop and his teams have faced over the past 29 years, the Wildcats and McKillop have found a way to be consistently successful. In 22 seasons competing in the Southern Conference, McKillop amassed 11 regular-season titles, seven tournament titles and 12 trips to either the NCAA or NIT tournaments.

The move to the A-10 was multi-fold for Davidson. A higher profile conference affiliation meant more chances to improve their strength of schedule, a chance to face tougher competition on a night-in-night-out basis, which all leads to a better chance at landing an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The move paid immediate dividends as the Wildcats earned an at-large berth and won the Atlantic 10 tournament this past season.

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What is in store for McKillop’s 30th season at Davidson? Looking at the roster that returns the guard tandem of Kellen Grady and Joe Axel Gudmundsson and the stat line of 31pts, nine rebounds and seven assists that they combined to put up last season and three recruits from overseas, something that has become a staple of McKillop’s squads, it looks as though his 30th season will be much like the previous 29.  Expect Davidson to be consistent and successful.

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