Arad McCutchan

Arad McCutchan (1912-1993)

Teams coached: Evansville Purple Aces
Evansville record^: 514-314 (.621)
Overall record^: 514-314 (.621)

Career Accomplishments:

  • NCAA National Championships:  0
  • NCAA Tournament Appearances:  0
  • NIT Championships:  0
  • NIT Appearances:  0
  • ICC (Div II) Regular Season Champion:  9  (1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966)
  • NCAA Division II National Championships:  5  (1959, 1960, 1964, 1965, 1971)
  • NCAA Division II Tournament Appearances:  15  (1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1976)
  • NCAA Division II Tournament Final Four:  6  (1958, 1959, 1960, 1964, 1965, 1971)
  • NAIA Tournament Appearances:  2  (1951, 1955)

Awards:

  • NABC Div II Coach of the Year2  (1964, 1965)
  • Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (inducted 1981)
  • National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame (inducted 2006)

Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):

1946-1977 Evansville

Arad McCutchan Facts

  • Arad A. McCutchan
  • Born July 4, 1912
  • Died June 16, 1993
  • Hometown: Evansville, Indiana
  • Alma Mater: Evansville College (BA, 1934)
  • Graduated from Evansville Bosse HS in 1930 and attended hometown Evansville, where he played under head coach Bill Slyker
  • Became the head coach at his alma mater Bosse HS in 1936, leading the boys’ team there for seven seasons
    • Left in 1943 and joined the United States Navy, serving his country during World War II
  • Returned to his hometown after the War and was hired in 1946 to be the Purple Aces’ head coach
    • Led the program for 31 seasons, going 514-314 overall during his tenure
      • Won nine Indiana Collegiate Conference (ICC) titles, including a stretch of four-straight (1963-66)
    • Went to two NAIA Tournaments and fifteen NCAA College Division (now Division II) Tournaments
    • Was an assistant for Team USA head coach Gene Bartow at the 1974 FIBA World Championships, winning bronze
  • Retired from coaching in 1977, moving to Santa Claus, Indiana with his wife, Virginia
    • After McCutchan retired, the Evansville program made the move up to the University Division (now Division I)
    • In December 1977, midway through their first D-I season, the entire Evansville basketball team perished in a plane crash
      • Air Indiana Flight 216, which also claimed the lives of the crew, new head coach Bobby Watson and his staff, athletic department staffers and radio play-by-play announcer, was headed to Murfreesboro, TN for a game against MTSU
  • Inducted into the Naismith Memorial HOF (1981) and was in the inaugural 2006 class of the National College Basketball HOF
    • McCutchan is also enshrined in the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame (class of 1973)

Arad McCutchan Coaching Tree

  • Jerry Sloan (Utah Jazz, Chicago Bulls)

 

^ overall and Evansville records are compiled of seasons at the NCAA Division II level only