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 Year:  2  (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
    • Won the NCAA D-II National Championship five times (1959, 1960, 1964, 1965 and 1971)
  • 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