Bill Hodges
Bill Hodges (born March 9, 1943)
Teams coached position: Indiana State Sycamores, Georgia College Bobcats, Mercer Bears
Indiana State record: 67-48 (.583)
Georgia College record^: 110-53 (.675)
Mercer record: 62-107 (.367)
Overall record^: 239-208 (.535)
Career Accomplishments:
- NCAA National Championships: 0 (Runner-up in 1979)
- NCAA Tournament Appearances: 1 (1979)
- NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen: 1 (1979)
- NCAA Tournament Final Four: 1 (1979)
- NIT Championships: 0
- NIT Appearances: 0
- Missouri Valley Regular Season Champion: 1 (1979)
- Missouri Valley Tournament Champion: 1 (1979)
- NAIA Tournament Appearances: 3 (1988, 1989, 1990)
Awards:
- AP Coach of the Year: 1 (1979)
- Sporting News Coach of the Year: 1 (1979)
- UPI Coach of the Year: 1 (1979)
- Missouri Valley Coach of the Year: 1 (1979)
Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):
| 1998-1999 | Murray State (asst) |
| 1991-1997 | Mercer |
| 1986-1991 | Georgia College |
| 1983-1984 | Long Beach State (asst) |
| 1978-1982 | Indiana State |
| 1975-1978 | Indiana State (asst) |
| 1974-1975 | Armstrong State (asst) |
| 1970-1974 | Tennessee Tech (asst) |
| 1965-1966 | Marian (asst) |
Bill Hodges Facts
- William Oscar Hodges
- Born March 9, 1943
- Hometown: Zionsville, Indiana
- Alma Mater: Marian University (BA, 1965)
- Early coaching career included assistant positions at alma mater Marian (IN), Tennessee Tech under Connie Inman, Armstrong State (in Savannah, GA) and at Indiana State under Bob King
- While on the staff, Hodges recruited an Indiana University dropout from French Lick named Larry Bird to play for the Sycamores
- King suffered a brain aneurysm before the 1978-79 season and Hodges was tapped to take over as head coach
- Bird, Hodges and the Sycamores completed a nearly perfect season, sweeping the Missouri Valley regular season and Tournament titles and pushing all the way to the 1979 NCAA National Championship game
- Though the team lost to Magic Johnson and the Michigan State Spartans, the game is still the most-watched basketball game ever and is considered to be a pivotal moment in the history of college basketball
- The game also kicked off a careers-long rivalry between Bird and Johnson, who would duel many times in the NBA as members of the Celtics and Lakers, respectively
- Hodges was named the AP COY, Sporting News COY, UPI COY and Missouri Valley COY that season
- After Bird left, things took a turn in Terre Haute: the team won just 34 games over the next three seasons and a prized recruit – Kevin Thompson – tragically died of cancer
- Hodges stepped down as the Sycamores head coach in 1982 after just four seasons at the helm
- Bird, Hodges and the Sycamores completed a nearly perfect season, sweeping the Missouri Valley regular season and Tournament titles and pushing all the way to the 1979 NCAA National Championship game
- After a year away from the game, Hodges spent one year as an assistant at Long Beach State under Dave Buss
- Spent five years as head coach at NAIA Georgia College, leading the Bobcats to 110 wins and three NAIA Tournaments
- Returned to the Division I level in 1991, spending the next six years as the head coach at Mercer
- After one year assisting Tevester Anderson at Murray State, Hodges coached at the JUCO, high school and middle school levels
- He has coached at Roanoke Catholic and North Cross HS in Virginia
- During his time in Virginia, he became a friend of then-Virginia Tech head coach Seth Greenberg, speaking with Hokies players and watching film with Greenberg
- He has coached at Roanoke Catholic and North Cross HS in Virginia
- Most recently, Hodges was coaching the girls varsity team at The Villages High School in Florida where his daughter is a teacher and his granddaughter was one of his players
Bill Hodges Coaching Tree
- Larry Bird (Indiana Pacers)
^ overall records include head coaching positions at both the NCAA Division I and NAIA levels
