Here’s good news for long-suffering Notre Dame, DePaul and Loyola basketball fans. The three programs are on the right track and soon will return to the winning ways of the past.
This prediction comes from one intimately qualified to make it. Gene Sullivan served each of those schools–as assistant coach, head coach or athletic director–during times when they enjoyed some of their finest basketball moments.
“I’m the eternal optimist,” said Sullivan, “but I really believe all three are on the road back. You need three things to win, and each has all three: support from the administration, good coaching and recruiting.”
Sullivan, Alfredrick Hughes–Loyola’s all-time leading basketball scorer–and seven others will be inducted Saturday into Loyola’s athletic hall of fame.
As a freshman, Hughes, who never saw a shot he didn’t like, so irked some fans that they produced T-shirts that carried the message: “Save Loyola Basketball. Shoot Alfredrick Hughes.” There was no comma between “Shoot” and “Alfredrick.”
Hughes went on to score 2,914 points and average 24.2 a game as a Rambler. He led the Sullivan-coached 1985 team to a 27-6 record and into the final 16 of the NCAA tournament.
Sullivan’s ties to the other two schools are no less noteworthy.
The Irish had a record of 44-61 in the four seasons before Sullivan joined the staff as assistant to coach John Dee in 1967. Greatly aided by Austin Carr, who averaged 37 points a game while operating out of Sullivan’s double-stack offense, the Irish had an 82-33 record in Sullivan’s four years on the staff.
In 1975, Sullivan became athletic director at DePaul. At that point, DePaul’s record in the ’70s was 77-71. The year before, the school studied whether it should remain in Division I basketball.
Sullivan takes credit for beefing up the schedule, sometimes over coach Ray Meyer’s objection, to include UCLA, Maryland, Indiana, LSU and Wisconsin. Sullivan doesn’t take credit for Ray Meyer’s coaching or his son Joey’s recruiting.
“No one realized it, but (assistant coach) Joey had already turned the corner by recruiting players like Andy Pancratz, Dave Corzine and Joe Ponsetto,” said Sullivan. “And Curtis Watkins and Ron Norwood. The players were already there.”
These players brought DePaul into the national spotlight. So did the televising of games against big-name schools Sullivan had booked. This attracted Mark Aguirre at home and gifted players from coast to coast.
In 1978, Sullivan became AD at Loyola. In 1980, he succeeded Jerry Lyne, whose five-year coaching record was 72-74. Sullivan coached the Ramblers in 1980-89, winning three league titles and posting a 149-114 (.567) record. His 1985 team, led by Hughes, captivated Chicago by reaching the final 16 in the NCAA playoffs before it lost to Patrick Ewing-led Georgetown.
Others being inducted into the hall of fame and their years at Loyola: Corky Bell, outstanding basketball scorer and rebounder, 1965-68; Mary Just, basketball-volleyball-softball, 1985-88; Eddie Slowikowski, sub-4-minute miler and track All-American, 1987-90; Leigh Anne Renk, track, 1987-91 (Loyola’s first female All-American); Elizabeth Shack, cross country and track, 1976-80; Russ Curry, three-time water polo All-American, ’78-82; and Bob Stroub, swimming and water polo, ’65-69.
