MCC COACH OF THE YEAR
For the second time in his brief coaching career, Steve Platt has been named MCC Coach of the Year. Platt previously won the award at the end of the 1999-2000 season.
Coach Platt has now compiled 329 wins to 143 losses as Head Coach of the Foresters. That represents the best win percentage (69.6%) of any HU Men's Basketball Coach and makes him the only men's basketball coach in HU history to win over 150 games.
A SEASON OF ADVERSITY
The 22-10 record posted this season didn’t come easy. Platt had to deal with adversity at the start and adversity at the end, not to mention some minor surgery in the middle.
The season started out under a cloud of controversy. After being "cleared of wrong-doing" last spring, the program suddenly found itself on probation without warning, which is supposed to be the first step according to published NAIA rules.
So, in addition to the loss of six players from last year’s roster (which included a pair of All-Americans) and an overwhelming number of underclassmen on this roster (77% of the team), Platt had to overcome the probation controversy and get his players focused on the task at hand.
As if that were not enough, Coach Platt missed two games mid-season for some minor surgery (which allowed for son Ty Platt’s successful HU coaching debut).
Then, ending as badly as it began, senior Doug Sheckler suffered a career-ending injury and that left the Foresters short-handed at the finish of the season.
2007-08 SEASON RESULTS
This basketball season was unique in one other respect: 36% of the minutes came from freshmen. That’s twice the number of minutes played by freshmen last year, and over three times the minutes played by freshmen in Doug Sheckler’s first year.
Adding sophomores to the mix, Coach Platt had 70% of all game minutes played by underclassmen. And the inexperience
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showed at the start of the season, but they came together over the 4 months of the season due to some expert guidance.
Despite the many challenges, the Foresters posted another 20+ win season, finishing just one game out of first place in the MCC.
For all of these reasons, Coach Steve Platt was voted 2008 MCC Coach of the Year.
TEN-YEAR COACHING RESULTS
In the last ten years, Coach Platt has led the Foresters to an overall record of 258-83 (75.7% wins), posting a 131-44 record over MCC opponents, including a 22-5 record (81.5% wins) in MCC Tournament games.
In the last ten years, HU Men's Basketball teams have won 5 MCC Conference Titles and 5 MCC Conference Tournaments.
In that period, Platt has taken the Foresters to 7 NAIA National Tournaments, including 5 Sweet Sixteens, 3 Elite Eights, 2 Final Fours and an NAIA D2 Championship Game.
He has produced 12 NAIA All-Americans, including 6 First Team selections, and an NAIA National Player of the Year.
NUMEROUS ACHIEVEMENTS
Steve Platt was a player at Huntington from 1970-1974, leading the Foresters to a 78-38 record. He was a four-time All-District, a Player of the Year and NAIA All-American.
Platt continues to hold several HU records, including 3,700 career points (he’s the all-time collegiate leader in scoring at any school in Indiana). He twice led the nation in scoring, averaging 36 points a game in 1972-73 and 38 points a game in 1973-74.
Platt also holds the HU record for career rebounds (1,917), field goals made (1,463) and free throws made (774).
He was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1996, the NAIA Basketball Hall of Fame in 1987 and was the first inductee to the HU Hall of Fame in 1974.
He has also been named the Huntington University’s Alumnus of the Year on two occasions and is a Huntington University Centennial Medallion Recipient.
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