Willie Scott finds his calling in coaching

By Bobby Nightengale
BNIGHT’S BEATS

PEORIA, Ill. -- Willie Scott sits alone in the spacious conference room of the Bradley University men’s basketball coaches’ office. As he slowly eats his footlong Subway sandwich, the assistant coach is surrounded by silence. Nobody else is around. Most of the offices are completely empty. The pictures are gone.

He is the only person in the men’s basketball department who is still on campus from the previous coaching era.

The “Roadrunner”

Scott use to roam Bradley’s campus as a superstar after leading the Braves to a 1982 NIT Championship win. He set a Missouri Valley Conference record with 20 assists against Indiana State in the conference tournament, and he was nicknamed the “Roadrunner” for his lightning quickness, similar to the Warner Bros. cartoon character. He also left Peoria owning Bradley’s single-season and career records in assists.

“There are guys that become men and older men, and you have your favorites,” said Dave Snell, Bradley basketball’s radio announcer since 1979. “[Scott] is one of my all-time favorite people. Not just as a basketball player but also as a person.”

After playing at the Hilltop, Scott embarked on a 14-year professional career overseas after being the last player cut by the Detroit Pistons before the 1983 NBA season.

However, the fanfare didn’t end after his college days. After helping his Argentinean team win a league championship, a local city in Argentina celebrated his birthday as a holiday for several years.

During his time playing in Argentina, Scott wanted to learn the fashion industry. This led to Scott starting his own clothing line, Willie Scott Custom Clothier. He specialized in designer suits that were directed towards the famous clientele, including: Prince, Michael Jackson, and many others.

“I wanted to create a garment that was very well made,” Scott said. “The workmanship of my garment is guaranteed for 10 years. I think the average person is going to spend the average amount for a suit, and I wanted to be above average, and I always wanted to be above average in everything I did.”

In 2005, Scott’s world was flipped upside down when his “best friend,” his mother, was diagnosed with cancer. He decided to move to Mississippi to take care of her.

Time for transition

March 6th, Bradley men’s basketball head coach Jim Les was fired, and it put the futures of all of his assistants up in the air.

Scott turned down a Division-I head coaching position prior to accepting the assistant coaching offer at Bradley, and now he was staring unemployment in the eyes.

“It was very emotional,” Scott said. “I understand the business side of it. That’s their [Bradley administration] decision and I tried to keep my personal feelings to myself.”

However, Scott stayed in the administration’s plans as Bradley’s Athletic Director Michael Cross named Scott the transitional coach after Les’ firing.

“Coach Scott is a Bradley alumnus who had good relationships with all of our student athletes and I thought he was the best person to provide stability to our program during the transition due to these relationships as well as his excellent values and understanding of the significance of a Bradley education,” Cross said.

After Geno Ford was named Bradley’s new head coach, Scott had to stare at unemployment once again, as Ford held the authority to choose his own coaching staff.

The calling

With his mother struggling with cancer in 2005, the fifth oldest of his nine siblings, Scott took the lead role of helping his mother back to full strength.

“I learned something about myself,” Scott said. “I can take a person, who has basically given up on life, and encourage them and bring them back to the point where they are walking again and living life. I think God put on my heart the same thing with young kids and to steer them in the right direction to be great young men in life, not just in basketball and that sparked me to coach.”

When his mother’s health improved in 2007, Scott talked his way into coaching, earning an advisory assistant role with the Jackson State basketball team immediately after an initial two-hour interview with head coach Tevester Anderson.

After helping Jackson State reach the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament championship game, Scott became the head coach at Malcolm X College in 2008, which consistently had one of the worst records in junior college basketball each year.

“When I took the job, everybody told me if I was going into coaching, that was not the job to take,” Scott recalled. “But after somebody tells me not to do it, that’s usually when I go after it even harder.”

After two winning seasons, and helping four student-athletes reach the school’s Dean List and an 80 percent Academic Progress Rate with no assistant coaches, Scott became one of the high-rising coaches in college basketball.

“Some coaches just go in because it’s a job,” Scott said. “I take it [coaching] on as a personal challenge.”

Scott’s new role

Scott was a major factor in helping to keep the Bradley basketball team stable, and preventing players from transferring to other schools.

“He kept the team progressing through off-season workouts, in academic performance and in providing our student athletes a point person that could answer any questions they might have,” Cross said. “He was very successful in all these roles and was instrumental in having a program fully intact when Coach Ford arrived.”

After two weeks, Ford decided to add Scott to his staff, making him the only person in the basketball department who will be returning from last year.

Back in the office, waiting for everyone in the new era to arrive, Scott reflects on his purpose in coaching.

“I just want to continue to do the right thing,” Scott said. “I hope God uses me to save more kids' lives and keep them on track.”