AP News, March 29th, 2007
Kevin McKenna took over the Indiana State program Thursday, giving the former NBA player and Creighton assistant his first Division I head coaching job.
McKenna succeeds Royce Waltman, who was fired this month after the Sycamores finished their sixth straight losing season with a loss to Creighton in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament.
"I think the potential here at Indiana State is unlimited," McKenna said at a news conference.
"This school obviously has a lot of great history, and I was part of that history by losing a couple of times to Larry Legend," said McKenna, who played at Creighton when Larry Bird led Indiana State to the No. 1 ranking and second place in the NCAA tournament in 1979. "Those were great memories. I remember it like it was yesterday. I look forward to trying to bring back some of that magic here."
Indiana State was 13-18 this year, giving Waltman a 134-164 record in 10 seasons. He was the only coach to take the Sycamores to the NCAA tournament since Bird left.
The 47-year-old McKenna was a fourth-round draft pick by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1981 and was a little-used reserve on the Lakers' NBA championship team as a rookie. He played in the CBA the next season and returned to the NBA with the Indiana Pacers in 1983, when he started 13 games and averaged 6.3 points.
McKenna then played one year with New Jersey, one with Washington and returned to the Nets for his final two seasons in the NBA. He later played and coached in the CBA before the first of his two stints as an assistant at Creighton.
"I am confident that he will continue his impressive string of successes at Indiana State," athletic director Ron Prettyman said. "He is not only a fine recruiter and coach, but he is an educator. He has great plans for our program and will put together a coaching staff that is second to none."
