MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — In 1986, a then 32-year old Bob Huggins made his first coaching visit to the NCAA tournament.
“My first NCAA tournament I was at Akron and we played Michigan, who had been ranked No. 1 in the country,” Huggins said. “After the game was over with, we end up losing by (six) and I thought we had a chance until the end, but we lose and you go out there and say, ‘How do you ever win? How am I supposed to win when others have teams like that?’ ”
Fast forward to 2021, where another Morgantown native — Drexel head coach Zach Spiker — is about to undergo a very similar challenge in his first NCAA tournament to the one Huggins faced 35 years ago.
In his fifth year with the Dragons, Spiker guided Drexel (12-7) to a flurry of upsets in the Colonial Athletic Association tournament and the program is making its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1996.
“No doubt, he was always a leader,” said former Morgantown High basketball coach Tom Yester, who coached Spiker. “He was a really smart kid, but also down to earth.
“While he was in high school, the rules started to change about how much time you could spend with the athletes over the summer, so he took it upon himself to get the guys and run. You could tell even back then he was probably going to be a good coach one day.”
For the Dragons’ effort, they were rewarded a No. 16 seed and will play top-seeded Illinois at 1:15 p.m. Friday.
Underdog? You bet. Illinois (23-6) is the Big Ten champion and is a 23-point favorite.
“We’re very excited about this opportunity to participate in the tournament,” said Spiker, who is a Morgantown High graduate and earned his master’s degree from WVU. “We’re very proud of our players, who have earned the right to be here. Illinois is a physically-imposing team, as we all know.”
Spiker’s journey to the NCAA tournament was not brief.
He worked under John Beilein as an administrative assistant while earning his master’s, before spending five seasons under Steve Donahue at Cornell.
His first head coaching job came at Army West Point, where he won 102 games over seven seasons, before taking over at Drexel in 2016.
“Every coach has a story, but behind every story are successful basketball players that make that story possible,” Spiker said. “It has been a journey, but I’m more focused on the guys in our program and making this the absolute best experience it can be for them.”
Spiker’s first coaching experience came as a graduate assistant at Winthrop in 2000.
That opportunity came after a chance meeting at the Hyatt Regency in Indianapolis, the same hotel the Dragons are staying at now for the NCAA tournament.
“There was a bit of memory lane getting here to Indianapolis,” Spiker said. “I was in this hotel at my first Final Four 21 years ago when coach Mark Downey, who is also from my hometown, introduced me to Damon Stephenson, who was on the staff at Winthrop. It was at the bottom of the escalators, right over there.”
Spiker joked he may have to leave Downey, now coaching at Arkansas Tech, a few tickets for the game.
“Since I’ve come in, the program has just kept going up every single year,” Drexel junior point guard Camren Wynter said. “Coach has done a really good job of bringing in players who really mesh together and are good people. Everyone just really seems to trust each other.
“We all really trust coach Spiker and the vision he has for each of us. We all go out there and play as hard as we can for him.”
Spiker made it clear this first trip to the NCAAs is about more than him simply adding to his resume. Since taking over the Dragons, he has reached out to former players to make sure they stay involved with the program.
Spiker wants today’s game to be a story about Drexel, not his own personal chapter.
“Our run in the conference tournament wasn’t just for our players, but for all of our former players,” Spiker said. “When we play on Friday, we play to represent everyone who has worn the uniform at Drexel, but also for our student body and our administration.
“We see challenges at Drexel as a opportunities. When we play these teams, it an opportunity for us to prove what we’re capable of doing.”
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