Looking back on his basketball team’s record so far—loss, loss, loss, loss, win, loss, win, loss, loss, win, loss—brings to Rick Byrd’s face the tentative smile of a man who appreciates a glass that is half full.
At Belmont this season, Byrd says he has endured more last-second losses than in his previous 12 years as a coach. A couple of weeks earlier, the Bruins lost to Navy on a buzzer-beating shot. Two weeks before that, they bowed to Murray State in the final minute. At Mississippi State, they led by 18 in the second half, only to lose by one.
That’s progress. It sure beats being devoured every night.
Two years ago, Belmont, which Byrd helped build into an NAIA powerhouse, abdicated its high spot in the small-college food chain to swim in the predator-rich environment of the NCAA. Depending on whom you asked, the move was a dramatic leap of faith or a stunning bout of insanity.
After winning an average of 28 games in each of the five previous seasons, Belmont finished 9-18 in its NCAA Division I debut. Though there were some encouraging signs last year—a victory over Chattanooga and a strong showing against South Carolina—many of the defeats were by wide margins.
Before last season, says Byrd, “I didn’t have any idea how competitive we could be.”
This year, at least, he has an inkling, and he likes it. Though the Bruins may not match even last season’s victory total, they’ve been blown out only once, despite a road-heavy early schedule that included two SEC opponents and three others that played in the NCAA Tournament last season.
“Our level of competitiveness day in and day out has far surpassed my expectations,” says Byrd. “Anybody you’ve talked to who’s played us one year to the next will tell you we’re a lot further along. This year, at least people will have to fear losing to us.”
Just ask Butler, whose NCAA-bound squad crushed Byrd’s team by 31 a year ago but lost in overtime last month at Belmont’s Striplin Gym. Or ask Navy, who needed every last second of the 40-minute game to get past the Bruins after throttling them last season by 36. Or Murray State, who last year overwhelmed Belmont by 20.
“Two years ago,” reflects Byrd, “had you said we would be in eight of those nine games until the last minute—and seven till the buzzer—I’d have said, ‘That’s too much to ask too soon.’ I think those of us who’ve been on this journey are encouraged, and actually pleased at our competitiveness at this point.”
If winning is not the only yardstick for measuring progress this season, losing routinely is nonetheless difficult. Still, says Byrd, he’s enjoying himself. It’s hard to conclude otherwise when you watch him patrol the sideline during a game, hollering offensive plays and defensive sets to his players with such enthusiasm that the refs occasionally have to remind him to step back from the court.
“Division I is where everybody wants to be,” Byrd says. “There’s a whole different feeling when you’re there. In the NAIA, I was coaching the games, buying the food, and driving the vans back. Now, I’ve got two good assistants. Frankly, this is fun. In some ways, [moving to Division I] has also been rejuvenating for me. This gives us a fresh challenge.”
Part of the challenge, ironically, has been for a perennial winner to fend off a losing mindset. For the past two seasons, Byrd has worked to convince his players—none of whom were around for Belmont’s NAIA halcyon days and the “Battles of the Boulevard” against rival Lipscomb—that they can win consistently in the NCAA.
“I’ve been a head coach at three different schools, and for at least two the job was to turn a losing mentality around,” Byrd says. “I’m in almost the same role now of making these kids believe.”
Now, as the Bruins give themselves chances to win more games—“we’re 20 points better than a year ago,” reckons Byrd—the seeds of confidence sown by the coach are beginning to take root. And with only one senior on the roster, Belmont looks to improve further next season.
“Can we compete with the top 30 teams yet?” asks Byrd rhetorically. “No way. We’d be overwhelmed by their athleticism.”
But, he observes, the Bruins are demonstrating that they can win their share against the middle level of competition: teams rated between 100 and 200 from among more than 300 at the Division I level.
Last season, Belmont finished 8-5 against teams from the Southern and Trans-South conferences (whose winners received bids to the NCAA Tournament). That success gives Byrd hope that the Bruins will be invited, sooner rather than later, to join a league. These days, such affiliations are a strategic necessity; in the NCAA, few independent teams can survive over the long term.
Plans also are under way for another break with tradition: a move from cramped Stricklin Gym, whose very intimacy suggests a high-school ambiance, to a larger facility. With a new, on-campus arena and a conference to play in, Byrd muses, “We can go into any recruit’s home and say we have everything in place.”
Meantime, Belmont can continue to dream of Valparaiso, who won two stunners in last year’s NCAA Tournament and became a household name almost overnight. Valpo is Byrd’s role model.
“Nine years ago, Valparaiso would have loved to be where we are now,” Byrd says. “They won three, four, and four games [over a three-year period] in the early ’80s, and they’re not much different as a university than Belmont.”
Byrd knows that one victory against a big-time opponent, like Valpo’s upset of Ole Miss last year, would give Belmont an unprecedented degree of national exposure. “That’s why [losing] the Mississippi State game was so difficult for me,” he says. “In one fell swoop, we could have said, ‘We belong.’ ”
Byrd, though, is only half right. On Dec. 29, when they visit LSU, the Bruins will have another opportunity to seize a moment in the sports spotlight. A victory in one of two looming dates against Valparaiso would make people take notice.
But even if the rest of the NCAA hasn’t yet realized it, Belmont has already proved it belongs. Now, it’s only a matter of time before the Bruins’ breakthrough victory comes.
When it does, their usually reticent coach will let loose the broad grin of a man whose cup has finally run over.
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