Published: June 02, 2008 12:22 pm            

Another honor for coach Cobb

Coaching veteran to be inducted into OBCA Hall of Fame

ADA — Former East Central University men’s head basketball coach Wayne Cobb will be inducted into the Oklahoma Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame on Friday, June 6, during OBCA weekend festivities at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee.

The ceremony is set for 7 p.m. at the OBU cafeteria. The cost is $10 per person, which includes the dinner and banquet, and dress is casual.

Cobb, who coached the Tigers to a 417-251 record from 1978 to 2003, is ECU’s all-time winning coach. The NAIA Hall of Famer guided the Tigers to eight regular season conference championships, six 20-plus win seasons, four NAIA national tournament appearances and two postseason conference tournament titles.

In one of those NAIA tournament appearances in 1989, ECU reached the championship game before falling to St. Mary’s University (Texas).

One of Cobb’s best coaching runs at ECU occurred from 1995-98 as the Tigers posted consecutive records of 23-6 (1995-96), 22-6 (1996-97) and 20-9 (1997-98) while earning three straight trips to the national tourney.

He coached six All-American players at ECU including: Marvin Gaines (1979-83), Vernell Kemp (1987-89), Jay McAdams (1989-93), Len Cooper (1993-96), Chuck Liston (1993-97) and Roland Miller (1995-98).

Under Cobb’s leadership, the Tigers had just four losing seasons and one of those was barely under .500 at 11-13 in 1991-92. He then followed up with nine consecutive winning seasons. After a 7-21 finish in his first season at ECU in 1978-79, he had 10 straight winning seasons, including a 25-6 effort and the trip to the NAIA finals in 1988-89.

Cobb’s overall coaching record was 637-345, dating back to high school stints at Chattanooga and Sulphur, along with a nine-year stay as head coach at Murray State College in Tishomingo. He posted a 47-27 mark in three seasons of high school basketball and fashioned a 184-84 record in nine years at Murray State.

A native of Muse, Okla., Cobb earned his bachelor’s degree in health and physical education from Southeastern Oklahoma State University in 1965, where he earned All-American honors under legendary head coach Bloomer Sullivan.

In 2002, Cobb was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame. That was followed up by hall of fame entries at Murray State College and Southeastern Oklahoma State in 2005, before being inducted into the prestigious ECU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007.

Cobb retired as ECU head coach midway through the 2002-03 season and served as associate coach for the men’s basketball program a few years after that.

NOTE: The induction ceremony is being held in conjunction with the OBCA All-Star Basketball Games on Saturday afternoon, June 7, and the Faith 7 All-Star Game which pits the best high school basketball players from Oklahoma against their counterparts from Texas. The tip-off is set for Saturday at 7 p.m.

        

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