Ray Mears (basketball)

For other people named Ray Mears, see Ray Mears (disambiguation).

Ray Mears

Mears from the 1967 Volunteer
Biographical details
Born	(1926-11-08)November 8, 1926 Dover, Ohio
Died	June 11, 2007(2007-06-11) (aged 80) Knoxville, Tennessee
Playing career
1946–1948	Miami (OH)
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1956–1962	Wittenberg
1962–1977	Tennessee
Head coaching record
Overall	399–135 (college)
Tournaments	7–3 (NCAA College Division) 0–4 (NCAA University Division / Division I 4–2 (NIT) 0–2 (CCA/NCI)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
NCAA College Division (1961) 3 OAC regular season (1959–1961) 3 OAC Tournament (1960–1962) 3 SEC (1967, 1972, 1977)
Awards
2× SEC Coach of the Year (1967, 1977)

Ray Mears (November 8, 1926 – June 11, 2007)^[1] was an American college basketball coach. He served as the head basketball coach at Wittenberg University from 1956 to 1962 and the University of Tennessee from 1962 to 1977. His career record of 399–135 (.747) still ranks among the top 15 all-time NCAA coaching records for those with a minimum of 10 seasons. Mears is largely regarded as the father of Tennessee Volunteers basketball, and was known for his trademark orange blazer, which he wore during games. Mears is also credited with coining the phrase "Big Orange Country." ^[2] Mears was born in Dover, Ohio^[3] and was married to the former Dana Davis. They had three sons: Steve, Mike, and Matt. Ray Mears Boulevard in Knoxville, Tennessee, the city where he died,^[4] is named for him.

Contents

• 
  1 Early years
  


• 
  2 Coaching start
  


• 
  3 The move to "Big Orange Country"
  


• 
  4 Head coaching record
  


• 
  5 References
  

Early years

Mears played college basketball at Miami University as a walk-on, graduating from there in 1949 with a bachelor's degree in education.^[3] He was also a member of the Delta Tau Delta International Fraternity.^[5] He earned his master's degree at Kent State University while coaching at West Tech High School in Cleveland, Ohio. He is a member of the Miami University Athletics Hall of Fame and contributed to Miami University's national reputation as the "Cradle of Coaches."

Coaching start

Mears first coached at Cadiz High School in Harrison County, Ohio in 1949, where he doubled as head basketball coach and assistant football coach. In 1950, he left Cadiz for a two-year stint in the United States Army, returning to the head basketball coaching position at West Tech in 1952. That team won the district championship and finished second in the city of Cleveland. Mears spent four successful years at West Tech.

Mears next moved to Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio as head basketball coach, assistant football, and head tennis coach. In six seasons at Wittenberg, he led the Tigers to four Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) titles and a 121–23 record. It was at Wittenberg where Mears developed his reputation as a great teacher of team defense. For three seasons, Wittenberg was ranked No. 1 in defense in the country and produced two first-team All-Americans. In 1960–61, the Tigers won the NCAA College Division Basketball Tournament.^[3] Mears was named the Ohio Coach of the Year in 1960.

The move to "Big Orange Country"

From Wittenberg, the 35-year-old Mears traveled to the University of Tennessee, becoming one of the NCAA's most successful coaches during his 15-year stint there. He compiled three Southeastern Conference championships between 1962 and 1977 ^[2] and an overall winning percentage of .713. Mears was twice named the SEC Coach of the Year in 1967 and 1977. He coached 12 All-Americans at UT, including NBA stars Bernard King and Ernie Grunfeld.

After King and Grunfeld left in 1977, Mears, who had battled depression for several years,^[6] sat out the 1977–78 season. Under the watch of interim coach Cliff Wettig, the Volunteers struggled to an 11–16 record, and Mears officially retired due to health reasons after the season.^[7]

He retired in 1977 after 21 years of college coaching and a 399–135 record with no losing seasons and a .747 winning percentage. After leaving coaching, he served for 10 years as athletic director at the University of Tennessee at Martin (UT-Martin).

One of the prime achievements of Mears' tenure at Tennessee was the introduction of the phrase "Big Orange Country" to the Volunteer fans. Before his arrival, Tennessee fans almost never wore orange away from the field or court.^[7] As an Ohio native, Mears recalled the Steubenville "Big Red" and liked the name and all it implied. The Volunteers, Knoxville, and the rest of East Tennessee took the concept to heart.

Indeed, years later, longtime Vols radio voice John Ward said that many of Tennessee's athletic traditions originated with Mears. For instance, the longstanding tradition of the football team running through a "Power T" formed by the Pride of the Southland Band originated with Mears having the basketball team run through a giant "T" as they took the court. He was also responsible for "Rocky Top" becoming Tennessee's de facto secondary fight song.^[7]

Mears was also remembered for his innovative pregame shows. Mears would often, particularly for big away games, walk the entire perimeter of the floor in his Big Orange sportcoat, both engaging and enraging opposing teams' fans. He also had to have green jello for the pre-game meal. Once at an away game the team was eating at a restaurant and the restaurant thought it would be funny to make orange jello. Mears got very mad and the man had to go to the store, buy green jello, prepare it, and serve it. It turns out UT won the game by a couple of points. Coach said it was the green jello.

Head coaching record

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Wittenberg Tigers (Ohio Athletic Conference) (1956–1962)
1956–57	Wittenberg	15–6	10–3	3rd
1957–58	Wittenberg	19–3	14–1	2nd
1958–59	Wittenberg	19–3	13–1	1st	NCAA College Regional Final
1959–60	Wittenberg	22–2	12–0	1st
1960–61	Wittenberg	25–4	10–0	1st	NCAA College Division Champions
1961–62	Wittenberg	21–5	10–2	2nd	NCAA College Division Quarterfinal
Wittenberg[8][9]:		121–23	69–7
Tennessee Volunteers (Southeastern Conference) (1962–1977)
1962–63	Tennessee	13–11	6–8	7th
1963–64	Tennessee	16–8	9–5	2nd
1964–65	Tennessee	20–5	12–4	2nd
1965–66	Tennessee	19–8	10–6	T–3rd
1966–67	Tennessee	21–7	15–3	1st	NCAA University Division Regional Fourth Place
1967–68	Tennessee	20–6	13–5	2nd
1968–69	Tennessee	21–7	13–5	2nd	NIT Third Place
1969–70	Tennessee	16–9	10–8	5th
1970–71	Tennessee	21–7	13–5	2nd	NIT Quarterfinal
1971–72	Tennessee	19–6	14–4	T–1st
1972–73	Tennessee	15–9	13–5	T–2nd
1973–74	Tennessee	17–9	12–6	2nd	CCA First Round
1974–75	Tennessee	18–8	12–6	T–3rd	NCI First Round
1975–76	Tennessee	21–6	14–4	2nd	NCAA Division I First Round
1976–77	Tennessee	22–6	16–2	T–1st	NCAA Division I First Round
Tennessee:		278–112	182–76
Total:		399–135
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

References

1. 
   ^ Legendary Vols' Basketball Coach Ray Mears Passes Away The Chattanoogan June 11, 2007 Archived June 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
   


2. 
   ^ ^ab Nashville City Paper "Legendary UT coach Mears dies at 80" June 12, 2007
   


3. 
   ^ ^abc "Former Wittenberg coach, MIami U. player Mears dies". Associated Press via Dayton Daily News. June 12, 2007. Retrieved October 29, 2011..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
   


4. 
   ^ "Legendary UT Coach Ray Mears Passes Away". University of Tennessee Men's Athletic Department. June 11, 2007. Retrieved June 11, 2007.
   


5. 
   ^ The Rainbow, vol. 132, no. 3, p. 53
   


6. 
   ^ "Ray Mears, 80, legendary basketball coach at Tennessee". boston.com. Associated Press. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
   


7. 
   ^ ^abc Haskew, Jerre. "Coach Ray Mears Should Get The Honor He Deserves". chattanoogan.com. Chattanoogan. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
   


8. 
   ^ 2010 Wittenberg University Men's Basketball Record Book, p. 5.
   


9. 
   ^ 2010-11 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book, p. 26.
   

v t e Wittenberg Tigers men's basketball head coaches

J. H. Keyser (1911–1915) Ernie Bauer (1915–1916) Ernie Godfrey (1916–1917) A. Watt Hobt (1917–1918) Ernie Godfrey (1918–1928) Joe Herman (1928–1930) Allen Compton (1930–1931) Bill Stobbs (1931–1942) Carl Schroeder (1942–1944) Jim Hall (1944–1945) Ross Dean (1945–1946) Howard Maurer (1946–1952) Cliff Juedes (1952–1953) Howard Maurer (1953–1956) Ray Mears (1956–1962) Eldon Miller (1962–1970) Bob Hamilton (1970–1976) Larry Hunter (1976–1989) Dan Hipsher (1989–1993) Bill L. Brown (1993–2016) Matt Croci (2016– )

v t e Tennessee Volunteers basketball head coaches

No coaches—captains only (1908–1910) Lex Stone (1910–1911) Zora G. Clevenger (1911–1916) John R. Bender (1916–1917) R. H. Fitzgerald (1917–1919) John R. Bender (1919–1921) M. B. Banks (1921–1926) W. H. Britton (1926–1935) Blair Gullion (1935–1938) John Mauer (1938–1943) No team (1943–1944) John Mauer (1944–1947) Emmett Lowery (1947–1959) John Sines (1959–1962) Ray Mears (1962–1977) Cliff Wettig # (1977–1978) Don DeVoe (1978–1989) Wade Houston (1989–1994) Kevin O'Neill (1994–1997) Jerry Green (1997–2001) Buzz Peterson (2001–2005) Bruce Pearl (2005–2011) Cuonzo Martin (2011–2014) Donnie Tyndall (2014–2015) Rick Barnes (2015– ) # denotes interim head coach

v t e Southeastern Conference Men's Basketball Coach of the Year

1960: Eaves 1961: McCarthy 1962: McCarthy 1963: McCarthy 1964: Rupp 1965: Skinner 1966: Rupp 1967: Mears 1968: Rupp 1969: Rupp 1970: Rupp 1971: K. Davis & Rupp 1972: Newton & Rupp 1973: Brown, Hall & Newton 1974: Skinner 1975: R. Davis, Hall & Newton 1976: Newton & Skinner 1977: Mears 1978: Greene & J. Hall 1979: Brown, DeVoe & Dobbs 1980: Weltlich 1981: Brown & DeVoe 1982: DeVoe 1983: Hall & Hunt 1984: S. Smith 1985: Boyd & Durham 1986: E. Sutton 1987: Durham & Sanderson 1988: Newton & S. Smith 1989: Brown, Newton & Sanderson 1990: Durham, Eagles & Pitino 1991: Pitino & Williams 1992: Kruger 1993: Fogler 1994: Kruger 1995: Williams 1996: Pitino 1997: Evans & Fogler 1998: Green, Richardson & T. Smith 1999: Ellis 2000: Brady 2001: Barnes 2002: Gottfried 2003: T. Smith 2004: Odom & Stansbury 2005: T. Smith 2006: Brady & Pearl 2007: Kennedy & Stallings 2008: Gillispie & Pearl 2009: Johnson 2010: Calipari & Stallings 2011: Donovan 2012: Calipari & Martin 2013: Donovan 2014: Donovan 2015: Calipari 2016: Kennedy 2017: White 2018: Barnes

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