#1 College Program in 2011-12---Look to Waco, Texas

With the bowl season practically over and basketball season reaching the half way point, one school stands out as being the most successful of the over 350 Division 1 programs. Amazingly it is not the traditional big budget state university but rather a private college with a rather small student population. Without question, the Baylor Bears stand head and shoulders above their competition. Playing in modest facilities of Floyd Casey Stadium (62 years old with 50,000 capacity) and Ferrell Center (23 years old with 10,284 seats) and having significantly less financial resources of the traditional huge programs (Ohio State, Texas, Texas A&M, Florida, George, Oklahoma, UCLA, etc.), the Waco-based Baptist University has far surpassed the “big boys” on the gridiron and the hardwood in 2011-12.

The football squad ran over big dollar program Washington and amassed an unbelievable 777 total yards and 67 points embarrassing the Pac 12 Huskies in the Alamo Bowl to finish 10-3. The Men’s Basketball Bears are currently one of four undefeated (13-0) squads in D-1 and ranked 5th by ESPN. Pretty impressive but the real star of this show is Women’s Basketball who are currently ranked numero uno as the Lady Bears have run off 14 straight wins including wins over #2 UConn, #3 Notre Dame and #6 Tennessee.

The question is how can this program that has less resources, facilities and tradition than the traditional super powers outperform these monster programs so significantly on the gridiron and the hardwood. The answer is great leadership that understands that you can do more with less if everyone is on the same page. Athletic Director Ian McCaw (formerly at Northeastern in Boston) has done a masterful job of identifying and hiring coaches who bought into his philosophy while also keeping successful coaches when the rich and famous tried to lure them away from Waco with big dollar offers . He has also done it without breaking the bank by paying outrageous salaries to those successful coaches. Instead he has built a culture where coaches appreciate what they have and the support they receive. While Art Briles (football), Scott Drew (MBB) and Kim Mulkey (WBB) won’t starve in the near future, their combined salaries are less than Alabama Head Man Nick Saban.

Clearly these coaches have not only bought into McCaw’s concept but built their programs by following McCaw's model by recruiting an important leader to build their teams around. In football, the national recognition afforded Baylor when RG III (Robert Griffin) was recognized as the best player in the country by winning the Heisman Trophy demonstrated the realization that Baylor had arrived on the national scene. Kim Mulkey’s Lady Bears with current superstar Brittney Griner burst on the scene in 2005 with a national championship and now (along with UConn) are recognized as the pre-eminent women’s program in the country. In men’s Basketball, Scott Drew has resurrected a program that was devastated by the Dave Bliss debacle that paralleled a bad soap opera with murder, academic fraud and lies everywhere. Drew has been able to recruit quality players and been able to keep them when the NBA came calling. Sophomore Perry Jones III, a projected top 5 pick in the NBA draft last year, chose to stay in central Texas with Drew and his teammates.

The Baylor Bears have it figured out under Ian McCaw. Have quality, loyal leaders of both coaches and student-athletes, who buy into the program and commit to the same goals and core values, and the victories will come. Bouquets to the Baylor Bears, it is great to see a program winning because of sound principles rather than winning because you have the most money.