SLS 22RS-2386 ORIGINAL
2022 Regular Session
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 136
BY SENATOR BERNARD
COMMENDATIONS. Commends Coach Mike McConathy on his accomplishments as
head coach of the Northwestern State University mens basketball team and on the occasion
of his retirement.
1 A RESOLUTION
2 To commend Mike McConathy on his outstanding accomplishments as head coach of the
3 Northwestern State University mens basketball team and to commend him on the
4 occasion of his retirement.
5 WHEREAS, one of Louisiana's greatest sports emissaries, Northwestern State
6 University mens basketball Coach Mike McConathy is retiring after twenty-three seasons
7 with the Demons; and
8 WHEREAS, Coach McConathy is the winningest mens basketball coach in Louisiana
9 history; and
10 WHEREAS, Coach McConathy finishes with an overall record of six hundred
11 eighty-two victories in thirty-nine seasons, placing him at the top among Louisiana college
12 coaches in state history; and
13 WHEREAS, the first three hundred fifty-two wins came over sixteen years at Bossier
14 Parish Community College, where he started the basketball program, and the next three
15 hundred thirty wins came over twenty-three seasons at Northwestern State; and
16 WHEREAS, in the Southland Conference and Louisiana basketball history, Mike
17 McConathy has a unique and remarkable place as both a player and head coach; and
18 WHEREAS, Mike McConathy is regarded as one of the greatest players in state and
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SLS 22RS-2386 ORIGINAL
1 conference history, scoring two thousand thirty-three points (20.7 per game) from 1973-77
2 at Louisiana Tech, leading the Bulldogs to the 1976 conference crown as the Southland
3 Player of the Year; and
4 WHEREAS, Mike McConathy was chosen for the 1970s All-Decade Team; and
5 WHEREAS, Mike McConathy has engineered many of the greatest accomplishments
6 in the Demon Mens basketball program's one hundred year history; and
7 WHEREAS, it is appropriate to commend and celebrate this beloved and legendary
8 mens basketball coach who is a widely respected and admired citizen of Louisiana; and
9 WHEREAS, Coach McConathy is a master of March Madness, who has made seven
10 Southland Tournament championship game appearances in twelve conference tourney trips
11 during his first eighteen seasons; and
12 WHEREAS, Coach Mike McConathy has led the Demons to three NCAA
13 Tournament appearances, including in one of the most memorable March Madness upsets
14 in tournament history with a 2006 win against No. 3 seed Iowa in which Northwestern State
15 University erased a seventeen point Hawkeye lead with eight and one-half minutes
16 remaining; and
17 WHEREAS, Coach Mike McConathy crossed the three hundred win mark on the
18 Northwestern State University sidelines in his twenty-first season, leading a team with six
19 of its top seven scorers being newcomers to a fourth-place finish in the Southland
20 Conference and a first-round tournament win before the postseason was canceled because
21 of the COVID-19 virus; and
22 WHEREAS, Coach McConathy has developed twenty-nine all-conference players
23 at Northwestern State University with Trey Gilder reaching the NBA, and more than
24 twenty-five playing professionally overseas or domestically; and
25 WHEREAS, Northwestern State University mens basketball has evolved during
26 Coach McConathy's tenure from being nearly an afterthought in the historic city of
27 Natchitoches to the Demons providing the sports heartbeat of northwest Louisiana in
28 February and March; and
29 WHEREAS, Coach McConathy's core philosophy includes the belief, "The MVP of
30 our team is our team", and his use of a deep rotation, often with wave substitutions of
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1 five-for-five, is a tried-and-true method that has Northwestern State University playing its
2 best basketball down the stretch; and
3 WHEREAS, he received the 2012 NABC Guardians of the Game Pillar Award for
4 Education during NCAA Final Four weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana; it is among the
5 most prestigious awards presented by the NABC, representing one of the four core values
6 of the Guardians of the Game program: education, leadership, advocacy, and service; and
7 WHEREAS, an ambassador of basketball to anyone who would listen, Coach
8 McConathy never missed a chance to promote sports at any level in the region, and prior to
9 home games in Natchitoches, he could be seen moving through the stands thanking fans for
10 supporting his players; and
11 WHEREAS, Coach McConathy routinely expresses that he could not have asked for
12 a better group of student athletes to have been associated with for more than two decades
13 than the students at Northwestern State University; and
14 WHEREAS, on the scholastic front, ninety percent of the students under Coach
15 McConathy's charge received their undergraduate degrees; and
16 WHEREAS, it takes a special person to be a part of a coach's family and journey;
17 Coach McConathy admits that he could not have achieved his accomplishments without the
18 love and unwavering support of his wife Connie, and his two sons, Michael and Logan; and
19 WHEREAS, those who have worked closely with Coach McConathy throughout his
20 exemplary career respect and admire him for the indelible mark he has made on the
21 Northwestern State University mens basketball program and for the legacy of excellence he
22 continues to uphold; and
23 WHEREAS, Coach Mike McConathy retires a living legend with a legacy of
24 excellence that will echo throughout the ages.
25 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
26 does hereby commend Coach Mike McConathy on his outstanding accomplishments as head
27 coach of the Northwestern State University mens basketball team and commend him on the
28 occasion of his retirement.
29 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
30 Coach Mike McConathy and Athletic Director Kevin Bostian.
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The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by James Benton.
DIGEST
SR 136 Original 2022 Regular Session Bernard
Commends Coach Mike McConathy on his outstanding accomplishments as head coach of
the Northwestern State University mens basketball team and commends him on the occasion
of his retirement.
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