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