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Texas Tech basketball: Scouting the Northwestern State Demons

By Matthew Conner

Northwestern State men's basketball coach Mike McConathy walks along the court as the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders face Northwestern State in a Southland Conference game, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2020, at the American Bank Center.
Northwestern State men's basketball coach Mike McConathy walks along the court as the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders face Northwestern State in a Southland Conference game, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2020, at the American Bank Center. /
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Dec 12, 2018; Lubbock, TX, USA; Northwestern State Demons head coach Mike McConathy walks on the sideline during the game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at United Supermarkets Arena. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 12, 2018; Lubbock, TX, USA; Northwestern State Demons head coach Mike McConathy walks on the sideline during the game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at United Supermarkets Arena. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /

Head coach Mike McConathy is a Northwestern State legend

No sport is more about the head coach than college basketball.  And while Chris Beard is well on his way to being Tech’s most iconic head coach regardless of the sport, Northwestern State’s Mike McConathy may have already achieved that status at his school.

This is year 22 of his tenure with the Demons.  In that time, he’s won 310 games as part of a 38-year career that’s seen him rack up 662 career wins.

Interestingly, this is the 10th year (though not consecutively) that the current Northwestern State coaching staff has been together.  What’s more, three of McConathy’s assistants have been with him for at least ten years.  Thus, cohesion should not be an issue for the Demons this year.

No college basketball coach in the history of the state of Louisiana has won more games than McConathy, who has spent his entire basketball career in Louisiana.  He was a player at Louisiana Tech, where he was the Southland Conference Player of the Year in 1975, and he has coached at Bossier Parish Community College as well as Northwestern State. Along the way, he’s racked up two regular-season Southland Conference titles and three conference tournament crowns.

Raised in nearby Bossier City, LA, he has had basketball in his blood his entire life.  His father, John McConathy played in the NBA and was selected no. 5 in the 1951 draft.

Don’t forget that Tech enters this year without Chris Beard’s former right-hand man Brian Burg, who left his offseason to take the head coaching job at Georgia Southern.  That’s a significant loss for Beard’s program.  But as for the Northwestern State coaching staff, they seem to be quite the connected group and that has to help them when it comes to maintaining an identity and a culture within their program.

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