Vikings land a winner
'Up-and-coming' Cleveland State has plans for McCoy
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| File photo Fort Zumwalt South graduate Josh McCoy, in action here last season, signed to play basketball and attend Cleveland State in Ohio after setting the Bulldogs' career scoring record with 1,579 points. |
But more than anything, McCoy was a winner during his high school career. He was the best player on a Bulldogs team that reached the Missouri Class 5 Final 4 for two consecutive years. During those two seasons, in which the Bulldogs finished third in the state twice, the Bulldogs compiled a combined record of 52-9 (a winning percentage of .853) and the Bulldogs were a total of 87-27 (.763) during his four-year career.
That caught the attention of Cleveland State coach Gary Waters."One of the things I try to do is try to get people who win around 80 percent of their games," Waters said. "Because what I'm a believer in is that a guy that wins find ways to win and a guy that loses finds excuses."
McCoy signed a national letter of intent with Cleveland State (Cleveland, Ohio) in late April. He was offered scholarships to three other Division I schools - Missouri State, Southeast Missouri State and Evansville - but felt like Cleveland State was on the rise as both a university and a basketball program.
Waters, a veteran college coach of 33 seasons, enjoyed successful tenures as the head coach at Kent State (Mid-American Conference) and Rutgers (Big East) before coming to Cleveland.
In his first season at Cleveland State (2006-07), the Vikings repeated the previous year's win total with a 10-21 record. But last season, the program finished 21-13, played Butler for the Horizon League championship, and participated in the NIT (National Invitation Tournament), the first time in 20 years the Vikings had participated in a postseason tournament.
The Vikings were the 16th program in the recorded history of NCAA Division I basketball to lose 20 games in one season and win 20 games in the next.
"Everything is family oriented like our high school team," McCoy said. "They have goals of being in the Final Four like we did in high school and everything was kind of similar to what we did at South. I couldn't go anywhere else."
McCoy remembers the words of his freshman coach, Jeff Bequette, when he arrived at Zumwalt South in the fall of 2004: "If you put in the work, you'll be the first Division I player to come out of South."
"That's what I set my eyes on to do and it's worked out for me, so I'm really excited about that," McCoy said.
"We're excited," said Zumwalt South coach Bill Friedel, who McCoy thanked "tremendously" for his help in the recruiting process. "We're buying (Cleveland State) gear and trying to find a time when we can go see him play."
McCoy graduated as the all-time scoring leader at Zumwalt South with 1,579 career points. He also owns career records in free throws made (391) and steals (214), ranks second in career assists (276), third in 3-point percentage (39.8), fourth in free-throw percentage (77 percent) and fifth in rebounds (469). He was a two-time first-team all-state selection in Missouri and averaged 19.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 3.5 steals as a senior. Also in that senior season, he set single-season school records for points (600), points per game, 3-pointers made (71), free-throws made (155) and steals (107).
He was often at his best at the most critical junctures.
"That's what made him pretty special, I think," Friedel said.
Examples? He scored 17 of his team's 19 points in the fourth quarter in the 2008 district championship game versus Troy, then scored 15 of his team's 25 in the fourth quarter in a 42-37 win over Rock Bridge in the Class 5 sectional, a game the Bulldogs trailed 24-17 after three quarters.
Now, he hopes for further postseason action at the collegiate level. After beating Cleveland State for the Horizon League Championship a year ago, Butler received an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and won its first-round game in convincing fashion before losing to Tennessee, the No. 5 team in the country, in the second round. The Vikings accepted an NIT bid and fell at Dayton in the first round.
Waters is convinced that McCoy can be part of a Cleveland State program that makes noise in the NCAA Tournament in the near future.
"That's always been one of my dreams, a high school Final Four, a college Final Four," McCoy said.
"I'm excited to play. I just want to go out there and play my hardest and see what happens. I want to make the tournament next year, that's our goal. Not a lot of incoming freshmen get to do that I guess, so that's just one of those dreams."
On June 27, McCoy left for Cleveland State to begin training and start summer classes. The Vikings, he said, expect him to "come in and shoot the basketball." He thinks he can handle that.
Waters said McCoy will need to add muscle mass to deal with the grind of Division I basketball. He wants him to improve his decision making with the basketball, but likes the aggressiveness he showed on defense in high school.
"We were in need of some shooters and I wanted a guard that had size and could shoot it and he was one of the better ones out there," Waters said.
"He also showed that he had the ability to play on the AAU circuit as well, so he's got a lot of background that shows that he can play in a program of our caliber.
"This is an up-and-coming program and one of the things that we wanted to do is find players that have a high upswing, that we can look for them to get better and better and develop, and what I see in Josh is that all of his future is ahead of him."
Waters gets another Bulldog
While McCoy continues his basketball career at Cleveland State, his good friend Zach Zigler, known to his friends as "Ziggy," will carve his own niche at the school.
Zigler, who was a student manager for the Bulldogs' basketball team for the past two seasons and with the baseball team this spring as well, will be a team manager at Cleveland State. McCoy said he mentioned to Waters that he had a friend who was interested in being a manager, and it turned out the Vikings were in need of one.
Zigler has been friends with McCoy since he was the center and McCoy the quarterback in freshman football. He hopes to have a career in the sports industry someday.
"It doesn't matter what I do for a living as long as sports are included and this helps me feel like I've got my foot in the door," Zigler said.
No, there won't be a full scholarship for Zigler, but he said he was told there will be some money for books and possibly more as he sticks with the program.
Plus, he'll have a great seat for his friend's college games.
"It was a ton of fun in high school just watching him take over in the fourth quarter," Zigler said. "It was just like his skill level compared to some other teams, it wasn't even fair. He's got total upside, and he's going to be great. I'm so happy that I can go watch him play right next to him."
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