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The Demons also made NCAA Tournament trips in 2001 and 2013. NSU is 2-3 in NCAA play, including a 2001 win against Winthrop (coached by Gregg Marshall) in the inaugural Opening Round game in Dayton, Ohio.

He crossed the 300-win mark on the NSU sidelines in his 21st 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.

McConathy, a former Southland Player of the Year himself at then-SLC member Louisiana Tech, has excelled in the conference tournament. He’s advanced to seven SLC Tournament championship games, winning three (2001, 2006 and 2013).

Only the Demons (2005-08) and Louisiana-Monroe (1990-93) have made four straight championship game appearances in the five decades of Southland basketball competition. NSU is 19-9 in Southland Tournament play in 13 trips under McConathy.

His teams have scored road wins over Oklahoma State, Mississippi State, Auburn and Oregon State.

McConathy’s core philosophies include the belief “the MVP of our team IS our team.” His use of a deep rotation, often with wave substitutions of five-for-five, is a tried-and-true method that has NSU playing its best basketball down the stretch.

Since the start of his 16 seasons as coach at Bossier Parish Community College in his hometown, McConathy has constantly promoted educational values for, and with, his players. Almost 90 percent of the seniors in his NSU program have graduated. More than half the team has been on the NSU honor roll in the past five years.

The Demons received “public recognition” from the NCAA in 2014 and in 2006 for ranking among the nation’s top 10 percent Academic Progress Rate scores in the NCAA’s annual report. They had a perfect score in 2011 and have consistently ranked among state, Southland Conference and even national leaders in that and the NCAA’s Graduation Success Rate under McConathy’s guidance. In what has become a recurring event, in July, the National Association of Basketball Coaches has issued its Team Academic Excellence Award to NSU for posting a team GPA over 3.0.

His program is #Southland Strong: The Demons are 206-187 (.524) against Southland foes under McConathy.

The Demons benefit from a big homecourt advantage at venerable Prather Coliseum, which has more on-the-floor seating than any other Southland venue. The Demons usually average over 2,000 fans per game in league play, which has helped NSU win 66 percent of its home games (186-95) under McConathy.

Known for years as “Coach Mike” to his players, McConathy is among a select group of major college mentors. Eight Division I basketball coaches have been at their current school for 20 years. His peers in this distinction include Mike Krzyzewski (Duke), Tom Izzo (Michigan State), and Jim Boeheim (Syracuse). Mexico’s Paul Weir and Mark Slessinger of New Orleans – have served on his Demon Mike McConathy coaching staff. “Coach Mike” is nationally respected by those who coach, and cover, the game. Head Coach For the 15th year, he will be part of the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Top 25 voting 22nd season at NSU panel. He does his own ballot each week. He’s been late once in 12 years – and that was on a weekend the team was returning from Hawaii. He has also served a threeLouisiana Tech, 1977 year term on the NCAA’s coaches’ regional advisory committee assisting with the NCAA Mike McConathy has steered the Northwestern State basketball to its greatest heights in his two decades as the veteran coach begins his 22nd season on the Demons sideline. McConathy’s 662 victories in 37 seasons (which includes 16 seasons at Bossier Parish Community College) is tops among Louisiana college coaches in state history. That group includes LSU’s Dale Brown, Louisiana Tech’s Leon Barmore, Grambling’s Fred Hobdy and ULM’s Mike Vining. He’s led the Demons to three NCAA Tournament appearances, including one of the most memorable March Madness upsets in tournament history with a 2006 win against No. 3 seed Iowa in which NSU erased a 17-point Hawkeye lead with 8 ½ minutes remaining. He received the 2012 NABC Guardians of the Game Pillar Award for Education during NCAA Final Four weekend in New Orleans. 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. National television and radio analysts and announcers such as Fox Sports’ Tim Brando and Doug Gottlieb, Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery of CBS Sports, Fran Fraschilla and Jerry Punch of ESPN, and Charles Barkley of TBS have expressed their admiration of McConathy, as much for his core values as for his coaching acumen. Demon basketball has evolved in his tenure from being nearly an afterthought in the historic city of Natchitoches to providing the sports heartbeat of northwest Louisiana in February and March.

Tournament selection process.

Three current Division I head coaches – Texas A&M’s Buzz Williams, New Mike McConathy enters his 38th season coaching in Louisiana colleges, 22nd at NSU. He holds the state's collegiate record with 662 wins. 28 2020-21 Northwestern State Men’s Basketball Media Guide Southland Conference Champions: 2004-05 • 2005-06 Southland Conference Tournament Champions: 2001 • 2006 • 2013

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McConathy brought the philosophy of “Championship Basketball … with a Pur- college recruits since, averting another wholesale rebuilding. pose!” to NSU in March of 1999. After winning 70 percent of his games in 16 seasons at The plan worked. The youngest team in the country battled through two losing Bossier Parish Community College, he took over a program that had never been to the seasons, appearing ready to turn the corner in 2003-04 before some key players were NCAA Tournament and had just five winning seasons in 24 years of Division I history. sidelined.

At the press conference announcing his hiring, he talked about bringing Demon In 2004-05, the payoff began: 21 wins (the most for the Demons since 1960), a basketball back to the level of expectation it had when his father and uncles played for Southland Conference co-championship, homecourt advantage in the SLC Tournament Northwestern in the 1950s. Then, 20-win seasons and conference championships were and an ESPN-televised championship game at Prather Coliseum. standard fare. But it was a stunning last-minute loss. That was the painful motivator for the

Now, beginning his 22nd season as head coach, Coach Mike’s vision has long since 2005-06 team - the Demons wanted to fulfill their potential, to repeat as champs, become reality. host the SLC tournament championship game again, and win there - and in the NCAA

Sticking with the players already in the program worked. His first team posted the Tournament. first winning season in eight years at Northwestern, and became the first Demon team They did that, and much more. to reach the Southland Conference Tournament championship game. The Demons had a school-record 26 wins, including victories at Oklahoma

A year later, the Demons were back, and they didn’t stop there. The heart of the State, Mississippi State, over Oregon State and No. 15 Iowa in the NCAA Tournament. team he inherited and inspired worked its way to the SLC Tournament title in 2001, Attendance records were shattered. They earned a TV game in the ESPN BracketBusters. into the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever, and to an opening round win as the They won the SLC by the widest margin in nine seasons. Northwestern made its fourth Demons became “Dayton’s Darlings” and somewhat of a national media sensation at SLC Tournament championship game appearance in McConathy’s first seven seasons the outset of March Madness. as head coach. The Demons won the Pontiac Game Changing Performance $100,000

The swirl of national talk show appearances, the fact that the team’s opening win general scholarship prize for the most spectacular play in the NCAA Tournament. was the lead story on “SportsCenter” and in the next day’s USA Today sports section, Northwestern made four national television (CBS, ESPN2, ESPNU) appearances, let was all part of the bigger picture for McConathy. It was a chance to solidify the founda- alone the cascade of national coverage during their NCAA Tournament run by the tion that had been established, an opportunity to springboard the NSU program into a Demons of Destiny. position of being a consistent championship contender in the Southland Conference. Each March, national media revisit the win over St. Patrick’s Day win over

A year later, as seven seniors went through commencement exercises, McConathy third-seeded Iowa, capped by Jermaine Wallace’s off-side rebound and fall-away was preparing for the consequences of a surprising recruiting decision. The coach who 3-pointer from the corner with 0.5 left. It’s shown over and over on TV, and has spent 16 seasons in the junior college ranks decided against blending JUCO players continually been featured in lists of all-time NCAA Tournament great finishes and best with a few prep prospects to replace the departing senior class. Instead, McConathy NCAA games of the decade. In March 2011, an NCAAsports.com vote by fans tabbed and assistants Simmons and Slessinger brought in a dozen high school seniors. the contest the greatest game in NCAA Tournament history.

Those recruits were the 2005-06 seniors, except for Jermaine Spencer, who had Seven seniors graduated. For most programs it would be back to the drawing interest from LSU and Texas, among others, but signed with McConathy and the board at that point. For the Demons, it was back to more success in 2006-07 -- starting Demons. Spencer took a medical redshirt year as a sophomore, so his senior season with a jam-packed Prather Coliseum for a season-opening smackdown of Utah State, came in 2006-07. Behind that 2003 recruiting class, the Demons layered in a handful and finishing a 3-pointer shy of another NCAA Tournament berth. of talented high school players in 2004 and 2005, and added a blend of prep and junior

McConathy Timeline: How it all got started

AS A PLAYER... ed a 27-3 record and finished with a No. 3 national ranking.

“Coach Mike” is already inducted into the Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame for his career as a high school All-American COACHING INFLUENCES ... at Bossier City-Airline High School and as a high scoring guard at Louisiana His wife, Connie, is a constant presence in the lives of NSU players. Tech from 1973-77. He was inducted in Louisiana Tech’s Athletics Hall of They like to drop by her office in Kyser Hall, where she coordinates the Fame in October 2011. Bossier Parish Community College operations on campus. She frequently

McConathy was a gym rat. One of his personal workouts involved attends practices, often getting in her fitness workout while watching “her shooting baskets in the dark. boys.” She’s an invaluable advisor for Coach Mike.

The hard work paid off for McConathy, who was a fourth-round draft His father, Johnny McConathy, won a state championship at Bossier pick of the NBA’s Chicago Bulls. Among his 2,033 career points were 45, High School before he went into administration, eventually serving a long still the Prather Coliseum single-game record, against Northwestern in his term as superintendent of schools in Bossier Parish. senior year. He was told he had made the Bulls roster, but was released on His first college coach was Scotty Robertson, who signed him to play the final cut. He tried playing in Europe, but soon decided to come home at Louisiana Tech and coaching him his freshman year before becoming the and begin his coaching career. first-ever head coach of the NBA’s New Orleans Jazz. Coach Robertson spent more than 20 years in the NBA, serving as head coach in New Orleans, ChiAS A COACH BEFORE NSU ... cago and Detroit, and retiring as Pat Riley’s bench coach with the Miami

McConathy’s start in coaching came as girls basketball coach at his Heat. Until he passed away in August of 2011, Coach Robertson made alma mater, Airline High School in Bossier City. Soon, he moved into the frequent trips to Natchitoches to visit with the Demons and to duck hunt college ranks without making any kind of move at all. with his good friends, including former NSU soccer coach Jimmy Mitchell.

McConathy won 20 games or more in 11 of his 16 seasons as head Former state Rep. Billy Wayne Montgomery was a highly successful coach at Bossier Parish Community College, starting the program from high school coach in Bossier Parish, winning a state championship at scratch in 1983. They didn’t have a gym or dormitories, practicing and play- Haughton High School before he entered politics. Coach Montgomery and ing at Airline when the gym was available. But his teams posted at least Johnny McConathy were close friends. Coach’s value-centered approach to 23 wins in each of his last seven seasons at BPCC, and were in the top 10 coaching and life made a huge impression on Coach Mike as he grew up in of the final national junior college Top 25 rankings in each of his last three Bossier City. Coach Montgomery was named Mr. Louisiana Basketball for seasons. 2008-09 by the Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches.

His overall 352-159 (.688) record at Bossier Parish included a remark- Robertson and Montgomery are in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. able 185-48 (.794) mark since the start of the 1992-93 season. Coach Mike with his wife, Connie. Montgomery is also in the Louisiana Political Hall of Fame.

His last six teams won Miss-Lou Conference championships. His 199899 club was 26-5 and ranked eighth nationally, a year after the team post-

#KEEPTHEFAITH For the third straight year, NSU won an SLC title - this time the newly created SLC East Division crown. Again, the Demons were in the SLC Finals. Longest coaching tenures in the

It was more déjà vu in 2008. For the sixth time in nine seasons, and for the fourth consecutive year, the Southland Conference Demons reached the SLC Tournament championship game. Another nailbiting (list includes only current Southland members) 3-point loss kept them from the Big Dance. But their SLC Tournament dominance was 38 years palpable to observers and the competition, who are wary of the Demons’ depth that Jim Gilligan, Lamar baseball makes them so formidable in the late-season and postseason play. That was borne out again in 2013-14. Northwestern State posted its third 20-win season in nine years. Prather 36 years Brenda Gray, Sam Houston State volleyball (active) Coliseum was the least liked destination for Southland teams. March Madness again 32 years enveloped the NSU faithful, and in commencement exercises in December and May, Debbie Humphreys, Stephen F. Austin volleyball (active) Demon players marched in cap and gown -- a recurring theme that was one win shy 31 years of a repeat last season. Leon Johnson, Northwestern State track and field It’s all part of Coach Mike’s plan. And it’s a home grown product. McConathy has built with Louisiana players as about three-quarters of the Demons who have played for him are from the Bayou State. 21 years Mike McConathy, Northwestern State basketball (active)

That’s fitting. The McConathy family roots, and values, are deep in the red clay Bob Hayes, McNeese track and field hills of north Louisiana, tracing back decades to his family’s farm in hilly Bienville Parish, where his father and uncles did their chores before they used horses and bicycles to make the six-mile plus trip to basketball practice and games. During his days at Bossier Parish Community College, McConathy had chances to join his college teammate Tim Floyd as an assistant coach at Iowa State and possibly to the NBA, but it never came to pass. He couldn’t put a price tag on raising his boys around their grandparents and uncles and aunts in north Louisiana. Game of 21 Mike McConathy finished his 21st season with the Demons in 2019-20. He is one of eight active NCAA Division I men’s basketball coaches to spend that many seasons at their current institutions.

Now, as he’s brought Northwestern State basketball back, and even beyond to a level it reached when his father played for the Demons. Mike McConathy, Northwestern State

The transformation of Demon basketball has been accomplished. The challenge Tom Izzo, Michigan State hasn’t ended -- competition never does -- but Mike McConathy has built a program Mike Krzyzewski, Duke solid enough that he was proud to have his own son as part of the team. Jim Boeheim, Syracuse He’s smiling even more broadly nowadays. Michael and Logan graduated with honors after finishing five years in purple and white. But there still is a roster full of “Coach Mike’s boys” who don’t happen to be McConathys, just Demons. Bob McKillop, Davidson Fran O’Hanlon, Lafayette Greg Kampe, Oakland James Jones, Yale

NOTE: Schools had to be classified as Division I for the 21 years in question

The Coach McCONATHY AT NORTHWESTERN STATE

1999-00 2000-01 17-13 19-13 Championship Game, CenturyTel SLC Classic; most wins at NSU in 18 years NCAA Tournament win; CenturyTel SLC Classic What They Say 2001-02 13-18 Win over NCAA Tournament entry Siena 2002-03 6-21 Youngest team in NCAA D-I; top 8 scorers freshmen 2003-04 11-17 Youngest team in NCAA D-I; started 5-0 in SLC 2004-05 21-12 First SLC title; most wins since 1974; SLC Coach of the Year 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 26-8 17-15 15-18 SLC title, SLC tourney title, NCAA First Round win SLC East Division title; SLC tourney finalist SLC Tournament finalist “Mike is remarkably relaxed in this pressure cooker. You can tell his players hold a reverence 2008-09 2009-10 11-20 10-19 12 different starters Top 50 NCAA rankings in blocks, steals, scoring toward him. If you didn’t meet him, you’d think 2010-11 18-14 2nd in SLC race; led nation in team blocks, 9th in steals he was too good to be true. He’s a quality hu2011-12 2012-13 16-16 23-9 Ranked 6th in blocks, 11th in steals per game SLC Tournament Championship; Trip to NCAA tournament man being, more concerned about his kids get2013-14 17-14 SLC Tournament semifinals ting through school and doing well in life than 2014-15 2015-16 19-13 8-20 SLC Tournament semifinals; CollegeInsider.com Tournament Ranked 10th nationally in free-throw percentage (76.6) anything else, and they know it.” 2016-17 13-16 Won 4 of last 5 after return of Woodley, including beating champ UNO and T-2 SFA -- Bill Raftery, CBS Sports 2017-18 2018-19 4-25 11-20 13 different players started at least one game, and nine started at least six games 2006 NCAA Tournament 2019-20 15-15 8 newcomers, returned to SLC Tournament and won opening game 21 seasons 310-336 Seven SLC Tournament title game appearances in the last 17 seasons “I’ve seen and coached a lot of athletes down McCONATHY AT BOSSIER PARISH CC through the years but even today I can say that 1983-84 10-16 Mike McConathy is the most dedicated athlete 1984-85 16-16 I have ever been around. He was unrelenting 1985-86 1986-87 15-16 24-8 NJCAA Region 23 Tournament in his drive to improve. He would often wear 1987-88 22-9 NJCAA Region 23 Tournament ankle weights, and he was constantly jumping 1988-89 1989-90 19-12 24-8 NJCAA Region 23 Tournament Semifinalist NJCAA Region 23 Tournament rope. Even after practice, many nights he would 1990-91 22-11 Miss-Lou champion; NJCAA Region 23 semis return to the gym, calling a manager to come 1991-92 1992-93 15-15 28-9 NJCAA Region 23 Tournament Semifinalist shag balls for him as he shot and shot and shot 1993-94 28-6 Miss-Lou, Region 23 champions, NJCAA tourney to improve. It was obvious to me early on that 1994-95 1995-96 25-7 23-9 Miss-Lou champion, Region 23 runner-up Miss-Lou champion, Region 23 runner-up Mike was going to be a special player, but it was 1996-97 28-9 Miss-Lou & Region 23 champ; 7th in NJCAA tourney definitely his work ethic that set him apart over 1997-98 1998-99 27-3 26-5 Miss-Lou champ; 3rd nationally in final NJCAA poll Miss-Lou champ; 8th nationally in final NJCAA poll the course of his career.”

16 seasons 352-159 won 69% of his games, including 79% in last 7 years -- college teammate, former Cal-Riverside

• In 13 of his last 14 seasons, BPCC participated in the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament after finishing either first or second in the Miss-Lou Conference coach Jim Wooldridge • The Cavaliers won six straight Miss-Lou Conference championships from 1994-99 • BPCC won two NJCAA Region 23 championships • The Cavaliers were NJCAA Region 23 finalists two more times “I have never seen the drive Mike had in any • Twice, Coach Mike led Bossier Parish to the NJCAA Tournament other player on any level. Looking back, I realThe Player ize that the things we coaches try to emphasize each day to our players are the things that Mike MIKE “OPIE” McCONATHY did back then. He was completely self-made 1973-74 12.3 ppg Starter as a true freshman at Louisiana Tech and his numbers each year reflected how hard 1974-75 16.8 ppg All-Southland Conference, second team he was working. He could have started for 1975-76 24.7 ppg All-America, honorable mention; SLC Player of the Year; 13th leading scorer in NCAA D-I North Carolina, UCLA or anybody else.” 1976-77 Career 27.5 ppg 20.7 ppg 1st Team All-SLC; 7th leading scorer in D-I (98 games, 2,033 points) -- college teammate, UTEP coach Tim Floyd • Today he ranks 10th all-time in career scoring average in Southland Conference history • Tied Louisiana Tech single-game scoring record with 47 vs. Lamar, 2/23/76 (14-21 FGs, 19-20 FTs) • Set Prather Coliseum single-game scoring record with 45 vs. NSU, 12/11/76 (16-26 FGs, 13-15 FTs) • Scored 41 points vs. East Tennessee State, 11/29/76 (15-23 FGs, 11-16 FTs) • Scored 41 points vs. NSU, 2/28/77 (14-23 FGs, 13-14 FTs) • Scored 41 points vs. McNeese, 2/24/77 (15-25 FGs, 13-16 FTs) • Scored 40 points vs. Lamar, 2/13/75 (15-25 FGs, 10-11 FTs) • Holds school records for free throws made in a game (19 vs. Lamar, 2/23/76), season (200, 1976-77) and career (465), and most free throw attempts in a season (246, 1976-77) • Holds school record by hitting 16 of 16 free throws vs. Southern Mississippi, 2/9/77 • Chosen to play in Big Apple Classic, New York City, 1977 • Drafted by Chicago Bulls, 1977, fourth round of NBA Draft • Signed at La. Tech by Scotty Robertson, future NBA head coach, assistant coach and scout • Coached by Emmitt Hendricks, who was the owner of Nicky’s Mexican Restaurant in Natchitoches before his death • Inducted in the Shreveport-Bossier Sports Foundation Hall of Fame for his playing career at Airline and in college • Inducted in the Louisiana Tech Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011 2020-21 Northwestern State Men’s Basketball Media Guide Southland Conference Champions: 2004-05 • 2005-06 Southland Conference Tournament Champions: 2001 • 2006 • 2013 31

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McConathy is home: family ties to NSU span more than 50 years by Jerry Byrd, Bossier Press-Tribune

For more than 50 years, the name of McConathy has been synonymous with Northwestern State University basketball tradition. It all started on the Bienville Parish hill farm of O. L. McConathy in 1945, the year that World War II ended. McConathy’s oldest sons, Leslie and Johnny, were plowing corn that day when their work was interrupted by an automobile winding its way up the dirt road leading to the farmhouse. The three men in the automobile were representatives from the Louisiana Normal College in Natchitoches. The Bryceland High School basketball team had defeated Coushatta in a rally at Natchitoches, and the men made the trip to Bienville Parish to offer an athletic scholarship to Leslie McConathy. One of the men was the Normal football coach and athletic director, Harry “Rags” Turpin. Another was Monty Cheeves, an assistant basketball coach. The other was Joe Webb, a chemistry professor who later became head of the alumni association. Webb’s son, Randy, is now the president of Northwestern. Legend has it that Leslie McConathy picked up his plow by one handle, pointed in the direction of the farmhouse and told them he would meet them there as soon as he and Johnny plowed their way around the hill. But Johnny’s memory is a bit foggy on that point. When they reached the house, the scholarship offer was made and accepted, sealed by a handshake, and the visitors left. A few weeks later, Leslie changed his mind after visiting Louisiana Tech at Ruston, and sent a letter to Coach Turpin informing him that he had decided to attend Tech. Turpin returned to the McConathy farm to discuss the situation with Leslie and his father. O. L. McConathy asked Leslie if he told the people from Normal that he would go to their college. “Yes, sir,” he replied. “Then you told the people at Tech you would go to their college?” “Yes, sir.” “Well, that’s a mighty poor way to do business, isn’t it? You gave your word to these people first, so that settles it.” “We lived right behind the school,” Johnny McConathy recalls. Actually, it was six miles as the crow flies -- and much longer when Leslie rode a horse and Johnny pedaled a bicycle to the gym for basketball practice and games. Two years after his older brother went to the Natchitoches college, when Johnny was a senior at Bryceland High (which had an enrollment of 69 students), no college recruiters made the trip to the McConathy farmhouse. One reason was that Johnny McConathy broke his ankle early in the season. Another was the fact that he was a 6-1, 155-pound stringbean who would grow four inches taller in the next two years. Johnny hitchhiked to Natchitoches, where he found legendary coach H. Lee Prather playing a ping pong game. “What can you do?” Prather asked him between serves. “I can play ball,” said Johnny. Prather looked at him and shook his head. “You don’t look like much of a ballplayer to me,” he said. “I don’t have anything for you.” Then he resumed his ping pong game. Johnny McConathy wasn’t easily discouraged. When classes started the following fall, he hitchhiked to Natchitoches again. Once again, Prather told him no scholarship was available. But after Johnny managed to hang around for a few days, Prather called in Leslie and told him one of the boys he was expecting hadn’t shown up. “I’ll give your brother an opportunity, one day at a time,” he said.

By that time, the Natchitoches school had changed its name to Northwestern State College. Leslie and Johnny McConathy both played on the 1948-49 Demon team which posted a 23-5 record and is still regarded as Prather’s greatest team. So did another McConathy, Herschel, a distant relative from Florien.

The McConathy clan was part of a group of settlers from Alabama who traveled west along the route of what is now Interstate 20 (because it was the high ground, and their wagons wouldn’t bog down in the mud.) They hung a left at Arcadia, where they founded the Alabama Baptist Church, and some stayed in Bienville Parish while others continued to Sabine, Vernon an Beauregard parishes.

Johnny McConathy went from his “one day at a time” trial period to set a school scoring record and win All-America honors in 1952. After a brief stint in the National Basketball Association, he coached Bossier High to its first state basketball championship in 1960 and later served as superintendent of Bossier Parish schools. Leslie was superintendent of Richland Parish schools.

By the time younger brother George McConathy was a senior at Bryceland High, the Bienville Parish school had won a couple of state championships and Prather, who was then the Northwestern president, made the trip to the McConathy farmhouse himself to complete the clean sweep for the Demons. George became an All-Gulf States Conference star for Demon teams coached by Charles “Red” Thomas.

One generation (and several interviews) later, the McConathy connection led to Northwestern State.

When he was a senior at Airline High, Mike McConathy was recruited by LSU, Louisiana Tech and Northwestern State. He signed with Tech coach Scotty Robertson, who had coached at Shreveport’s Byrd High when Mike’s father, Johnny was coaching at Bossier High. 2020-21 Northwestern State Men’s Basketball Media Guide Southland Conference Champions: 2004-05 • 2005-06 Southland Conference Tournament Champions: 2001 • 2006 • 2013 32 McConathy became the second Tech player ever to score 2,000 points, passing the milestone in a game with Northwestern in which the Demons’ Billy Reynolds

Two generations of McConathy brothers have played for the Demons. Shown (left to right) standing in front of the rock crib at the McConathy family farm in Bienville Parish where the older McConathys grew up - George McConathy, Logan McConathy, John McConathy, Michael McConathy, and Leslie McConathy.

also broke the 2,000 point barrier, something only 16 other players in state history have done. Later, Mike McConathy became the first basketball coach at Bossier Parish Community College, and developed the team from scratch into a perennial national junior college powerhouse.

Twice, he applied for coaching vacancies at Northwestern State and wasn’t selected. But Mike McConathy, like his father, is not easily discouraged.

He interviewed for the Demons’ coaching position again in March 1999, and got the job.

When Johnny McConathy went to Northwestern State, the Demons were in the middle of a streak of 19 straight winning seasons under Prather, Thomas and Huey Cranford. Six of those teams won 20 or more games. The Natchitoches school had only two losing basketball seasons in the first 47 years of its basketball program.

That is the kind of tradition that Mike McConathy grew up hearing about from his father and uncles.

That is the kind of achievement that Coach Mike McConathy had to his credit in 16 seasons as head basketball coach at Bossier Parish Community College.

Nowadays at Northwestern, it’s clear Coach Mike McConathy has restored the same kind of championship tradition to the Demon basketball program his family helped to shape.

After reading the preceding story, nationally acclaimed Dayton Daily News columnist Tom Archdeacon spent time with Coach McConathy, his team and his family on the opening day of the 2001 NCAA Tournament. Archdeacon told the story of McConathy’s deep ties to Northwestern in the next morning’s Dayton Daily News. Portions of that column are excerpted here:

For Cinderella team, the McConathy magic is back

March 14, 2001

The big, white-haired man in the Demon purple shirt laughed and nodded:

Sure, he’d tell the story of the plow and the promise.... ....”That’s how this all began. It got me there and our brother George, one of our cousins, too, and now... it’s got Mike.”

Mike McConathy is Johnny’s son and the miracle-working, second-year coach of Northwestern State. Tuesday night, that Louisiana field that was plowed 55 years ago bore its best basketball fruit at UD Arena as Northwestern State -- playing the first NCAA Tournament game in school history -- defeated Winthrop, 71-67, in the opening round game of this year’s tournament .... ....Across Blackburn Court, Doug Ireland, the Demons’ sports information director, looked out at the scene of the proud father and triumphant son -- who soon would be fighting tears when he talked of his parents and how they’d driven nearly 1,000 miles to be here with him, and nodded: “The McConathy magic is back. This is just an absolute great story.”

Northwestern State and the McConathys is one of those charming Cinderella tales you get early in an NCAA Tournament. It’s a story of honor, undaunted belief and success.