VMI’s Baucom extended through 2018

Virginia Military Institute head basketball coach Duggar Baucom has received a contract extension through the 2017-2018 season, athletic director Donny White has announced.

Baucom in 2012-13 became the Institute’s all-time leader in victories with 118 and has piloted the Keydet basketball program to unprecedented competitive consistency throughout his eight-year tenure.

Baucom is second among active Big South coaches in conference wins (57) and is one of only two active Big South coaches with a winning conference tournament record (9-7).  Baucom has guided the Keydets to three winning seasons over the last five years and an appearance in the Big South Championship final game three times over the last seven seasons. His teams have also advanced to the conference tournament semifinals four of the last seven years. Baucom also moved past the career 100-win mark faster than any coach in VMI basketball history giving him the best winning percentage of any coach in the school modern era. His tenure is also the longest of active Big South Conference head basketball coaches.

Over the last seven years, the VMI basketball program under Baucom has also posted more wins (111) than all the military service academies and The Citadel during that time.

“Coach Duggar Baucom is an excellent basketball coach and I am happy to provide him with an extension to his contract,” said White. “He has energized the VMI fans with an exciting brand of basketball and I am thrilled with the great young men he has recruited to represent our institution.”

Under Baucom, the Keydets have employed a signature fast-paced style of hoops that previously led the nation in Division I scoring for an unprecedented five consecutive years, from 2006-07 through the 2010-11 campaigns.

“I’m very excited about my contract extension through 2018 and humbled by the faith shown in me by Coach Donny White and General Peay,” said Baucom. “ I am very proud of what we have established here and will continue to build in the future.  We have been fortunate to have cadet-athletes that have excelled on the court, in the Corps, in the classroom, and after graduation. I will always be indebted to my former players for the culture they have created at the Institute and to my current players who continue to hold that bar high.  I’m very appreciative of my staff for their hard work and dedication to our program.  We are extremely grateful to the Keydet Club, our alumni, and our loyal fan base.“

Since transitioning to the up-tempo, high-flying system, the VMI record books have undergone a major facelift over 80 school, individual, team , conference and facility records and superlatives been rewritten in the Baucom era.

In 2008-09, Baucom also led VMI to a 24-8 mark and a berth in the Big South Conference finals, their second-such berth in three years. The 24 victories were the second-most in school history and the campaign began with a bang when the Keydets knocked off Kentucky, 111-103, in historic Rupp Arena. That victory kick-started a memorable campaign that saw the Keydets profiled in Sports Illustrated, ESPN The Magazine and the New York Times, along with several other major media outlets. The season saw Baucom honored as the 2009 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District 3 Coach of the Year, while he was also among 10 finalists for the Hugh Durham Award, given annually to the nation’s top mid-major coach.

VMI players under Baucom have attained all-Big South Conference honors nine times, All-Freshman honors four times, Defensive Player of the Year twice and Freshman of the Year once. Reggie Williams, who graduated in 2008 as the school’s all-time leading scorer (2,556 points) after leading the nation in scoring two consecutive years, played with the NBA’s Golden State Warriors and Charlotte Bobcats over the past four years and is currently with the Houston Rockets. Stan Okoye, who graduated from VMI last spring after a standout college career, was named 2012-13 Big South Player of the Year and is currently competing with the Nigerian National team before embarking on a professional career in Greece this fall.