There are few assistant coaches in Division I basketball that have had as big of an impact on the game as Creighton assistant coach Steve Merfeld. In the 2001 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, Merfeld accomplished what only three other coaches had done since the tournament was started in 1939: Merfeld and the Hampton University Pirates became the fourth No. 15 seed to beat a No. 2 seed.
Merfeld, a longtime Bowling Green State University assistant coach, left for Hampton University in 1996 for an assistant coaching job. One year later he took over the head coaching reigns for the Pirates. In Merfeld’s first three years as a head coach, the Pirates posted a sub .500 record.
The 2000-01 basketball season turned things around for both Merfeld and the Hampton University basketball program. The Pirates posted a 25-7 record that year and finished in a tie for first place in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
“We had good players and we were really fortunate to have some transfers come in – one from Richmond, one from Syracuse – that had already played in the NCAA tournament for their schools and were able to give us direction through the season,” Merfeld said. “We had a good group of guys that were good players. There are more things than just talent that win games, and we had those things that season.”
The Pirates won the conference tournament and earned their first trip to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. The Pirates were projected to be a low seed, as most mid-major programs are. They drew a No. 15 seed and were slated to play the No. 2 seed Iowa State Cyclones. The Cyclones had won the Big 12 regular season conference championship and were led by future first-round NBA draft pick Jamaal Tinsley. While this might discourage some mid-major coaches, Merfeld remained optimistic.
“They were not playing particularly well at that time in the year,” Merfeld said. “They were not playing at the level that they had earlier in the season. We felt like we matched up well against them and thought we had a chance to compete with them.”
The two teams tipped off at the Boise State University Pavilion and played an even first half to the surprise of all 11,362 fans. The Pirates walked into the locker room at halftime with a 31-27 lead. It seemed someone had forgotten to tell Merfeld and the Pirates that they weren’t supposed to win this game.
“That’s an easy thing to do [believe we weren’t suppose to win], but that team had already won 24 games, and they expected to win,” Merfeld said. “It was a group that really believed they were the better team. “
The game went back and forth for the first few minutes of the second half and then the Pirates encountered a bad break.
“Our best player [Tarvis Williams] got his fourth foul with 13 minutes left,” Merfeld said. “Iowa State ended up making a run on us and we were down. With about 10 minutes left we thought, ‘What do we have to lose?’ and we kept him in and rolled the dice.”
Merfeld’s gamble paid off as Williams hit the game-winning shot with 6.9 seconds left on the clock. The Pirates had overcome a nine-point deficit and outscored the Cyclones 14-2 in the last eight minutes to complete the upset win over Iowa State. The fans rushed the court, and needless to say, the emotions of winning the game were overpowering.
“I remember the final buzzer but not much after that,” Merfeld said. “I don’t remember any of the celebration, except being hoisted in the air by my players.”
Only three No. 15 seeds had beat a No. 2 seed since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, with the last being the 1997 upset of Coppin State University over the University of South Carolina. Merfeld and the Pirates had made NCAA basketball history.
Their celebration was short-lived, however, as the Pirates had to now play the Georgetown University Hoyas. The Cinderella story came to an end when the Pirates lost to Georgetown 76-57.
The next year the Pirates had a similar record and reached the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row. They drew a No. 15 seed again and faced the University of Connecticut but could not recreate the magic that they had the year before. Hampton fell to UConn 78-67.
The following year, Merfeld left Hampton to coach the University of Evansville. Merfeld’s Purple Aces struggled in the emerging Missouri Valley Conference during the five seasons that he was there.
“I thought we did a pretty solid job with a team that had talked about going Division II or III a few years before,” Merfeld said. “We had some great wins along the way but it wasn’t enough. The conference exploded when we were there; it was at an all-time high. Given the opportunity to do it over again I would still choose to go to Evansville.”
He left the Purple Aces in 2007 and continued his coaching career at Bradley University, this time as an assistant coach.
“The enthusiasm that Peoria had for Bradley was attractive,” Merfeld said. “To coach basketball, that’s what I’ve always wanted to do. Whether it be as an assistant coach or head coach, I’ve been lucky to have the opportunity to do that.”
Merfeld was at Bradley for almost two and half years before he left an “uncomfortable situation” in December of 2009.
Shortly after Greg McDermott received the Creighton head coaching job in late April, Merfeld was offered a chance to join the coaching staff as an assistant.
Merfeld was eager to join McDermott and the Bluejays.
“It all comes down to people and respect, and [McDermott] is a great, great basketball coach, and he’s a great person,” Merfeld said. “The respect and comfort level was there to help him win championships here. Having both coached in the Missouri Valley Conference, we are well aware of the resources and fan
supports that Creighton University has to offer.”
Hopefully Merfeld’s mid-major magic will rub off on the rebounding Jays.