New ISU women's coach no stranger to Hulman Center

Apr. 28—When Chad Killinger was a wannabe basketball coach in his 20s, he sought permission to attend the practices of various men's and women's college programs around Indiana.

He hoped to learn more about the sport he loved.

One of the teams Killinger visited was Indiana State's men inside Hulman Center. Not only did he study how coach Royce Waltman's Sycamores practiced, he noticed ISU legend Larry Bird, Rick Carlisle and Dick Harder — all coaches for the NBA's Indiana Pacers at the time — watching from a distance.

As Killinger was walking up the northside ramp to leave the building that day, he ran into then-Pacers broadcaster and former coach Bobby "Slick" Leonard, who grew up in Terre Haute and starred at Indiana University in the early 1950s.

"I knew who he was — a legend in the state," Killinger recalled, adding that they had never met before. "So we just started talking. At the end of the conversation, he said, 'You seem like a good guy. I think you'll make it. I wish you nothing but the best of luck.'"

Fast forward to April 13, 2021, when the basketball world learned that Leonard passed away at the age of 88.

April 13 happened to be the same day that ISU director of athletics Sherard Clinkscales offered Killinger the job as women's head basketball coach at the university. He accepted, replacing Vicki Hall.

"I thought the irony of that [Leonard connection] was just tremendous," Killinger told the Tribune-Star on Tuesday after he was officially introduced to ISU alumni and donors and Wabash Valley media as the new women's coach.

Introductory speeches took place inside newly renovated Hulman Center, the same facility where Killinger met Leonard many moons ago.

----Asked how quickly he expects the ISU women's program to become a winner under Killinger after three straight losing seasons under Hall and three straight losing seasons before that, Clinkscales laughed before telling the Tribune-Star: "I want to win all the time."

"We do have some young, talented players who are still here," he continued on a more serious note. "We brought in an experienced coach who's seasoned [in Killinger]. I anticipate us being very competitive this winter."

Clinkscales mentioned that no players, besides the three seniors from 2020-21, have left the ISU women's program since the end of the season.

"I think they know this is a wonderful place to be," he explained. "I spoke to all of them and . . . they were looking forward to a new leader and to see where we're going. But no one has gone into the [NCAA transfer] portal."

At the beginning of the news conference, where members of Killinger's large family filled most of the front row, Clinkscales presented Killinger with a blue and white No. 9 jersey that they held up for photo ops.

Nine symbolizes the number of head coaches that Indiana State has had guide its women's basketball program over the years.

Clinkscales shared a story about Killinger with those who attended the news conference. It involved current ISU baseball coach Mitch Hannahs, who first knew Killinger when both worked at Lincoln Trail College.

Hannahs was preparing for a recruit visit when he went inside the LTC locker room and saw Killinger on his knees scrubbing the floors to make them cleaner.

"[Hannahs] told him, 'We have [maintenance] people who do this type of stuff,'" Clinkscales relayed. "Chad said, 'I know we do and I appreciate what they do, but I wanted it to be a little bit better. I have recruits coming into town.'"

On the court, Killinger said Tuesday that the 2021-22 Sycamores will focus on defending, rebounding and running "every opportunity we have."

"We're going to play hard," he promised. "We're going to play together. And we're going to take care of the basketball.

"We want to play up-tempo offensively while sharing the ball, taking quality shots and staying under control. But the biggest aspect of that is putting our student-athletes in a position to be successful.

"Defensively, we're going to do whatever it takes to get stops. That could mean changing defenses a lot. We could play zone. We could trap. We could press. Whatever it takes."

But Killinger stressed the program's No. 1 goal will be that each student-athlete on the roster earn a degree from Indiana State University.

"We're still in the process of evaluating some things," he said in regard to the ISU roster. "There's a lot that go into those decisions, so they're not going to be made lightly. I do have face-to-face meetings set up with everyone this week."

----Killinger, 46, said he grew up in the Gosport-Stinesville area and graduated from Edgewood High School. After that, he attended Franklin College. He became a graduate assistant on the FC men's basketball staff and also ran an AAU team in Bloomington.

Killinger later was a men's basketball assistant coach at Lincoln Trail for four years and an assistant at Jacksonville College in Texas for three years.

Killinger returned to the Wabash Valley when he became head women's coach at Lincoln Trail from 2006-10. Hannahs was LTC's athletic director at the time.

In four seasons with the Statesmen, Killinger posted a 91-36 record and led LTC to its first-ever NJCAA postseason bid.

After Lincoln Trail, Killinger was an assistant at Marshall before he had a successful seven-year stint at Moberly Community College in Missouri. He was National Coach of the Year there in 2018 when he guided Moberly to a 32-1 record.

Killinger went to East Carolina from there, and due to an unexpected coaching change, became the Pirates' interim head coach to start the 2018-19 season. He led East Carolina to a 9-2 record before resigning due to a non-life-threatening medical concern.

Killinger then joined the staff at Nicholls State, where he had been an assistant the last two seasons under head coach Dobee Plaisance.