POLISHED PATH: Former Bruin star excels in coaching journey

Hard to believe, but former Bartlesville High School athletic icon Tommy DeSalme is already into his third decade as a head college basketball coach.

It seems literally like just last week, DeSalme exited his job as an assistant coach at Southeastern Oklahoma State and relocated in 2001 to Sterling (Kan.) College to pull up the curtain on what has developed into a storied career which is about to enter its 22nd seasons.

He has amassed 422 career wins in 21 seasons — an average of 20.1 wins per season, played for a national title and led some, if not all, his teams to their greatest-ever season at that point in their history.

DeSalme’s career has embodied a classic theme — a guy who knew at a young age what he wanted to do, paid the price to get a chance and excelled in the opportunity.

Currently he is nearing his second season as men’s hardwood skipper of the Blue Dragons at Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College.

During his debut campaign last year with the program, the Blue Dragons unleashed a fiery, withering assault that resulted in a 26-9 record and National Junior College At-Large Bid.

That was the third-straight season DeSalme’s team has advanced to the national tourney.

His roadmap of success has been confined to the Kansas borders.

DeSalme started out his coaching career by working five seasons (2001-2006) at Sterling College.

During the 2006-07 season, he coached the Kansas Wesleyan University Coyotes to a historic 28-4 mark and spot in the NAIA national tournament.

In fact from the 2003-04 campaign through the 2006-07 campaign, Sterling played three different seasons in the NAIA postseason bash, advancing to the second round in 2006-07.

DeSalme remained just one season at KWU before deciding to switch to coaching junior college ball.

He spent two seasons (2007-09) at Independence College, leading the squad to 45 wins.

In 2009, DeSalme switched addresses for a prolonged state at Cowley (Kan.) Community College — where he would remain for 12 seasons (through 2020-21).

DeSalme got to experienced both the dizzy heights of success and the valleys of revival during that dozen-year portal.

He averaged 22.75 wins — and a Region VI runner-up spot — during his first four years with the Cowley Tigers.

But, that was followed with three-consecutive losing seasons, with an 11-20 record in 2014-15 as the lowest point.

However, DeSalme heralded the program back toward the promised land, including three 20-or-more winning seasons in his final four years at Cowley.

In 2019-20, the Tigers roared to a 26-6 mark and earned a NJCAA tourney at-large bid.

The next season — DeSalme’s last one at Cowley — the Tigers clawed out a 24-5 mark, his first Region VI championship title and surged on a winning spurt throughout the tourney until losing in the NJCAA championship game.

He resigned in the spring of 2021 and moved to Hutchinson. The Blue Dragons’ 26-9 record in the 2021-22 season, matched the second-most wins ever recorded by a DeSalme team.

More importantly, the Blue Dragons finished as the Region VI runner-up team and played on an at-large bid at the NJCAA tourney, where they advanced to the second round.

In all, DeSalme has coached 10 20-or-more win teams in 21 years and collected four conference crowns and seven conference runner-up spots.

DeSalme excelled in sports at Bartlesville High, from the late 1980s to early 1990s.

He played vital roles on the Bruins’ basketball state championship teams of 1988-89 and 1990-91. His honors included All-State recognition.

Following graduation, he attended Southeastern State and earned a basketball letter all four seasons and a berth as a starter for two campaigns.

He continued with post-graduate studies (Master of Education) at SOSU and started his coaching career as an assistant.

SOSU carved out big success during that time, grabbing two conference titles and advancing multiple years to the NAIA tourney.

When the time felt right, he boarded the train headed to a head coaching career.

Twenty-one years later, the express of success is still rolling strong.

It’s been a good ride with plenty of miles of opportunity still tilling the forward horizon.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Bartlesville High grad Tommy DeSalme has 400-plus coaching wins