Sept. 17, 2009
By Andrew Gavin
UCFAthletics.com
Don Meyer visit photo gallery
Don Meyer ESPN Espy Awards speech
Don Meyer, who is currently in first place all-time on the NCAA men's basketball wins list with 910 wins, was on campus Wednesday evening and spoke with the UCF women's basketball team. An inspirational person and one of the winningest college basketball coaches of all-time, Meyer met the team and gave them advice on how to conduct themselves both on and off the court.
Now the head coach at Northern State, Meyer broke Bob Knight's all-time wins record on Jan. 10 with an 82-62 victory. The record came just four months after Meyer was in a near-fatal car wreck which resulted in getting his left leg amputated and a discovery that he had cancer. Coaching from a wheelchair, Meyer was back on the sidelines for the season, and led Northern State not only to the record-setting victory but also to a 19-11 record and a trip to the NCAA Division II Tournament.
On July 15 of this year, Meyer was presented with the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance at ESPN's 2009 Espy Awards at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.
Meyer has been involved in college basketball since 1968 when he was hired as an assistant coach at Western State. After landing his first head coaching job at Hamline in 1972, Meyer became the head coach at Lipscomb in 1975, and he stayed with the Bisons until 1999 and won 665 games.
While at Lipscomb, current UCF associate head coach Greg Brown worked as a student assistant under Meyer and the two remain close today.
"It was good to give the players a different voice to bring the message," said Brown. "With everything he has been through, he has a message to take to people, and I think our team got a lot out of what he had to say. He could have given up, he could be bitter and have stopped coaching, but he still wants to share and give back to the game of basketball. He was really excited to meet and talk to our team."
Meyer talked to the team about "developing a family atmosphere" and "doing the next right thing right." He told the players to be professional in their actions. Instead of saying "why me" when something bad happens on or off the court, he instructed the players to think "what is my next best action."