April 14, 2004

ROMEOVILLE - Lewis University head men's basketball coach Jim Whitesell has resigned to accept the same position at Loyola University Chicago.

Whitesell recently completed his 12th season at Lewis and his 17th season as a collegiate head coach. He produced a Lewis record of 214-126 (.629) and owns an overall mark of 278-194 (.589). Whitesell concluded his Lewis tenure second to Gordie Gillespie (220) on the University's all-time men's basketball victories list.

"I'm experiencing a full range of emotions," Whitesell said. "I'm very excited about the opportunity at Loyola, and at the same time I'm really sad to be leaving Lewis. I love Lewis, and I'm leaving with a heavy heart.

"It's my good fortune to have coached a lot of outstanding players and worked with a lot of terrific people at Lewis during the past 12 years," Whitesell continued. "I've had a great deal of help in building Lewis basketball into a program the University can be very proud of.

"There is a great opportunity and a great challenge to do the same thing at Loyola, and that's one of the primary aspects of the job that appealed to me," Whitesell added. "I feel there is unbelievable potential there. Also, it's a good fit for me because of the similarity in values that Loyola, as a Catholic institution, shares with Lewis."

With a 24-7 record this season, a 23-8 record last year and a 25-7 mark in 2001-02, Whitesell's last three Lewis teams enjoyed the winningest three-year stretch in program history.

The 2003-04 Flyers won the program's first Great Lakes Valley Conference championship in 16 years. In addition, this year's team made the program's fifth NCAA tournament appearance in seven seasons; reached the GLVC Tournament title game for a third consecutive season; was ranked No. 1 in the Great Lakes region the entire year; and reached No. 11 in the Division II national poll. Whitesell was rewarded by being named GLVC Coach of the Year, National Association of Basketball Coaches Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year and, for a sixth time, Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Division II Coach of the Year.

Last season's Flyers peaked at No. 12 in the Division II national poll and played in the NCAA tournament. The 2001-02 squad tied for second in the GLVC, won the GLVC Tournament title, reached the championship game of the Division II Great Lakes Regional (round of 16) and tied the school record of 25 wins.

This season's 24-7 record gave Whitesell the fourth 20-win season of his career and marked the sixth time in the past seven seasons the Flyers have won at least 19 games. Lewis fashioned a 142-63 record (.693) and produced three All-Americans during that seven-year period. The Flyers were a model of consistency under Whitesell, enjoying 10 winning seasons in his 12 years at the helm.

Four products of Whitesell's Lewis program - John Adams, Rich Aigner, Milosh Pujo and Tarrie Monroe - are playing or have played professionally overseas. That quartet also is among the highly impressive 96 percent of Whitesell's players who have earned a degree.

Whitesell came to Lewis after spending five seasons as head men's basketball coach at NCAA Division III Elmhurst College, where he turned around a program that had not enjoyed a winning season in 17 years. Elmhurst's 19-9 record in Whitesell's final season was the best in school history to date, and the Bluejays advanced to the second round in their first NCAA Division III Championship appearance.

Whitesell lifted the Lewis program back into the national picture in similar fashion. In 1993-94, his second season, the Flyers enjoyed the best turnaround in Division II, posting an 18-9 record and narrowly missing the national tournament.

Whitesell also has coached as a graduate assistant at the University of North Dakota and as an assistant at Ellsworth (Iowa) College, Wabash Valley (Ill.) College and Mankato State (Minn.) University.