Then and Now: The Eureka Tradition Lives On

EUREKA, Ill. – There were many firsts for the Eureka College women's basketball program over the last two weeks. The first St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular-season title. The first SLIAC Tournament title. And, of course, the program's first national tournament bid.

But it wasn't the Red Devils' first conference championship. Eureka, which held dual membership in the NAIA and NCAA Division III from 1978 through 1995, won five league titles in the old NAIA Prairie College Conference in 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988 and 1991, making this season's title Eureka's first in nearly three decades.

The women's basketball team went 16-12 overall in 1990-91, but earned its fifth PCC title in seven seasons thanks to a 7-1 league mark. The roster didn't have a senior, but featured five future EC Hall of Famers and Hall of Fame head coach Nancy LaCursia, who left her post following the season with a nine-year record of 141-84.

Despite all of the star power – and much like this year's SLIAC champ – the Red Devils boasted a balanced offense without a player to score more than 15.0 points per game. EC went 9-4 on its home floor and won 10 of its final 14 contests overall.

Debbie (Kessinger) Coffman was a junior guard on the 1990-91 team. She averaged 11.0 points in 27 appearances and her 148 assists still stand as the single-season Eureka record. She graduated in 1992 and is now the girls basketball head coach at Bloomington Central Catholic.

"The team chemistry that we had playing together (in 1991) was a really good group of kids," Coffman said. "The coaching staff put a lot of time and effort in. Everybody loved it and wanted to play. Everybody was there for a reason – to get an education and to still do something that everybody loved – their passion for basketball."

Mindy Whitehouse was one of six freshmen on the 1990-91 Red Devils. She played in all 28 games that season, averaging 9.1 points and 3.6 rebounds. The championship season kicked off her four-year EC career that ended with 1,022 points, 309 rebounds and an induction into the Eureka College Athletics Hall of Fame. She graduated in 1994, and like her former teammate Coffman, coaches high school girls basketball. Whitehouse is the head coach at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley and previously coached current EC freshman Ashley Harfst as a freshman at Pontiac in 2012-13.

"I had four great years (at Eureka)," Whitehouse said. "Two great coaches. We made quite a little run. We had a great team. Every girl that's on that team – (we're) lifelong friends. For me, that's what I'll remember about playing basketball at Eureka."

In addition to the impressive run by the women's basketball program in the early 90s, the men's basketball team was on the cusp of earning three straight NAIA Tournament bids and winning the 1994 national title.

The EC football program recorded its only undefeated regular season (10-0) and an NAIA playoff bid in 1991. The Red Devils went back to the national postseason in 1994, a springboard to the decorated career of then-freshman and current EC head coach Kurt Barth, who closed his playing career as the all-time NCAA leader in receiving yards.

Softball followed with a 30-win season in 1996. Volleyball won back-to-back Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference championships in 1996 and 1997.

It was truly the golden era of modern Eureka College athletics.

The Red Devils' 2017 sweep of the SLIAC regular-season and tournament championships comes as part of what could be a renaissance of sorts for Eureka College athletics.

"We had great teams up there and it seems to be the same thing that's happening now," Whitehouse said. "I think it's all part of recruiting. Athletics is a priority at Eureka College and I think that's something (a prospective student-athlete) considers. It's a huge selling point."

Since 2013, the Red Devils have earned top-three SLIAC finishes and tournament semifinal appearances in men's basketball, women's basketball and softball. The Eureka football team has put up an 8-2 record in two of the last four seasons and Barth recently became the winningest head coach in program history. The men's basketball team is less than a month removed from breaking its single-season team scoring record. The softball team exploded for a 29-win season a year ago and has an All-American – sophomore shortstop Kerrigan Dura – on its roster for the first time in more than two decades. Dura also stars on the hardwood for the current women's basketball squad and is 13 assists shy of matching Coffman's 1990-91 record.

And of course, the 2016-17 women's basketball team is reaching heights never before seen in more than four decades of intercollegiate competition. Eureka will take the floor in an NCAA Tournament game for the first time in program history Friday night.

There is one major difference between the 1991 Prairie College Conference champions and the 2017 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champions – the Reagan Athletic Complex.

A sweeping renovation in the summer of 2015 resulted in Christine Bonati Bollwinkle Arena, a state-of-the-art facility with 1,000 chair-back seats, the only Division III facility of its kind in the state of Illinois.

Both Coffman and Whitehouse brought their high school teams to play games on campus in January.

"I love that gym," Whitehouse said with a laugh. "I wish I had that gym. We walked in there and even my players were like 'wow, this is state of the art. This is where you played?' I said this is where I played, but not quite this."

"It's beautiful," Coffman added. "I'm very happy to be an alum there. I was very proud to show my team what the new gym was like. I think it's going to be a great recruiting tool to play in that kind of atmosphere. It shows all of the alums giving back and I think it's an awesome way to show off the school."

While Whitehouse and Coffman enjoyed reflecting on their conference championship as student-athletes, both former stars heaped praise on the 2016-17 Red Devils.

"To put Eureka College back on the map – Steve (Thompson) has done a great job getting kids to come and recruiting," Coffman said. "Sometimes you can have very athletic kids, but you've got to have the work ethic. I think we had that when we were all there (in 1991) and I think these kids (in 2017) show that as well."

"There's so much Eureka College has to be proud of," Director of Athletics and women's basketball head coach Steve Thompson added. "Our alums play a huge role shaping our success to this day. Our current student-athletes are happy to be part of the newest chapter."