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Campus Review
February 26, 2013
Page 18
team league and currently enjoy an 11-
year streak of winning seasons, all accom-
plished during his tenure. Before his
arrival, the Lakers had a combined four
winning seasons in the 11 years of men’s
basketball.
Gibbons has led the Lakers to two NCAA
Division II National tournaments, includ-
ing a “Sweet Sixteen” Appearance, a
Peach Belt Conference Championship and
a Peach Belt Conference Tournament
Championship title.
In his first season in 2000-01, the Lakers
captured their first Peach Belt Conference
Championship regular season title with a
19-9 record overall and a 15-5 mark in
league play.
He led the program to arguably their best
season ever in 2006-07, as the squad fin-
ished with a 24-8 overall record, advanc-
ing to the Peach Belt Conference
Tournament championship game. The
Lakers clinched their first NCAA
Division II National Tournament bid that
year and was ranked in the nation’s Top-
25 the entire season. The squad spent
eight weeks ranked as the nation’s No. 2
team.
Clayton State captured the Peach Belt
Conference Tournament Championship in
the 2007-08 season, sweeping through the
tourney with four straight wins, capped
off by an epic triple-overtime thriller over
host USCAiken in the title game. The win
punched the Lakers’ ticket to the NCAA
Division II National Championships,
where the squad advanced to the “Sweet
Sixteen” for the first time in school histo-
ry.
Gibbons won his 400th game in February
of the 2008-09 season, becoming one of
the fastest Division II coaches to reach the
plateau. At the conclusion of 2006-07 sea-
son, Gibbons was honored as the John
"Whack" Hyder State of Georgia Men’s
College Coach of the Year by the Atlanta
Tip-Off Club, and last fall he was induct-
ed into the Florida Association of
Basketball Coaches (FABC) "Court of
Legends" Hall of Fame.
Winning at the national level was not for-
eign to Gibbons and prior to his arrival at
Clayton State, he enjoyed an ultra-suc-
cessful career at Florida Southern. During
his 10-year career at Florida Southern, he
had a 246-65 record (3rd winningest Div.
II record) and posted nine 20-win seasons.
His success on the national stage at
Florida Southern included six trips to the
NCAA Division II National Tournament,
two appearances in the Elite Eight and
one appearance in the Final Four.
Gibbons averaged a 25-7 win-loss record
at Florida Southern and a .790 percent
winning percentage. His top season came
in the 1999-00 campaign when he led the
Moccasins to a 32-2 record, a trip to the
Elite Eight and a No. 1 national ranking in
the final Division II poll. His Florida
Southern teams were either the regular
season or tournament champions in the
Sunshine State Conference in eight of his
10 years and were ranked in the top 20 six
times.
In addition to team accomplishments,
Gibbons’ players also excelled academi-
cally and athletically. In his 24 years com-
bined as a head coach and an assistant
coach, Gibbons has had nine All-
Americans, two National Players of the
Year and one player drafted into the
National Basketball Association. He has
also had nearly 30 players play profes-
sional basketball in the United States and
Europe.
While at Florida Southern, Gibbons was a
finalist for National Coach of the Year in
1999-00 by Basketball Times. He was
also selected the 1995-96 NCAA South
Region NABC Coach of the Year and was
a three-time Sunshine State Conference
Coach of the Year.
A native of Tampa, Fla., Gibbons played his
collegiate basketball at Springfield (Mass.)
College (though after James Naismith was
there), receiving his Bachelor’s Degree from
Springfield in 1968.
Clayton State will conduct a nationwide
search for Gibbons’ replacement.
The Clayton State women’s basketball
program is 89-5 (.947) over the last three
years, the top winning percentage of any
program at the NCAA Division II level.
The Lakers have been ranked in the Top-
25 in 72 straight national polls. The last
time the Lakers weren’t ranked among the
country’s Top-25 teams dates back five
years ago in the Jan. 6th poll in the 2008-
09 season.
Out of over 1,000 teams competing at the
NCAA Division I, II and III levels, there
are only two women’s basketball pro-
grams that have fewer losses than Clayton
State’s five. Both Baylor University, at the
NCAA Division I level, and Amherst
College, at the NCAA Division III level,
have four losses over the last three years.
The Lakers will close its regular season
on Saturday, traveling to play Peach Belt
Conference rival Columbus State.
Photo Credit: Kevin Liles | kdlphoto.com
Coach Gordon Gibbons and the men’s team follwoing the 2013 Homecoming game.
Gibbons, cont’d. from p. 21
#1, cont’d. from p. 21