The Past Legacy of UW-Milwaukee Men’s Basketball [OPINION]

There once was a time, many years ago, when people from all over attended Division I men’s basketball games at once called, U.S. Cellular Arena, now known as Panther Arena, to watch the Panthers. 

There once was a time where this basketball program seemed promising and exciting. UWM has had its fair share of coaches over the years. The top coaches who some probably think of when they think of success would easily be Bo Ryan, Bruce Pearl, and Rob Jeter.

The Bo Ryan era was simple and sweet lasting from just 1999-2001 with 30 wins and 27 losses. The Bruce Pearl era may be considered the best time ever for this previously struggling program. Some might say UWM took a big risk hiring Pearl. In fact, sources claim UWM was the only school in the country willing to take a risk on Pearl. Pearl was a coach at Iowa and wanted to recruit the same player that Illinois wanted. It got heated and Illinois ended up getting the desired player.

It upset Pearl, so he turned in some audio he secretly recorded to the NCAA. An Illinois coach had promised the desired player a new car and cash, which is very illegal, for those who don’t know. Pearl was labeled as a “snake” and some had said he committed “career suicide.” 
Things ended up working out for Pearl, and he ended up getting a job coaching at UWM in 2001.  Pearl helped UWM reach many milestones and accomplish many things people never saw coming. It was truly an incredible time and excitement kept brewing.

Some of Pearl’s accomplishments include taking UWM to  its first NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship appearance in 2003 followed by a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2005 and a second round appearance in 2006. Unfortunately, Pearl did not stick around as long as many students and fans had hoped for. Overall, the Panthers won three straight regular-season Horizon League championships between 2004 and 2006 as well as the Horizon League Tournament championship in 2003, 2005, and 2006 all under Bruce Pearl. 

He had put UWM on a national stage. After the firing of Pearl, UWM hired Rob Jeter. The fans loved Jeter as much as the players did. Jeter went on to follow the footsteps of Pearl and took UWM to the Horizon League Championship in 2011 and won.  In 2014, the Panthers won the Horizon League tournament, making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2006. Jeter led the Panthers to a fourth straight 20-win season, with the 22 wins the most by a first-year head coach in UWM history.

Jeter’s 11 seasons at UWM resulted in a 184-170 record. His last season before getting fired, he got the team to a 20-13 record. This was decent, especially looking at where this team stands now. UWM athletic director Amanda Braun made the decision to fire Jeter and even wishes she fired him sooner. It didn’t make much sense to most people. After a very successful run she pulled the plug.

The next coach UWM hired was LaVall Jordan. He ended his career at UWM after just one season with an embarrassing 11-24 record. However, Jordan made “an improbable run in the 2017 Horizon League Men’s Basketball Tournament, becoming the first 10th-seeded team to win a Horizon League Tournament game, and going on to reach the championship game against Northern Kentucky.” Jordan lost his job and UWM hired Patrick Baldwin the next season. Baldwin is currently still with UWM and currently holds a 25-39 overall current record.

The end of the 2018-2019 season Baldwin’s top scorers left UWM. The 2019-2020 season will be interesting to say the least. Will UWM’s program ever be the way it once was? We can only hope for more success in Milwaukee, but changes may need to be made to be as great as we once were. The pressure is on Braun and coach Baldwin to get this program back to they way it once was. Hopefully this team will make a statement and make UWM proud. As always, go Panthers!