Unlike most of his brethren in the coaching ranks, Mike Newell is an optimist. While many of his contemporaries have taken the art of poor-mouthing their teams to new heights, Newell isn’t bashful about giving an honest assessment of his team’s chances. It’s not cocky . . . it’s confidence built on years of winning. He dreams big, but he’s been there before. From the NIT to a stunning upset in the NCAA’s, Mike Newell knows about winning. Now in his fifth season at UAM, the Indiana native has been slowly building toward a run at the Gulf South Conference title and his ultimate goal . . . an NCAA Division II national championship. If you know your history, then don’t bet against him.

“This is the year we’ve been building for since I came to UAM,” says Newell. “We have the talent, the depth, and the experience to be a contender in the Gulf South Conference, and if we can get to the NCAA’s and the ball bounces just right, who knows.”

When Newell was hired in 2001, he began to recruit the young athletes that power the Boll Weevil offense as upperclassmen today.

Newell’s recruiting efforts brought in Billy McDaniel, who became a first team All-American in 2003, the first in school history. He then added another freshman, his son, Nate Newell, who earned first team All-GSC honors last season.

Newell’s first three UAM squads won nine games each before last year’s break-through season produced an 18-10 mark and earned Newell GSC West Division Coach of the Year accolades.

“One of the important things in building a program is being able to recruit, but an even more important thing is being able to develop the recruits once you’ve got them in-house. There’s no other way to develop young players but through hard work, discipline, and mental toughness. Our talent level and our experience level are as high as it has ever been since I’ve been here, and probably higher than any team in recent memory at UAM. This is not by accident, it is a part of our five-year plan. Because of the type of kids we’ve recruited, we’ve been able to keep them at UAM. We haven’t lost many players since I have been here. The way our players have developed over the last couple of years, I am confident that the UAM program will change for the better this year. We’ve developed the intensity, the mental toughness, and the intelligence as a team that it takes to compete at this level, and win.”

Still, Newell is quick to say he is not satisfied with simply competing. “I wanted to go someplace where I thought we could win a national championship. I think we can do that at UAM.”

Newell knows something about winning. He won 113 games his first five seasons as a head coach, one more than the legendary John Wooden won in his first five years at Indiana State. He also guided UALR to a historic upset of Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament.

Newell earned a reputation as a builder even as a player, prepping at North Vermillion High School and setting the school’s all-time scoring record - he also set the single-game scoring record at Purdue Arena, scoring 54 points in a single game. While prepping at North Vermillion High School, Newell earned Sunkist All-American honors along the way. In 1987, Newell had his jersey retired and was inducted into the North Vermillion High School Hall of Fame.

After graduation, Newell signed to play for Press Maravich at Louisiana State. A year later, he transferred to Sam Houston State in Huntsville, Tex., and in 1973, he captained the Bearkats to a 28-0 record and an NAIA National Championship. In Newell’s three years as a starter, the Bearkats were 76-13. Newell was inducted into the Bearcat Hall of Honor in 1990.

After earning both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in education from Sam Houston State, Newell coached in the high school and college ranks before being hired by Billy Tubbs to be an assistant at the University of Oklahoma.

While serving a brief stint as Interim Head Coach at Oklahoma, Newell guided the Sooners to a historic win over Alabama-Birmingham in the NCAA Tournament.

Newell made a name for himself as one of the top college coaches in the nation during his tenure at Oklahoma, helping guide a team that previously had only made one appearance in the NIT. In Newell’s last season as an assistant at OU, the Sooners posted a 29-5 record, and a #5 national ranking with a #2 seed in the West Region, along with a Big 8 Conference Championship.

In 1984, Newell became the head coach at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock, and immediately lit a fire under a struggling program.

The Trojans instantly became winners, posting a 17-13 record in his first season. Newell’s UALR teams qualified for five consecutive postseason bids, including three bids to the NCAA Tournament.

In Newell’s second season, the Trojans posted a 23-11 record, ending their season in the second round of the NCAA Midwest Regional with a double overtime loss to Jim Valvano’s North Carolina State Wolfpack. Two days earlier, Newell’s Trojans had made national headlines with a 90­-83 victory over 10th-ranked Notre Dame and Digger Phelps.