Episode 32: Episode 32: Mote Hils

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is NKU Hall of Famer Rick Meyers. Rick joins me today to talk about the first head coach of the men’s basketball team at Northern Kentucky University Mote Hils.
Rick starts off with some brief background on the new college being built in Highland Heights, Kentucky and how Mote was hired to be its first head basketball coach.
Mote enjoyed at ton of success as a local high school coach first at St Henry and later at Covington Catholic. He was coming off of a run of winning five consecutive regional championships leading the Colonels to the state tournament.
After Mote’s second season the team moved into the newly constructed Regents Hall which would be the home of the basketball program until 2009.
We talk about the success of some of his great players including the programs first superstar Richard Derkson. Derkson followed Mote to NKU from Covington Catholic and was the leading scorer all four years that he played for the Norse. Derkson was a charter member of the NKU Hall of Fame being inducted in 1997.
Other great players that we mentioned over Mote’s tenure include other Hall of Famers as Jeff Stowers, Dan Doellman and the very underrated Dennis Bettis.
Rick talks about traveling with the team in those early days and how small college facilities and environments made it very difficult to win on the road.
NKU was put on the map with a pair of wins over Xavier University in back-to-back seasons of 1978 and 1979. The first win over the Musketeers was part of the program’s first 20-win season and a chance to host the NCAA Division-II regional at Regents Hall.
Rick tells the legendary story about how Athletic Director Dr. Lonny Davis turned down the opportunity to host and the team would have to travel as the #1 seed to Eastern Illinois University to play in the tournament.
This leads to a confrontation on the bus as the team is ready to leave Regents Hall for Charleston, Illinois. Mote approached Dr. Davis and after a brief but heated interaction Mote tells his boss to “get off the bus.”
Needless to say Dr. Davis exited the bus quietly but it was Mote’s only win of the entire weekend. The favored Norse end up losing to ISU-Evansville and in the consolation game to St. Joseph College ending its season.
This incident was the beginning of the end of Mote’s tenure as head coach He wanted to see the program make the jump to Division-I along with other regional opponents as UT-Chattanooga and Wright State but the university administration decided against it and Mote stepped down as the head coach in 1980. In nine seasons as the NKU head coach, Mote earned 119 victories.
Mote stayed with the university for many years as an advisor and testing coordinator before retiring. He was inducted into the David Lee Holt NKU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009. Mote passed away in 2016 at the age of 81.
You can follow the NKU athletics department on Twitter @NKUNorse (https://twitter.com/NKUNorse) and the men’s basketball program @NKUMensBB (https://twitter.com/NKUNorseMBB). You can also follow Rick Meyers on Twitter @NKURick (https://twitter.com/NKURick).
You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 (https://twitter.com/BradyLaber1) please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe
Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm (https://nobodysssafe.fireside.fm)
For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com (https://www.stoveleg.com) or send an email to [email protected]
Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com (https://www.bensound.com)

My guest on this episode of Nobody’s Safe w/Brady Laber is NKU Hall of Famer Rick Meyers. Rick joins me today to talk about the first head coach of the men’s basketball team at Northern Kentucky University Mote Hils.

Rick starts off with some brief background on the new college being built in Highland Heights, Kentucky and how Mote was hired to be its first head basketball coach.

Mote enjoyed at ton of success as a local high school coach first at St Henry and later at Covington Catholic. He was coming off of a run of winning five consecutive regional championships leading the Colonels to the state tournament.

After Mote’s second season the team moved into the newly constructed Regents Hall which would be the home of the basketball program until 2009.

We talk about the success of some of his great players including the programs first superstar Richard Derkson. Derkson followed Mote to NKU from Covington Catholic and was the leading scorer all four years that he played for the Norse. Derkson was a charter member of the NKU Hall of Fame being inducted in 1997.

Other great players that we mentioned over Mote’s tenure include other Hall of Famers as Jeff Stowers, Dan Doellman and the very underrated Dennis Bettis.

Rick talks about traveling with the team in those early days and how small college facilities and environments made it very difficult to win on the road.

NKU was put on the map with a pair of wins over Xavier University in back-to-back seasons of 1978 and 1979. The first win over the Musketeers was part of the program’s first 20-win season and a chance to host the NCAA Division-II regional at Regents Hall.

Rick tells the legendary story about how Athletic Director Dr. Lonny Davis turned down the opportunity to host and the team would have to travel as the #1 seed to Eastern Illinois University to play in the tournament.

This leads to a confrontation on the bus as the team is ready to leave Regents Hall for Charleston, Illinois. Mote approached Dr. Davis and after a brief but heated interaction Mote tells his boss to “get off the bus.”

Needless to say Dr. Davis exited the bus quietly but it was Mote’s only win of the entire weekend. The favored Norse end up losing to ISU-Evansville and in the consolation game to St. Joseph College ending its season.

This incident was the beginning of the end of Mote’s tenure as head coach He wanted to see the program make the jump to Division-I along with other regional opponents as UT-Chattanooga and Wright State but the university administration decided against it and Mote stepped down as the head coach in 1980. In nine seasons as the NKU head coach, Mote earned 119 victories.

Mote stayed with the university for many years as an advisor and testing coordinator before retiring. He was inducted into the David Lee Holt NKU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009. Mote passed away in 2016 at the age of 81.

You can follow the NKU athletics department on Twitter @NKUNorse and the men’s basketball program @NKUMensBB. You can also follow Rick Meyers on Twitter @NKURick.

You can follow Brady Laber on Twitter @BradyLaber1 please use the hashtag #NobodysSafe

Check out the Nobody’s Safe website at nobodysssafe.fireside.fm

For more information on Stove Leg Media go the website StoveLeg.com or send an email to [email protected]

Intro music for the podcast was provided by bensoud.com