DALLAS, Texas - Dallas Christian College Women's Basketball Head Coach,
Larry Tidwell, has announced his retirement at the end of this season. As Coach Tidwell begins to transition into this next chapter to continue to support his family, it is important to recognize what Coach Tidwell has meant to the Women's Basketball family for over 40 years.
Coach Tidwell has worked in the Big 12 Conference, Western Athletic Conference, Conference USA, the former Southwest Conference, and the Southland Conference.
Coach Tidwell has spent time at NCAA Division I Power 5 schools: Baylor University and Kansas University. He also spent the early 2000s at other notable NCAA Division I schools: TCU, University of South Florida, Lamar University, and UT-Rio Grande Valley.
Coach Tidwell left a positive mark every destination he landed.
His first stop at the NCAA Division I level was at Baylor University in 1992. The program had lost seven straight seasons and had an RPI of 312. Tidwell spent six seasons as an Assistant Coach at Baylor University during which they secured a Women's National Invitation Tournament berth. He was the first full time assistant in the history of the program. By his fourth year, the program had cracked the top 25 poll and played in the 1998 WNIT Finals.
At TCU from 2000-07, He helped the Horn Frogs win 173 games and reach seven straight NCAA Tournaments, which was an elite feat accomplished by just 14 other programs to make a tournament every year since 2001.
At Lamar University, he guided the 2007-08 Lady Cardinals to a 19-12 record and made their first appearance in a Southland Conference Championship game in school history. The win total was the most for an LU women's team in 16 years and gave Lamar its first winning season since the 1994-95 campaign. Coach Tidwell recorded a winning record every year, including four seasons of 20 or more wins and five seasons of 19 or more wins. His career highlight at Lamar was a 26-8 record, which was the second highest win total in program history. He is the winningest coach with a 128-66 record. He took the team to the 2010 NCAA Tournament after winning the Southland Conference Co-Championship and Southland Conference Tournament. That year he earned Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Coach of the Year Honors.
At UTRGV, He was the women's basketball all-time leader in wins with 85 and winning percentage at a .531-clip. In five years at UTRGV, Tidwell's teams broke 117 program records and tied 83 others.
During the 2017-18 season with UTRGV, Tidwell won his 500
th career game as a head coach, with 211 at the collegiate level and 289 at the high school level. He had won his 200
th collegiate game earlier that same campaign.
In 2019-20, Coach Tidwell was a top assistant for Kansas University during the 2019-20 season. He helped the Jayhawks reach a 15-14 record, which was its best mark in seven season. The winning record had Kansas on the brink of a postseason appearance for the first time since 2013 before the health crisis led to the cancellation of all postseason basketball events.
It also meant that Coach Tidwell needed to come to Texas immediately to be closer to his family during the COVID-19 pandemic.
DCC was also in-need of a women's basketball coach and what a time for God to move a coach of Tidwell's pedigree into alignment with a program seeking a revival. The Crusaders had gone without a winning season since 2004-05 and entered the 2020-21 year with six players. After a 1-7 start, Coach Tidwell was able to recruit some winter transfer students, which included NCCAA Southwest All-Region Kiearra Rivers. A 14-3 run propelled them to a 15-10 record, which gave the Crusaders their first winning season in over a decade. That surge included two upset wins in the NCCAA Southwest Regional that resulted in DCC playing in the championship game on its home court. DCC would then go onto play in the Association of American Christian Colleges National Tournament in which they finished in 4
th place.
In the final NCCAA Top 10 Rankings following the national tournament, DCC was listed as receiving votes. Since that time, Coach Tidwell's Crusaders have been in the top 10 for every Top 10 Poll released in the 2021-22 season. The highest ranking was number four, as the Crusaders began the historic season by winning the first six contests and nine of the first 10 for arguably the hottest start in program history. DCC is on a four-game winning streak and just finished a 93-48 victory last Tuesday for the team's 20
th win.
Beyond the number of achievements on the floor, Coach Tidwell has assembled the largest roster in the history of DCC women's basketball that currently has 17 members and at one time had 21. His time at DCC is just another snapshot and bookends what was a long and fulfilling time as a leader in college women's basketball.
Coach Tidwell has a grand total of 823 victories in 40 seasons in 1,230 overall games. His collegiate total of wins is 534, which means that his Crusaders won number 500 in his first game to lead the Crusaders at Southwestern Adventist. As a head coach at all levels, Coach Tidwell has won 529 games, and as a Collegiate Head Coach, he holds 238 career wins. By the way, in 22 seasons as a head women's basketball coach, Coach Tidwell had only one losing season, which was a 14-16 mark in the first year at UTPA. They had 30 consecutive losing seasons before Coach Tidwell's arrival and were a game away from going .500 in year one.
He has had at least 10 college recruiting classes ranked in the top 30. He has taught 38 student-athletes that went on to play professionally, including six in the WNBA. He traveled to 40 countries across the world to promote the game of basketball through player/coaches clinics and recruiting. In 1992, he was selected as an assistant coach to travel to Australia for the Southwest Conference All Star Team vs. Australian National Team.
He has won two TABC NCAA Division I Women's Coach of the Year honors and has been on numerous boards and leadership roles that have serviced the game and community. He even was granted a Citizen of the Year award in 1991 in the City of Schulenburg, Texas.
Coach Tidwell has been recognized for his hard work and dedication over career, which includes being inducted into a Hall of Fame six different times. This includes Sanger High School in 2003, three times at his alma mater Austin College in 2004, 2010, and 2014. He will be inducted into the Lamar University Hall of Fame this month, and is tabbed to be inducted into the TABC Hall of Fame in May 2022.
At the end of Coach Tidwell's TABC Hall of Fame Nominee response he states, "As a 44 Year Coaching Veteran, I have not scored a point, grabbed a rebound, had an assist or got a steal. It is about your players, assistant coaches, and administration! You are only as good as they want you to be and I have been very fortunate and blessed to coach and work with some great ones."
Gallery: (2-10-2022) Coach Tidwell Retirement Chapel
"Dallas Christian educates and mentors students to be people of influence engaging in their calling to the work of Christ in the church and in the world."
