Ron Everhart -- Official Website -- Men's Basketball Coach -- Duquesne University

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Ron Everhart, who reversed the fortunes of the men's basketball programs at both McNeese State and Northeastern in his previous two coaching stops, returned "home" to take the reigns at Duquesne in March of 2006.

In just two short seasons, the Fairmont, West Virginia native - who inherited a program that was coming off a school-worst 3-24 record with an RPI of 308 in 2005-06 - produced Duquesne's first winning record in 14 seasons with a 17-13 mark in 2007-08.

The `08 Dukes finished the year ranked in the top 10 nationally in blocked shots (7.3, 3rd), assists (18.1, 3rd), scoring (82.3, 5th) and steals (9.4, 9th) in setting school single-season records for blocks (220), assists (539) and steals (283).

Everhart was rewarded for his performance with a contract extension in the summer of 2008 that will keep him on the Bluff through 2013-14.

The `08 Dukes put together winning streaks of six and five games, marking the first time since 1961-62 that a Duquesne team had two streaks of five or more wins in the same year. DU, which opened the season with six-straight wins for the school's best start since 1979-80, went 11-4 at home. It was just the second time in the past 27 years that a Duquesne team won 11 or more at home. The `08 Dukes also went 10-3 in non-conference play. The 10 non-league wins were the second-most in school history and the .769 winning percentage was the best ever by a DU team in non-conference games.

Duquesne finished the 2007-08 season with an RPI of 130, giving the Dukes an Atlantic 10-best two-year RPI improvement of 178 spots from the 308 posted prior to Everhart's arrival.

In two seasons under Everhart, the Dukes have led the Atlantic 10 in scoring two times. Only five NCAA Division I schools have averaged more than Duquesne's 80.4 points per game over that span.

In his first season with the Dukes, Everhart started from the ground up, totally retooling the roster in his first six weeks on the job. The nine first-year scholarship players Everhart brought to Pittsburgh were just getting acquainted when the program was dealt an unprecedented blow as five players were injured in a shooting less than a month before the opening of practice.

Under Everhart's leadership, the Dukes picked up the pieces and used some unconventional methods to post 10 wins, tie a 26-year-old school record for consecutive Atlantic 10 victories (five) and rank 21st nationally in scoring offense at 78.3 points per game.

Playing the majority of the season with just one player taller than 6-6, Everhart adopted a frenetic "10 men for 40 minutes" style of play in late January that saw all 10 players on the roster sub in and out of games in two and three minute intervals. The full court, chaotic style of play took hold as the Dukes reeled off consecutive conference wins over Dayton, Temple, Xavier, St. Bonaventure and La Salle and went on to play competitive basketball the remainder of the season.

The Duquesne story of perseverance was acknowledged by the United States Basketball Writers Association, which honored the 2006-07 Dukes with its Most Courageous Award presented annually to honor "a player, coach, official or administrator who has demonstrated extraordinary courage reflecting honor on the sport of amateur basketball."