Head coach Ray McCallum completed his eighth season at the University of Detroit Mercy in 2015-16.
During his tenure,
McCallum rebuilt the Titans from the bottom of the Horizon League when he took over, to title contenders and a Horizon League championship and NCAA Tournament appearance in 2012.
During his first five years at the helm at Detroit, the Titans increased their conference win total in every season (2, 9, 10, 11, 12). Detroit also increased its place in the regular season standings during that stretch under McCallum (10th, 7th, T5th, T3rd, 2nd).
Over his 18-year head coaching career, he has amassed 300 victories and made six postseason runs.
In the last three seasons, McCallum has continued to challenge his team and raise the bar of the program with games against nationally-ranked programs like Connecticut, Michigan, Oregon, Vanderbilt and Wichita State, as well facing teams like Central Florida, North Carolina State, Pittsburgh, Rhode Island and South Florida. Year in and year out, the Titans usually end up with one of the toughest schedules in the Horizon League.
That kind of presence has been noticed on the national level with the Titans featured on the ESPN Family of Networks over 35 times in the last few years, as well as the need to reinstate radio broadcasts with heightened fan interest.
It has also been noticed on the professional level, as 16 Titans coached by McCallum in his tenure have gone on to play professionally. Six have suited up in the NBA Summer League since 2012, while his son and former Horizon League Player of the Year Ray McCallum is has currently played three seasons in the NBA with the Sacramento Kinga, San Antonio Spurs and Memphis Grizzlies.
In 2013, the Titans made the NIT for the seventh time in school history after finishing second in the Horizon League. Detroit finished the year 20-13 overall, its third 20-win season in four years.
The 20-win campaign was also the fifth 20-win slate in head coach Ray McCallum’s career (2 Ball State, 3 Detroit).
Detroit was featured 19 times on television, including a school-record 16 times on the ESPN Networks. That national audience was able to witness a number of terrific performances and players, led by All-American guard Ray McCallum, who was selected 36th overall in the 2013 NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings, along with All-Horizon League First Teamer Nick Minnerath and 2013 Denny's Slam Dunk Champion Doug Anderson.
In 2012, the Titans posted 22 wins – tied for the sixth most in school history – as Detroit went on the road and won three games in the Horizon League Championship, including defeating seconded-seeded Cleveland State and top-seeded Valparaiso on the Crusaders’ home court. UDM would then earn a No. 15 seed in the NCAA Tournament, taking on national runner-up Kansas in the second round.
Detroit was featured 15 times on television, including nine times on the ESPN Family of Networks. The Titans were again led by All-Horizon League First Team and Horizon League Championship MVP McCallum. The NBCA also recognized him on its All-District First Team, while he was also a Preseason John Wooden Award Top 50 selection and a Bob Cousy Award Final 20 honoree.
Eli Holman was named the HL’s Sixth Man of the Year and to the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Defensive All-America team, while Chase Simon ended his career with 1,386 points, 17th in Titan history. LaMarcus Lowe turned away 157 shots in his Titan career – third in school history – and high-flying guard Doug Anderson was a daily highlight reel and earned the No. 1 dunk on ESPN SportsCenter’s Top Plays with his throw down in the Horizon League Championship Quarterfinals victory over Loyola.
Even more impressive is his work off the court, which earned him a Distinguished Service Honoree by the Michigan Youth Appreciation Foundation in July of 2012.
The energetic and charismatic McCallum – a well-known veteran of more than three decades in college basketball – is absolutely driven to restore the Titans to prominence. Since arriving in Detroit, McCallum's teams have already marked achievements not seen since the NCAA tourney teams of the late-1990s and early-2000s. A target is firmly aimed at returning Titan basketball to the heyday of the 1970s when Calihan Hall was "the" place to be.
“UDM has a great basketball tradition and I’m glad to be part of the next chapter,” coach McCallum said upon his hiring. “I recruited in the area throughout my coaching career and I know the passion for basketball Detroit fans do possess."
McCallum inherited a team that had seven wins the season prior to his arrival. In his second season at UDM, McCallum directed the best turnaround in school history leading the Titans to a 20-14 record and a berth in the Horizon League championship semifinals. The 20 victories marked a 13-win improvement from his first season and represented Detroit’s first 20-win campaign since 2001. The 13-win turnaround was also the fourth-best in the nation.
For his efforts, he was named the Horizon League Coach of the Year by CollegeInsider.com.
How to build on that second-year success? Playing a 2010-11 schedule that included the likes of New Mexico, Syracuse and Mississippi State in addition to the always-rugged HL slate and two-time national finalist Butler to prep his team for the rigors of tournament play. Media and professional basketball scouts would take notice as McCallum's track record of preparing next-level-ready players has already produced 10 NBA'ers in his coaching career, with more sure to follow.
McCallum's Titans played in front of a televised audience 13 times in 2010-11 and generated loads of national attention. Early in the season, his athletic squad threw a scare into national-power Syracuse, leading the Orange at the half and setting the tone for a campaign that saw Detroit refuse to back down, shrugging off much more experienced teams and hostile environments.
Detroit would host a HL opening round tournament game for the first time in five seasons, dispatching Loyola with ease (90-69) to head to the quarterfinals. Postseason accolades were plentiful with son Ray McCallum earning the HL Newcomer of the Year and junior Eli Holman grabbing a spot on the league's all-defensive squad. The pair were also listed on the All-HL Second Team. CollegeInsider.com also praised the Detroit duo as McCallum was named to the freshman All-America team and Holman was an honoree on the Mid-Major Defensive All-America team.
McCallum's 2011 squad topped the HL in scoring (74.5 ppg), rebounding (37.5 rpg) and blocked shots (5.0 bpg) and was second in field goal percentage (.464) and steals (7.6 spg).
Despite not having a senior, McCallum still managed to bring aboard more talent with the signing of highly-touted Doug Anderson. Anderson-- an explosive dunker and gifted athlete-- spent two seasons at Mott Community College leading the Bears to a pair of state titles and a national runner-up finish in 2010.
Thirteen of McCallum's 18 seasons as a head coach have charted at least 16 wins. He picked-up career win No. 200 with a 71-62 win over Bowling Green during the Legends Classic held at Calihan Hall, Nov. 27, 2010 and career win number 300 in the first round of the 2016 Horizon League Championship in a 92-79 triumph over Youngstown State at Joe Louis Arena.
Coach McCallum was honored in June of 2010 with the 2010 Men of Excellence award by the Michigan Chronicle for the team’s outstanding season and his many service projects within the Detroit community.
The award is presented by the acclaimed Detroit-based newspaper to local African-American men who motivate and inspire others through their vision and leadership, exceptional achievements and participation in community service. The honorees chosen represent a diverse group of men who have demonstrated success within their profession or industry and are positive role models whose contributions encourage others. Additionally, the Men of Excellence are committed to a personal code of ethics that demands ownership, responsibility and integrity. They are men who exercise discipline, demonstrate personal conviction and courage. These men are public and private figures who are leaders, motivators, educators, entrepreneurs, corporate executives, civil servants and private citizens.
When hired at Detroit, McCallum brought 11 years of head coaching experience with him to UDM, having previously served in that role at his alma mater, Ball State (1994-2000), as well as Houston (2001-04). He took four teams to postseason play during his career at those schools.
Quite simply, he brought a winner’s touch with him to all of the stops he has made in his 30-year coaching career, which began at Ball State in 1983-84 as a volunteer assistant coach. He served as an assistant at Wisconsin for the next nine seasons, helping a program that hadn’t been to post-season play since 1947 to NIT berths in 1989, 1991 and 1993. He had a brief stint as an assistant at Michigan, before quickly returning to Ball State to make his head coaching debut during the 1993-94 season.
The Cardinals posted a 126-76 record during McCallum’s seven-year tenure. McCallum directed Ball State to two NCAA Tournament appearances (1995, 2000) and an NIT berth (1998) and became the first coach in Ball State history to post seven consecutive winning seasons. During his head coaching career at Ball State, McCallum recruited and coached Bonzi Wells, who was the 11th pick of the 1998 NBA Draft. When he left BSU for Houston in 2000, McCallum’s .624 winning percentage was the fourth-best in Mid American Conference history.
McCallum served as head coach at Houston for four seasons. In 2002, he led the Cougars to an 18-15 mark and a berth in the NIT, Houston’s first post-season tournament appearance in nine years. Houston finished 9-7 in Conference USA’s National Division that year, and advanced to the league tournament semi-finals for the first time. During his stay in Houston, he played an integral role in the development of Andre Owens, who spent three years in the pros and is one of 10 NBA players McCallum has coached during their college careers.
Before arriving at Detroit, he was a key assistant on the coaching staffs at Oklahoma (2004-06) and Indiana (2006-08), and was a part of four straight trips to the NCAA Tournament with those teams. Recruiting classes at both schools, while McCallum was on their staffs, ranked among the Top 5 in the nation. Oklahoma won its first-ever Big 12 Conference Championship in 2005 while McCallum was a part of the Sooners staff. Among the coach’s protégés at Indiana was a pair of 2008 Associated Press All-Americans, D.J. White and Eric Gordon, who have since moved on to the NBA as first-round draft picks.
An outstanding player in his own right, McCallum was a member of two state championship teams at Central High School in Muncie, Ind. As a senior in 1979, he was a starting guard and was named the Most Valuable Player of the state championship game after leading Central to its second straight state title.
He stayed in Muncie to play collegiately at Ball State, where he was named the MAC’s Freshman of the Year after leading the Cardinals in scoring with 16.5 points per game. As a sophomore, McCallum again led the Cardinals in scoring, this time with 18.4 points per game, and helped them finish the season with a 20-10 record and a share of the MAC championship. Ball State also earned an NCAA Tournament invitation for the first time in school history that year. The following season, McCallum led the Cardinals in scoring once again with a 17.6 average, and Ball State won its first outright MAC Championship.
As a senior, McCallum was named MAC Player of the Year and conference tournament MVP. He also earned first-team All-MAC honors for the third straight year, ending his career as the MAC’s all-time leading scorer with 2,109 points. Additionally, he won the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award as the nation’s best senior under six-feet tall. He became the first BSU athlete to have his jersey retired in any sport. McCallum graduated from Ball State in 1983 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Technology.
One week after graduation, the Indiana Pacers selected him in the 1983 NBA Draft. One of the final players cut in training camp, McCallum played briefly in the CBA before returning to Ball State to begin his coaching career.
McCallum and his wife, Wendy, are the parents of a daughter, Brittany Rae (25) and son Ray Michael (23), who was selected 36th overall in the 2013 NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings.
| Year |
School |
Record |
Postseason |
| 1993-94 |
Ball State |
16-12 |
|
| 1994-95 |
Ball State |
19-11 |
NCAA |
| 1995-96 |
Ball State |
16-12 |
|
| 1996-97 |
Ball State |
16-13 |
|
| 1997-98 |
Ball State |
21-8 |
NIT |
| 1998-99 |
Ball State |
16-11 |
|
| 1999-00 |
Ball State |
22-9 |
NCAA |
| 2000-01 |
Houston |
9-20 |
|
| 2001-02 |
Houston |
18-15 |
NIT |
| 2002-03 |
Houston |
8-20 |
|
| 2003-04 |
Houston |
9-18 |
|
| 2008-09 |
Detroit |
7-23 |
|
| 2009-10 |
Detroit |
20-14 |
|
| 2010-11 |
Detroit |
17-16 |
|
| 2011-12 |
Detroit |
22-14 |
NCAA |
| 2012-13 |
Detroit |
20-13 |
NIT |
| 2013-14 |
Detroit |
13-19 |
|
| 2014-15 |
Detroit |
15-18 |
|
| 2016-16 |
Detroit |
16-15 |
|
| 18 yrs. |
|
300-281 |
6 Postseason Berths |
