By Jeff Yoder
Paul Patterson took the head coaching job of Taylor University's men's basketball program 34 years ago. In over three decades, the stats won't begin to define Coach Patterson's legacy at Taylor.
As much as Taylor prides itself on tradition, Patterson has been the perfect man to exemplify such a word.
With 730 plus wins, Patterson is the winningest college basketball coach in Indiana history. No. 2 on the list is Indiana University's Bob Knight; a comparison that begins to illustrate Patterson's impact at Taylor over the years. As a coach, Patterson's teams are known for fundamental and aggressive defense.
In his career at Taylor, Patterson has taken 15 conference championships, 14 NAIA National Tournament berths and 12 Coach of the Year awards. In 1996 he was inducted in the NAIA Hall of Fame.
Patterson's focus isn't just on the game of basketball, but the game of life. In all of Patterson's extraordinary accolades, one special one is that 100 percent of the players who have played for Patterson for four years have gone on to earn a college degree.
Patterson is the type of coach you could write a book about. He's the kind of person you would never forget meeting and the kind of man who hundreds of college basketball players could look up to.
[ read full story in The Echo this Friday ]
