I just got back from a week in Nacogdoches, helping Stephen F. Austin State University transition into their new family within the University of Texas System. Hey, a big public Higher Education project like that sounds like a great opportunity for something smaller & private: a Roo Tale!
Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches and Austin College in Sherman share one obvious tie: both schools are named for the Father of Texas. But the ties also extend to the world of athletics, especially SFA’s most recognized sport: basketball. Texas is a football state. But SFA is basketball crazy. And for good reason. Despite their small (FCS) D1 status, both the men’s (Lumberjacks) and women’s (Ladyjacks) teams are outstanding, regularly competing with the best large (FBS) college basketball teams in the nation.
The Lumberjacks and Ladyjacks both play in the “Sawmill,” a nearly 7,000 capacity arena that is one of the loudest basketball venues in Texas. A recent multi-million-dollar renovation added state-of-the-art practice facilities, locker rooms, weight training, nutrition centers, and an intimidating entrance tunnel into the arena. The Sawmill is one of the hardest places to win a basketball game in the state.
Since 2008, the men’s Lumberjack teams have claimed 8 conference titles, 5 NCAA tournament appearances, and 2 wins in those NCAA tourneys. As a #12 seed, SFA defeated #5 seed Virginia Commonwealth in the 2014 tournament before falling to UCLA. As a #14 seed, SFA defeated #3 West Virginia in the 2016 tournament before falling at the buzzer to Notre Dame. In 2022, the Lumberjacks added a WAC conference title to their resume. Amazingly, since 2004 the Lumberjacks are the “winningest program in the state of Texas.”
The biggest moment in SFA basketball history took place in 2019. The Lumberjacks traveled to perhaps the most intimidating college basketball venue in the U.S.: Cameron Indoor Stadium. The “Cameron Crazies” were out in force to propel #1 ranked Duke to what they surely thought would be an easy win against the school from little Nacogdoches. But the Lumberjacks shocked the college basketball world with a steal and layup at the buzzer to send the Duke Blue Devils into a stunned silence. From Hall of Fame Coach K of Duke: “They have a good tradition [at SFA]. And [tonight] they were better.”
Amazingly? Austin College Kangaroo Colin Dunnigan was in attendance at the SFA-Duke game. Colin describes the game as “surreal.”
But don’t overlook the SFA Ladyjacks! The women’s team? Well, the women are also outstanding.
Since 1988, the Ladyjacks have claimed 19 conference titles, 18 NCAA tournament appearances, and 10 wins in those NCAA tourneys. The 2022 season ended with a loss to #5 North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament’s Greenboro Region, a region that included Caitlin Clark and 2023 NCAA finalist Iowa. The 2023 season ended with a WNIT loss to SEC power Arkansas, a squad that had earlier fought Angel Reese and 2023 NCAA Champion LSU all the way to the buzzer on their home court. Amazingly, the Ladyjacks of little SFA rank #7 in “All Time Wins” in D1 Women’s College Basketball history.
Roo fans have an extra reason to be Ladyjack fans. Ladyjack Head Coach Mark Kellogg, now in his 7th year at SFA, is an Austin College Kangaroo.
Mark Kellogg (h/t Trisha Kellogg) played for Coach Bob Mason’s final Roo team in 1995. He then starred for new Roo Coach Chris Oestreich, earning Second Team All-Conference honors in 1996 and leading the 1997 Roos to an American Southwest Conference Championship. Kellogg, who was inducted into the Austin College Athletic Hall of Honor in 2009, graduated in 1998 as one of Roo basketball’s most productive players ever. Coach Bob Mason, an AC icon, sadly passed away one year later.
Coach Oestreich had the following to say to me about Kellogg, his star player in Sherman:
“When I got to AC in the spring of 1996, Mark was one of about 12 guys I met with. It was obvious from the first meeting he wanted more, wanted the program to be better. He worked hard, had fun, and was great to coach. In our transition to NCAA D3, we decided to play at Colorado College (CC). CC was a solid D3 program that won most of their home games. At our shoot around the day before, Mark didn’t seem fazed at all. Pretty typical for him. That night at CC he had his career night, shooting 8-for-11 from 3-point land and scoring 41 points with a handful of assists. He finished that year as a Jostens Player of the Year finalist and an All-American. We have stayed in touch, and I have watched his family grow. It has been no surprise that he has been as successful as he has. Mark just always had a different sense of purpose.”
Since his 2016 arrival in Nacogdoches, Kellogg has led the Ladyjacks to new heights. Kellogg’s tenure includes 7 consecutive 23+ season wins and a combined record of 195-55. Among D1 programs in Texas, SFA Women’s Basketball ranks just second behind powerhouse Baylor in winning percentage (80%) and total wins (122) over the past five seasons. In 2022, SFA moved from the regional Southland Conference (SLC) to the national Western Athletic Conference (WAC). The Ladyjacks won the WAC Conference title; Mark Kellogg won the 2022 WAC Coach of the Year.
Does the Austin College basketball of Mark Kellogg & Bob Mason have a shared history with the tradition that is SFA basketball? Of course it does. The 1959 AC Men’s basketball team defeated the SFA Lumberjacks 63-60 in the Cotton Bowl Classic tournament in Dallas, a year which saw the Roos win the NAIA District 8 title and qualify for the NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City. Competition on the court between the Roos & Lumberjacks was a frequent occurrence from the 1950s all the way back to SFA’s founding 100 years ago in 1923.
But my favorite AC-SFA basketball story takes us back to 1952. The AC Men’s basketball team won the Texas Conference Championship one year prior and was looking to repeat in 1952. The Roos traveled to Nacogdoches to take on the Lumberjacks in Shelton Gym, at that time the newly constructed home for SFA Basketball. The Roos came up short that evening, losing 77-57 to SFA. However…………….
The SFA yearbook wrote about the 1952 matchup and included a picture from the game. An SFA player is shooting a free throw against the Roos in the new Shelton Gym: “Lumberjacks’ Ted Asimos, pictured at left, fires a free throw to record one of 18 points he made in pacing SFA to [a] 77-57 win here over Austin College.” I can’t guarantee it, but the AC player in the photo near the top of the key (see the comments) looks to me like the starting point guard for the Roos in 1952: Coach Bob Mason.
I just spent a week in Nacogdoches on behalf of the University of Texas System. Our SFA hosts treated us like kings & queens, facilitating some Axe ‘em Jacks swag, accompanying us to dinner, and even organizing a campus tour. That tour took us by Shelton Gym, where Bob Mason once starred for the Roos against SFA, and to the Sawmill, where Bob Mason protégé Mark Kellogg is leading SFA basketball to yet even more glory. It’s safe to say that after last week, I’m a huge SFA fan.
Yup, I’m just an AC International Studies fella. But I transformed himself into an Informational Technology (IT) guy. My IT team is now tasked with integrating SFA into the University of Texas System family. But I will need a good counterpart on the SFA side with whom to work so we can pull off this whole enterprise together. And luckily, I’ve got a Ladyjack of my own to work with; her name is Meredith Buhl Baily. Like me, she is a liberal arts person from her college days. Like me, she now works in IT. And best of all, like me, Meredith is an Austin College Kangaroo (Class of ’01).
Hey SFA & UT System! No worries. You are in good hands with two Roos helping to lead the way. We’ll drive the lane of this project together like a Mark Kellogg coached Ladyjack basketball team at the Sawmill. Axe ‘em Jacks! And Go Roos.
