When Dave Wilbers reflects upon his first 17 basketball seasons at Arkansas Tech University, he finds that the student-athletes he has coached have brought him the most joy.
“We’ve had some tremendous young ladies go through the program,” said Wilbers. “We’ve had All-Americans, we’ve had all-conference players and we’ve had role players on the basketball team, and a lot of them come back and visit with us…what great role models they are. The journey with the players has been the biggest thing.”
Those players have helped Wilbers accumulate 356 career wins, seven regular season conference championships, five conference tournament titles and nine NCAA Tournament appearances. Only Joe Foley, who won 456 games leading the Golden Suns from 1987-2003, has won more games as a head basketball coach at Arkansas Tech.
As he prepares to begin his 18th season at Arkansas Tech, Wilbers is impressing upon his basketball team the importance of consistency.
“If you asked our players what Coach Wilbers says the most, it would be that you have to be an everyday player and an everyday person in our program,” said Wilbers. “That’s about developing a good work ethic and the process of getting better every day. We lost a lot of players from last year. Out of 350 (NCAA Division II) basketball teams, we’re probably returning less points and production than anyone in the nation. So, it’s been a rebuilding process like no other, but the players have done a good job of being consistent every day. I think that process is going to show some results during the season.”
Two Golden Suns who set the example of what Wilbers expects from his team are seniors ClaraGrace Prater and Julie Wagner.
“Those two should be celebrated in our program,” said Wilbers. “Kids staying with one program for four years is not going to happen very much anymore. Those two have bought into the process. They’ve struggled, and now they’ve had a lot of success. All of us should be proud of kids who want to stay at Arkansas Tech for four years, love Arkansas Tech and are committed to Arkansas Tech. Those two are very special in my heart.”
The Golden Suns were 14-13 overall and reached the Great American Conference Tournament in 2023-24. It was the 43rd winning season in the 47-year history of intercollegiate women’s basketball at Arkansas Tech, and it was the Golden Suns’ 18th consecutive postseason berth.
ATU is picked to finish fifth in the GAC women’s basketball standings during 2024-25.
The 48th season of Arkansas Tech intercollegiate women’s basketball will begin with a non-conference contest against the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 13, at Tucker Coliseum in Russellville.
Tickets are available at www.arkansastechsports.com/tickets.
Live coverage will be available on KCJC 102.3 FM, the EAB Media Group app and www.arkansastechsports.com.
Talk to you on the radio.
Tech Tidbits is a column written by Sam Strasner, ATU director of university relations and radio play-by-play voice for ATU football and basketball.
