Time comes for all coaches, and it came for Bruce Weber on Thursday. After 10 seasons, two Big 12 titles and an Elite Eight at Kansas State, Weber resigned Thursday morning, a day after his team concluded its third straight sub-.500 season with a loss to last-place West Virginia in the opening round of the Big 12 tournament. As I said, it was time.
It remains to be seen Wednesday night's loss was the last for Weber, who spent 798 on the bench as a head coach (497 of them wins) across 24 seasons at three different institutions. If this really is the end, it's a career any coach can be proud of. He took Southern Illinois to the Sweet 16 in 2002 and Illinois to the national championship game in 2005.
Sensing this would likely be his last time in front of a mic for a while, Weber shed light on how he got into the business, and it's a story any aspiring coach, regardless of the sport, can use as inspiration source material.
"I told the guys, I'm a miracle. My dad came over on a boat, didn't get a high school degree. He made all my family teachers and coaches. My brother's (in) the Wisconsin high school hall of fame. I wanted to be a GA. Drove nine hours to Western Kentucky to interview with (Gene) Keady, and he wasn't there. I had driven nine hours; I never drove nine hours in my life. I had my leisure suit on, I was ready for the interview, and he wasn't there. The secretary laughed at me and said he's out of the country. He forgot," Weber said.
"I remember going back to camp, working a camp, and calling him on a pay phone. I called Coach Keady. 'Coach, I came in.' 'Oh, I'm sorry, why don't you drive down again?' I said, 'Coach, I'm running Rick Majerus's camp and I can't leave again. Either you hire me or you don't.' God, if I'd have known what Coach Keady was about at that time I never would've said that. He was quiet and he said, 'Okay, you're hired.' He had never met me."
Here's the full six minute response from Bruce Weber when asked if he had anything to say if this was his last game at K-State. Really starts to get emotional around the 3:40 mark and goes into detail about how he got his start in coaching.
— Sully Engels (@sullyengels) March 10, 2022
"I'm a miracle" pic.twitter.com/dRMW5jk5vv
Weber got that job, which you know because otherwise he's probably not telling us that story on Wednesday night. The miracle part comes next. Weber hopped aboard Team Keady at the right time. Western Kentucky won the Ohio Valley Conference in 1980, Weber's first season in college basketball, which earned Keady the Purdue job the following year. Weber came along and learned under the College Basketball Hall of Famer for 18 seasons before earning his first head job.
Things fell into place for Bruce Weber. As he said, he's a miracle. Few coaches will be so lucky as to land a GA spot under a Hall of Fame coach without interviewing, let alone spend two decades as a Power 5 head coach. But his story can hopefully inspire the next Bruce Weber to get into coaching, whatever the sport.