All three of New Mexico State coach Marvin Menzies’ best-known mentors have guided teams to the Final Four, with two of them owning championship rings.
Lon Kruger took the Florida Gators to the Final Four in 1994. Steve Fisher led Michigan to a national title in 1989 and ushered in the Fab Five era shortly thereafter. And Rick Pitino guided Louisville to a national championship just two seasons ago.
Menzies, whose 15th-seeded Aggies will square off with No. 2 seed Kansas at 11:15 a.m. Friday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Omaha, Nebraska, was not with any of those coaches when they reached those milestones, but his time with Fisher at San Diego State (1999-2003), Kruger at UNLV (2004-05) and Pitino at Louisville (2005-07) provided the knowledge that has led to five trips to the NCAA Tournament during his first eight seasons at New Mexico State.
“As an assistant coach, you always think you have all the answers anyway,” Menzies joked. “But I learned a lot from my different mentors and former bosses. And I just had a bunch of different answers that I combined into one blueprint for New Mexico State.”
Although he praised all three coaches for their styles and careers, Menzies said Pitino may have had the greatest impact on him.
“Coach Pitino had some very specific things in the way that he teaches and the way that his system is tweaked from year to year based on his personnel, so I picked up a lot from him,” Menzies said. “But I also got some things from coach Kruger and coach Fisher, as well. And I kind of had my own philosophy on some things I would’ve done different if I had my own team, so when I got my own team, I kind of (installed) some of those things, as well.”
So far, the only rings Menzies owns from his days as a head coach are WAC championship rings. But he cherishes each and believes those three coaches along with dozens of other people deserve at least as much of the credit for him winning them as he does.
See, Menzies is not one of those coaches who gets wrapped up in ego or image or style points. He just wants to win. And if that means stealing a drill directly from Pitino’s playbook or installing one he’s never seen before that came from the developing mind of his longest tenured assistant coach, Paul Weir, who has been with him every step of the way at NMSU, he’s happy to do either. Sometimes both.
“I think another important ingredient is surrounding yourself with people that are really, really good,” Menzies said. “I think I have a high-major staff. In fact, I know I do. When you have those kind of people around you, it’s never about one guy getting it done. And I’m
