When an opportunity came to work with long-time NBA player Dan Majerle and NBA icon Jerry Colangelo, Kentucky Wesleyan College men's basketball coach Todd Lee couldn't pass it up.
On Tuesday, Lee announced that he accepted a job to become the associate head coach at Grand Canyon University, ending an eight-year tenure at the helm for KWC.
Majerle, Colangelo — who serves as a special assistant for the program — and university president Brian Mueller met with Lee twice over the weekend at the Final Four in Atlanta to interview him for the job.
Lee, 49, said he wasn't out looking for another job, but felt that this was an opportunity that may not come along very often.
"It's kind of hard to explain, but when you're in a meeting with them and they explain this whole thing to you — what's happening at the school, where they're going and where they want to go — it was high level stuff," Lee said. "To me, it was pretty much an offer that I couldn't turn down from a professional standpoint.
"I wasn't looking to leave. This came about, and talking to them about the particulars of the contract were just so good. The opportunity to build that program with those type of people was very exciting."
Grand Canyon will begin a four-year transition from Division II to Division I in the fall as members of the Western Athletic Conference.
The school won't be eligible for the NCAA Tournament the next four years as part of the transition process but can compete in smaller national tournaments. The school recently built a 5,000-seat basketball arena and new practice facility to accompany the transition.
Much like the school and the program, Majerle will begin a transition of his own. After a 14-season career in the NBA and five years as an assistant for the Phoenix Suns, Majerle will be taking his first plunge into the college ranks.
He was looking for someone to essentially help teach him how to run a program. He wanted someone with previous success as a head coach who knew how to run a program and had ties to the West Coast.
With previous stints as an assistant at Division I schools like California-Irvine and San Diego on his résumé, Lee fit the bill. Knowing that, some mutual friends recommended him to Majerle.
"Todd has been a very successful coach at Kentucky Wesleyan," Majerle said. "His teams made five postseason appearances in his tenure and set many school records. He has a great deal of experience at the collegiate level, including 11 years in D-I, and I am going to lean heavily on him in my transition from the professional level.
"Todd is a great family man and embodies the spirit of Grand Canyon."
The players that are set to return to KWC next fall all attended Tuesday's press conference, and Lee said he indeed expects them all to return. He and KWC athletic director Dave Williams met with the team on Monday to inform them of the news, and Lee said they took it well.
Williams said he talked with Lee about trying to keep him at KWC, but said the school simply was unable to compete with Grand Canyon's offer.
"Very honestly, Kentucky Wesleyan — at this moment in our time — we don't have a whole lot of financial ability to make counter offers, especially at the level that Grand Canyon was coming in at," he said. "We did not have the ability to match it. That's where the discussion pretty much ended, unfortunately."
Lee's 8-year tenure at KWC comes to a close with a 154-81 overall record, including five NCAA Tournament appearances and a Midwest Regional final appearance in 2012.
He resurrected a program that was hit with NCAA violations that resulted in a loss of scholarships. He won just 20 games in his first two seasons, then won 20 or more games four out of his final six seasons, highlighted by a 29-5 record in the 2009-10 season that included a Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament runner-up finish.
Williams said a mark of a good coach is someone who leaves a program in better shape than what they found it, and he said Lee did just that.
Williams added that he hopes to move quickly to name Lee's replacement. He acknowledged the disadvantages the program is at — primarily operating with just 8.5 scholarships instead of 10 — but said the job should still sell itself.
"Once the word gets out that the Kentucky Wesleyan job is open, résumés are pouring in by the handfuls. Having been a basketball coach for 12 years of my professional career, and as connected as Todd is, and as connected and well-known as Wesleyan is, this is going to be a desired job.
"But it's about finding the fit. Kentucky Wesleyan College is a small private school with limited resources. A person that comes to this job has to accept those resources. But our fan base and our tradition allows us to be competitive every year. It's going to be attractive for somebody. It's acting quickly, but being thorough with the process to make sure that we hire the right person."
