MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — After a decade away from Arkansas Tech, Morgantown native Mark Downey has returned to lead the Wonder Boys for a second time. Downey led ATU from 2006-2010 and left Tech to coach his alma mater at the University of Charleston.
“Arkansas is where I met my wife. She is an alum of Arkansas Tech,” Downey said. “It was home for my wife and a second home to me. There’s a lot of good people there and they treated us very well. We were number one in the country in the final poll in 2010 and were upset in the NCAA Tournament.”
Downey led ATU to Gulf South Conference Tournament championships and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in each of his final two seasons. He led the University of Charleston for three seasons before moving on to become the head coach at the University of West Alabama (2013-14), assistant coach at Bowling Green State University (2014-15) and assistant coach at Purdue University-Fort Wayne (2015-18).
After four seasons as an assistant coach at the Division I level, Downey returned to Division II as head coach at Northeastern State University (Okla.) in 2017. Downey engineered an 18-11 record this past season.
“I wanted to be a head coach again three years ago and was lucky enough to get the job at Northeastern State. We thought we would be here a long time but Arkansas Tech came calling.
“We were recruiting for the last three years in the same region. We had two freshmen on our team last year from Arkansas. We have two commits from Arkansas coming in. Just being in this region the last three years and recruiting at the same level, it made it a lot easier for us. Prior relationships have helped us get six signees so far and we will probably get one or two more.”
Downey considered going to medical school after graduating from the University of Charleston in 1995 but the coaching bug caught him and has kept him in the game ever since.
“We know there are more important priorities of faith, family and books. We know those things have to be taken care of and those things are high priorities. But basketball has to be right behind those. If it is not and you just do it because it brings you a little bit of joy, then you are probably going to have a hard time playing for me.”
Downey’s wife Ericka garnered national attention in 2018. She donated one of her kidneys to former Texas A&M head coach Billy Gillispie. The two had never met until months after the surgery.
“It is wonderful to see the way things have worked out. People tell her all the time, ‘Thank you for the story. It has helped me want to donate a kidney to my brother, or I have put my name on the donor list’. She has done a great job about getting the word out and really promoting it. It has been fun to watch.”