Big Mike & West Coast Willie

Big Mike & West Coast Willie Sideline Reporting: Greg Campbell, Analytical Statistician: Big Spicertown J
Content Creator: Jerry Gambrel

Happy Birthday to my co-host West Coast Willie! He's the #9 ranked Saskatchewan hunter in the world. Here he is with on...
09/05/2026

Happy Birthday to my co-host West Coast Willie!

He's the #9 ranked Saskatchewan hunter in the world. Here he is with one he befriended several years ago.

Everyone wish him a Happy birthday 🎂

Tonight’s pics and etc. are from the 77,78 and 79 seasons.If you’ve watched our show you know(or maybe you don’t)that Mi...
09/02/2026

Tonight’s pics and etc. are from the 77,78 and 79 seasons.If you’ve watched our show you know(or maybe you don’t)that Mike and myself have mentioned several times how our favorite Austin uniforms ever were the home “Eagle Claw” uniforms.They didn’t start out wearing them in the 77 season but at some point they switched to them.The last team to wear them were the 81 team.I wish we could bring them back.

While Big Mike is out gallivanting around the country me and Big J are at our desk doing 14-16 hours of prep a day getti...
09/02/2026

While Big Mike is out gallivanting around the country me and Big J are at our desk doing 14-16 hours of prep a day getting ready for the season.That’s an awful long sentence.There should probably be a period or comma in there somewhere.I never was a grammarian.

I'd like to apologize to all the fans out there. I haven't been as active on the page as of late and I've let West Coast...
09/02/2026

I'd like to apologize to all the fans out there. I haven't been as active on the page as of late and I've let West Coast Willie down😞.

But the reason being.. I've been tied up with my restaurant. I'm now known as a restaurateur.

Willie probably knows that word since he's a voracious reader but for those that don't it basically means I'm now a professional when it comes to opening restaurants. I'm not one to brag but in my humble opinion it's the best restaurant around.

Some more pics and tidbits from the Seymour Tribune archives.These are from the 1970 season thru 76.Also the highlighted...
09/01/2026

Some more pics and tidbits from the Seymour Tribune archives.These are from the 1970 season thru 76.Also the highlighted names really don’t mean anything.To search you need a date and a keyword.The highlighted names I just used because I knew they played in a particular year.I’m not trying to promote anyone over any other players or anything like that.Except for Big Mike Helton.

Found some Austin basketball related things while going thru the Seymour Tribune archives today.I’m sure I’ll have more ...
08/31/2026

Found some Austin basketball related things while going thru the Seymour Tribune archives today.I’m sure I’ll have more in the next few days.

College football starts tomorrow.Since I’m known as the Beano Cook of southern Indiana I should post something about col...
08/28/2026

College football starts tomorrow.Since I’m known as the Beano Cook of southern Indiana I should post something about college football.I can’t believe what I’m about to do but I’m going to defend IU football.

The national “experts” tick me off more than anything.Without doing any homework or giving it any thought they all parrot the same things.What have they been parroting about IU’s football sucess?”Oh it’s only happening because of NIL and the transfer portal.Anyone can do it nowadays.Just look at Vandy.VANDY VANDY VANDY!!!!!!!

Ok,let’s look at what made Vandy’s miraculous 2025 season.They were 10-3,finished 15th in the final AP poll and was in consideration for the 12,I said 12,team playoff.Almost every power conference program has had a similar or better resume than that the past 25 seasons or so.This would include historically bad programs like Kentucky,Northwestern,Rutgers,Kansas and Kansas State to name a few.So there’s nothing new or miraculous about bad programs having an occasional top 10-20 season.

“But West Coast Willie,what’s miraculous is nothing close to this has ever happened at Vandy!!!!!”Oh really?In 2012 and 13 James Franklin led Vandy to back to back 9-4 seasons and ended up 23rd and 24th in the final AP polls.So something similar has happened at Vandy and it hasn’t been that long ago.

If NIL and the transfer portal make it so much easier to become a powerhouse then why aren’t more non traditional powers doing what IU has done?Why hasn’t it helped traditional powers like LSU,Florida,Clemson,USC and Florida State?Why isn’t Texas dominating every game and season?Nobody has the resources they have.They’ve been ok but not nearly as dominant as they should be.I find it funny that the experts,that tell us IU has only been successful because of NIL and the transfer portal, don’t have any traditionally bad programs in their pre season top 25 except IU.

Up next is the 1975-76 Eagles(15-7).I mentioned while posting about the 63-64 team how difficult it’s been,historically,...
08/27/2026

Up next is the 1975-76 Eagles(15-7).I mentioned while posting about the 63-64 team how difficult it’s been,historically,for the Eagles to beat an MSC team that finishes with 15 or more wins.Austin’s winning % in those types of games is roughly 12%.The 76 team won 3 such games.They defeated Corydon(15-6),Charlestown(20-5) who was the Seymour Regional runner up and Brownstown(16-5) in the sectional semi final.They lost in the sectional final to Jennings County.
-Keith Sexton All MSC
-All SAC(Austin was in MSC and SAC at that time)Keith Sexton,Danny Pate,Edd Taylor
-Keith Sexton and Danny Pate All Sectional
-Team averaged 74.6 which is 3rd all time for an Austin team

Some individual stats.I don’t have games played for most players so just have point totals for those players
Keith Sexton 20.5 ppg 11.5 rpg
Danny Pate 13 ppg
Edd Taylor 191 points
James Hutchinson 137
Mike Barrett 108
Randy Richey 102 4.7 apg

Thanks to Joyce Goodin Bush for providing the pics for the 63-64 and 75-76 teams

Today’s team is the 1963-64 Eagles(16-6).I’m a big believer in “who did you beat”?Since Austin has been in the Mid South...
08/24/2026

Today’s team is the 1963-64 Eagles(16-6).I’m a big believer in “who did you beat”?Since Austin has been in the Mid Southern Conference(1958-59)beating a MSC team that wins 15 total games or more has been rare.The 63-64 team won 4 such games,Scottsburg(15-7),Silver Creek(17-7),Paoli(15-9) and Corydon(20-5).Silver Creek and Corydon went on to win sectional titles that season.The 63-64 team had a 10 game winning streak during the season which included the wins over Scottsburg,Silver Creek and Paoli.
-Tommy Rigdon and Charlie Brandenburg made the All MSC team.
-Charlie Brandenburg was all sectional
-Charlie Brandenburg averaged 22.4 points per game and 21 rebounds per game
-Other scorers in double figures
Tommy Rigdon 21.9
Kelly Baker 13.7
Jimmie Robison 12.9
-As a team they averaged 76.9 ppg which is still the Austin team scoring record

Before I go on with some other teams I wanted to go back to the 72-73 team.I forgot to post any individual stats or fact...
08/24/2026

Before I go on with some other teams I wanted to go back to the 72-73 team.I forgot to post any individual stats or facts about that team.
-Carl Smith’s 50 points vs Switzerland County set the Austin single game scoring record.It’s still the most points scored in a game by someone not name Anthony Wi******er.
-Smith finished his career as Austin’s all time leading scoring.He is currently 6th on the all time scoring list.
-Darrell Porter set the single game assist record with 14.That is currently the 3rd most assist in a game.
-Gene Mullins tied the season record with 79 steals.He tied some guy named Mike Deaton.As far as I know that’s still the record.
-Carl Smith and Burt Sexton made the all Mid Southern Conference team.It was Smith’s 3rd time being named all conference.He was the first Eagle to be all conference 3 times.
-Burt Sexton and Carl Smith were all sectional.Sexton was first Eagle to be all sectional 3 times.
-Leading scorers
Carl Smith 21.9
Burt Sexton 15.3
Jim Blanton 14.7
Gene Mullins 9.7

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