The Washburn Ichabods men's basketball team represents Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, in the NCAA Division II men's basketball competition. The team is currently coached by Brett Ballard, who is in his eighth year at the helm. Ballard replaced Bob Chipman, who retired after the 2016âÂÂ17 season. The Ichabods currently compete in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA). The basketball team plays its home games in Lee Arena on campus.
Washburn annually plays a thirty-game conference schedule that is preceded by an out-of-conference schedule that includes three exhibition games. The conference schedule consists of playing every MIAA member at least once, some twice.
Washburn's basketball program began in with the 1905âÂÂ06 season, forty years after the university was founded. Overall, the team has won 21 conference championships and one national title.
Beginning with the 1905âÂÂ06 season, the program's first, Harry C. Byrd was chosen to lead the program. In his first four seasons as head coach, Byrd led the Ichabods to winning records and a total of 31âÂÂ20. In 1909âÂÂ10 season, Byrd led the Ichabods their first conference championship. In Byrd's 16 years as head coach, he led the team to nine winning seasons and seven losing seasons, compiling a record of 116âÂÂ112âÂÂ1.
In 1921, Dwight Ream took over the program for one season. After Ream left with an 8âÂÂ9 record, Mike Vosburg took over for the 1922âÂÂ23 season. Vosburg left with a 7âÂÂ11 record. After two years with two different coaches, McPherson College coach, Dutch Lonborg, became head coach. From 1923 to 1927, Lonborg led the Ichabods to a 61âÂÂ14âÂÂ1 record, producing the second, and last, of the team's two ties as well as winning two conference regular season championships. Lonborg is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
When Lonborg left after the 1926âÂÂ27 season, Washburn entered a new era: Roy Wynne was named head coach, and the school joined the newly created Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. During Wynne's three seasons as head coach, he produced a 29âÂÂ22 record. Following Wynne's departure, McPherson's football coach, George Gardner, took over. Coaching for three seasons and a total record of 19âÂÂ28, Gardner was fired and was replaced by Elmer Holm. Holm's first season was a losing season and the last year in the CIAC. In 1934, Washburn moved joined the Missouri Valley Conference. Holm led the team for two more seasons, ending with a record of 21âÂÂ36. In 1936, Dee Errikson took over team, leading for the next ten seasons and through World War II. Errikson led the team to an overall record of 67âÂÂ122, making him one of the most unsuccessful coaches in Washburn history.
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|- style="background: #012757; color: white" | colspan="6" style="text-align:center;"| No Conference â World War II
For the next thirty years after World War II, the Washburn saw five coaches come and go, with the addition of an interim for three games. In 1946, Washburn rejoined the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference after competing in the Missouri Valley for nine seasons and no conference for three during the war. After the war, Washburn hired Topeka High School basketball coach Adrian Miller, for would coach for five seasons. Before Miller took the helm of the team, Washburn went nearly 20 years without a winning season and although Miller went 8âÂÂ11 overall in his first season, Miller quickly turned the team around in 1947âÂÂ48 going 15âÂÂ9. For the next three seasons, Miller led the Ichabods to 10 wins or more. After the 1950âÂÂ51 season, Miller resigned with a 64âÂÂ46 record to become an insurance agent.
After Miller resigned, Washburn hired former assistant Marion McDonald, who previously served as assistant coach for Fort Hays Kansas State College.
In 1960, Norm Short took over for the Ichabods for the next six seasons, leading the team to a 46âÂÂ74 record, with only one winning season. After a 5âÂÂ20 overall and 2âÂÂ6 conference record in 1965âÂÂ66, Short resigned. Short coached at Central Missouri State from 1966 to 1972.
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|- style="background: #012757" | colspan="6" style="text-align:center;"| <span style="color:white;">Great Plains Athletic Conference</span>
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In 1979, Washburn assistant head coach Bob Chipman took over the program. During his first five years as head coach, Chipman led the Ichabods to a 105âÂÂ46 overall record, winning three MIAA tournament championships from 1982 through 1984. Two seasons later, Chipman led the Ichabods to Washburn's first â as well as his first â NAIA basketball championship. The following season, the Ichabods won the conference regular-season championship.
In 1989, the Ichabods made the move from the NAIA to the NCAA Division II, which also meant they would join a new conference: the Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association. After joining the MIAA, Chipman led his teams to nine conference regular-season championships, four conference championships, 11 NCAA tournament appearances and a national runner-up in 2001. Chipman retired at the end of the 2016âÂÂ17 season.
|- style="background: #D21241; color:white" | colspan="6" style="text-align:center;"| Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association