After 23 years roaming the sidelines at Fontbonne, Griffin head men’s basketball coach Lee McKinney announced he will not be returning next season.
“For the past 10 years, I’ve told players and parents that I would coach as long as my health would allow me to,” McKinney said. “After 1,425 games, my health will not allow me to coach anymore and my health must take priority right now. I would like to announce that I will be stepping down as the head men’s basketball coach at Fontbonne University.”
McKinney, who was unable to attend Fontbonne’s game against Webster because of his ongoing battle with cancer, had a prepared statement read prior to tonight’s tip-off. This is McKinney’s third battle with cancer.
“I would like to thank Dr. Lee McKinney for his many years of service as Fontbonne’s athletic director and head men’s basketball coach,” Fontbonne president Dennis Golden said. “I wish him well in his retirement.”
McKinney has spent the last 50 years coaching at the high school and collegiate level. He took his first coaching job in 1959 at Qulin High School. After several successful years as a high school basketball coach in Missouri and Illinois, McKinney made the jump to the collegiate level in 1978 when he became the head coach at Missouri Baptist. During his tenure at Missouri Baptist, McKinney compiled a 188-126 record and was named the Show-Me Conference Coach of the Year in 1983 and 1988.
In the fall of 1988, Fontbonne hired McKinney as athletic director and first head men’s basketball coach. Over the next 23 years, McKinney compiled a 330-281 record with three SLIAC championships, five SLIAC Tournament championships and four appearances in the Division III NCAA Tournament. He holds the SLIAC record for most men’s basketball coaching victories.
For his career, McKinney has 805 career victories and 518 career collegiate wins. He was inducted into Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1992, the Missouri Baptist University Hall of Fame in 2003, Fontbonne University Hall of Fame 2000, St. Clair High School Hall of Fame in 1995 and St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) Hall of Fame in 2010. Coach McKinney was honored by the NABC as a “Guardian of the Game” in 2002.