With Sam Houston State's 92-82 victory over Texas State-San Marcos Saturday in the regular season finale for the Bearkats, head coach Bob Marlin became only the second men's basketball coach in Southland Conference history to win 200 games during his SLC tenure.

In his 11 seasons, the Bearkats have rolled up a record of 200 wins and 122 losses, more victories than any other Southland Conference member during that time span.

Mike Vining, head coach at Louisiana-Monroe from 1983 to 2005, holds the league mark for coaching victories with his 383-291 record. Ironically, Vining gave Marlin his start in coaching. Marlin was a graduate assistant for Vining at ULM (then known as Northeast Louisiana).

“A fraternity brother of mine at Mississippi State was a swimmer and interviewed in Monroe for a grad assistant job with the swim team,” Marlin recalled. “He called me from the interview and said they were looking for a graduate student to teach golf. I told him I would do it if I could help out in basketball, too. Coach Vining had only been at Northeast about four months, but he said he could use another grad assistant. They hired me sight unseen and, before I knew it, I was driving across the Mississippi at Vicksburg to a town I'd never been to before. My second year, I worked strictly in athletics as a basketball assistant.”

 Vining, who won seven Southland Conference championships during his tenure at Louisiana-Monroe, is excited about Marlin's achievement.

 “To have someone you've known for a long time, worked with, competed against and admired achieve this level of success is very meaningful,” Vining said. “Bob was an outstanding young coach. It's been exciting to watch his career. He's been successful everywhere he's been.”

 A victory in Saturday's game also gives the opportunity to tie for the 2009 Southland regular season title. A Bearkat win coupled with a Stephen F. Austin loss at UTSA Saturday put give Sam Houston a co-championship. The Bearkats have clinched a berth in the 2009 Southland post-season tournament in Katy, March 12-15. The Bearkats have reached the semifinals or finals of the SLC tournament three of the last four years.

“When I took the job here at Sam Houston, Louisiana-Monroe was the premier program in the league,” Marlin said. “My second season here, we won the league championship and defeated the Indians in our only meeting of the year. Having Coach congratulate me after the game was one of those special moments.”

Vining recalls the moment was a tough one for him.

“You never like to lose, but  I was proud for Bob,” Vining said. “We had a lot of success playing in Huntsville before Bob got to Sam Houston, but after he got there, it became a much tougher place to play.”

Twice Marlin has earned Southland Conference “Coach of the Year” honors (2000 and 2003). Both those seasons the Bearkats won the Southland Conference regular season championship. In 2003, the Kats won the SLC tournament, as well, to earn their first NCAA Division I national tournament berth.

Marlin has a winning record against every team in the league. Not bad for a coach who never played college basketball.

 “I wasn't a very good player,” Marlin said. “After hitting only two of seven shots in a high school game, my coach told me I was a good ball-handler so he wanted me to bring up the ball, get it to the shooters, and play defense. His message was pretty clear.”

That was when Marlin began to recognize the intricacies of coaching. He credits his high school mentor for lighting the spark.

After working as a student assistant for three years at Mississippi State and serving for two year's on Vining's staff at Northeast Louisiana, Marlin went on to work as an assistant at Houston Baptist and Marshall before becoming head coach at Pensacola Junior College. In five years at Pensacola, he compiled a 123-35 record, winning the junior college national championship in 1993. Marlin is a member of the Florida Junior College Athletic Hall of Fame.

Marlin moved to Alabama as assistant coach for two seasons before coming to Sam Houston State. His record as a head coach (junior college and NCAA Division I) is 322-157 and as an assistant is 194-159.

 “A good friend of mine likes to say, ?If you work hard, everything else takes care of itself.' That is so true,” Marlin said. “Sam Houston State gave me a great opportunity.”

Sam Houston State went 22-9 in 2006, 21-10 in 2007 and 23-8 last year to become only the third team in Southland Conference history to post three or more 20-plus victory seasons in consecutive years. The other two were Lamar (1980 to 1985) and Louisiana Tech (1984 to 1987).

The Bearkats are three wins away from their fourth consecutive 20-win season, a mark they hope to achieve at the Southland tournament.

The list of all-time "winningest" men's basketball coaches in the Southland Conference: