Eric Echelbarger will mark his 15th season as a member of the McKendree men’s basketball coaching staff in 2017-18. He will aid Coach Statham in on-the-floor coaching, scouting and recruiting.
Echelbarger joined the Bearcats’ staff after closing out his collegiate career as a two-year member of the Bearcats’ squad, playing a key role at guard. During Echelbarger’s tenure at McKendree (as a player and coach), McKendree has amassed 327 victories and played an integral role in helping the Bearcats earn their first-ever Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament berth in 2015-16.
He also helped McKendree to eight appearances at the NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball National Championship in Kansas City. The Bearcats reached the American Midwest Conference Tournament title game nine times in a 10-year span. Over McKendree’s last four years as members of the AMC, Echelbarger helped guide the Bearcats to an overall record of 105-33 with a 52-4 mark in AMC play along with four straight AMC regular-season titles. McKendree finished each of those last four regular seasons with an NAIA top 25 ranking.
As a player, Echelbarger helped the Bearcats to 64 victories and consecutive AMC championships. He was a co-captain on the 2002-03 squad that went 34-4 and reached the semifinal round of the NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball National Championship. Echelbarger was a two-time member of the AMC Academic All-Conference team and was named as a Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete as a senior in 2003.
Echelbarger graduated from McKendree in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education, and completed requirements for a master’s degree in education in 2007. For the last 13 years, Echelbarger as been the director of the McKendree University Basketball Camp, which has grown into one of the largest of its kind in southern Illinois. He is also an associate instructor in the McKendree physical education department.
Echelbarger and his wife Ericka -- a 2005 McKendree graduate -- reside in O’Fallon. The Echelbargers have two sons, Ethan and Evan.
