Gardner–Webb University is a private Christian liberal arts university in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. It was founded as Boiling Springs High School in 1905. Gardner-Webb is a classified among "Doctoral/Professional Universities".
The Gardner–Webb Runnin' Bulldogs are the athletic teams that represent Gardner–Webb University, located in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. Gardner–Webb participates in 21 varsity sports at the NCAA Division I level. The school's programs are a part of the Big South Conference. Known as the Bulldogs going back to 1922, costumed mascots, registered athletic marks and Gardner-Webb University live mascots have all been featured.
The Western Carolina Catamounts men's basketball team is the intercollegiate men' basketball team that represents Western Carolina University. The team currently competes in the Southern Conference. Western Carolina won the 1996 Southern Conference tournament and participated in the 1996 NCAA tournament.
Christopher Adam Holtmann is an American college basketball who is currently the head coach at DePaul University.
The 2013–14 Gardner–Webb Runnin' Bulldogs men's basketball team represented Gardner–Webb University during the 2013–14 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Runnin' Bulldogs, led by first year head coach Tim Craft, played their home games at the Paul Porter Arena and were members of the South Division of the Big South Conference. They finished the season 18–15, 10–6 in Big South play to finish in a three-way tie for second place in the South Division. They advanced to the quarterfinals of the Big South Conference tournament where they lost to VMI.
The 2014–15 Gardner–Webb Runnin' Bulldogs men's basketball team represented Gardner–Webb University during the 2014–15 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Runnin' Bulldogs, led by second year head coach Tim Craft, played their home games at the Paul Porter Arena and were members of the Big South Conference. They finished the season 20–15, 10–8 in Big South play to finish in a tie for sixth place. They advanced to the semifinals of the Big South tournament where they lost to Coastal Carolina. They were invited to the College Basketball Invitational where they lost in the first round to Colorado.
The 2015–16 Gardner–Webb Runnin' Bulldogs men's basketball team represented Gardner–Webb University during the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Runnin' Bulldogs, led by third year head coach Tim Craft, played their home games at the Paul Porter Arena and were members of the Big South Conference. They finished the season 17–16, 10–8 in Big South play to finish in a tie for fifth place. They defeated Campbell and Coastal Carolina to advance to the semifinals of the Big South tournament where they lost to Winthrop.
The 2016–17 Gardner–Webb Runnin' Bulldogs men's basketball team represented Gardner–Webb University during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Runnin' Bulldogs, led by fourth-year head coach Tim Craft, played their home games at the Paul Porter Arena in Boiling Springs, North Carolina as members of the Big South Conference. They finished the regular season 18–13, 11–7 in Big South play to finish in fourth place. They received the No. 4 seed in the Big South tournament where they defeated High Point in the quarterfinals before losing in the semifinals to Winthrop.
Eddie Holbrook is an American former college men's basketball head coach. He is best known for his tenure at Gardner–Webb University between 1964 and 1978. He was hired to coach Gardner-Webb when he was just 24-years old, and during his 14-year career there he compiled an overall record of 344 wins to just 67 losses. Holbrook was the coach when the team transitioned from a junior college program to an NAIA school. In his first five years, Holbrook's teams won four conference titles, and two regional titles in 1968–'69 while earning an invitation to play in the National Junior College Athletic Association championship tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas. Eight of his players became All-Americans while five of them went onto careers in the National Basketball Association. In 1973–'74, Holbrook's Runnin' Bulldogs won 23 straight games before losing in the NAIA post-season tournament to West Georgia 116–101. to By the end of his time at Gardner–Webb he had led the Runnin' Bulldogs to seven 20-win seasons and an additional four 30-win seasons. Of his 14 teams, 12 finished the season with national top-10 rankings. In February 2015, the school renamed their home basketball court the "Eddie Holbrook Court." While coaching GW, Holbrook earned eight coach of the year honors, and her earned the reputation of creating players who embodied mental and physical fortitude. He took two of his teams to the NAIA National Post-Season Tournament including a final four appearance in 1972, and the 1971–'72 Runnin' Bulldogs averaged 104.3 points per game during that season. In 1976–'77 season, Holbrook's squad scored over 100 points eighteen times.
The 2017–18 Gardner–Webb Runnin' Bulldogs men's basketball team represented Gardner–Webb University during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Runnin' Bulldogs, led by fifth-year head coach Tim Craft, played their home games at the Paul Porter Arena in Boiling Springs, North Carolina as members of the Big South Conference. They finished the season 14–18, 9–9 in Big South play to finish in a four-way tie for fifth place. As the No. 6 seed in the Big South tournament, they lost to Winthrop in the quarterfinals.
The 2018–19 Gardner–Webb Runnin' Bulldogs men's basketball team represented Gardner–Webb University during the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Runnin' Bulldogs, led by sixth-year head coach Tim Craft, played their home games at the Paul Porter Arena in Boiling Springs, North Carolina as members of the Big South Conference. They finished the season 23–12, 10–6 in Big South play to finish in a tie for third place. They defeated High Point, Campbell and Radford to be champions of the Big South tournament. They earned the Big South's automatic-bid to the NCAA tournament, their first NCAA Tournament bid in school history, where they lost in the first round to Virginia.
The 2019–20 Gardner–Webb Runnin' Bulldogs men's basketball team represented Gardner–Webb University in the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Runnin' Bulldogs, led by seventh-year head coach Tim Craft, played their home games at the Paul Porter Arena in Boiling Springs, North Carolina as members of the Big South Conference. They finished the season 16–16, 11–7 in Big South play to finish in third place. They defeated UNC Asheville in the quarterfinals of the Big South tournament before losing in the semifinals to Winthrop.
Takayo Lemont Siddle is an American basketball coach who is the current head coach of the UNC Wilmington Seahawks men's basketball team.
The Dancin' Bulldogs: A 16 Seed's Journey to the NCAA Tournament is a 2020 American feature-length sports documentary directed, written, and produced by Christian Jessup with co-writing by Thomas Manning and Eli Hardin as well as co-production by Manning and Brendan Boylan. The documentary depicts the 2018–19 Gardner–Webb Runnin' Bulldogs men's basketball team, which won the Big South Conference tournament and earned a bid to the NCAA tournament.
The 2020–21 Gardner–Webb Runnin' Bulldogs men's basketball team represented Gardner–Webb University in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Runnin' Bulldogs, led by eighth-year head coach Tim Craft, played their home games at the Paul Porter Arena in Boiling Springs, North Carolina as members of the Big South Conference.
The 2021–22 Gardner–Webb Runnin' Bulldogs men's basketball team represented Gardner–Webb University in the 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Runnin' Bulldogs, led by ninth-year head coach Tim Craft, played their home games at Paul Porter Arena in Boiling Springs, North Carolina as members of the Big South Conference. With the reintroduction of divisions for the first time since the 2013–14 season, the Bulldogs played in the South division. They finished the season 18–13, 11–5 in Big South play to finish second place in the South division. As the No. 3 seed in the Big South tournament, they defeated Campbell in the quarterfinals before losing to Winthrop in the semifinals.
Michael Netti is an American basketball coach and former player. Since 2022, he has served as an assistant coach at Ohio State.
The 2022–23 Gardner–Webb Runnin' Bulldogs men's basketball team represented Gardner–Webb University in the 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Runnin' Bulldogs, led by tenth-year head coach Tim Craft, played their home games at Paul Porter Arena in Boiling Springs, North Carolina as members of the Big South Conference.
The 2023–24 Gardner–Webb Runnin' Bulldogs men's basketball team represented Gardner–Webb University during the 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Runnin' Bulldogs, led by 11th-year head coach Tim Craft, played their home games at Paul Porter Arena in Boiling Springs, North Carolina as members of the Big South Conference. They finished the season 17–16, 11–5 in Big South play to finish in third place. They defeated Presbyterian in the quarterfinals of the Big South tournament before losing to UNC Asheville.
The 2023–24 Western Carolina Catamounts men's basketball team represented Western Carolina University during the 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Catamounts, led by third-year head coach Justin Gray, played their home games at the Ramsey Center located in Cullowhee, North Carolina, as members of the Southern Conference. They finished the season 22–10, 11–7 in SoCon play to finish in fourth place. They lost in the quarterfinals of the SoCon tournament to Furman.
