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Mississippi’s Greatest Athletes: Rebels’ Van Chancellor
From a little farm in Nanih Waiya to coaching Team USA to Olympic gold in women’s basketball in Athens, Greece,— that’s the Van Chancellor story. But that’s not nearly all. Chancellor also coached the Houston Comets to championships in the first three seasons of the WNBA, and he coached Ole Miss to the NCAA Tournament 14 times, and, get this, he won 638 games as a high school coach before fellow Hall of Famer Warner Alford hired him at Ole Miss when Chancellor was 34.
Van Chancellor
Photo courtesy of the Mississippi’s Greatest Athletes book
Chancellor is a winner — pure and simple. And he did all his winning with a folksy charm that won over fans and the media and also served him well behind a microphone as a TV analyst. Chancellor’s record as coach of Team USA? Try 38-0. Besides the 2004 Olympic gold medal, Chancellor coached Team USA to the FIBA World Championship gold medal in 2002. At Ole Miss, he was SEC Coach of the Year three times.
At Houston, he was WNBA Coach of the Year the first three years there was a WNBA. This will give you an idea of Chancellor’s homespun charm: In 1997, he was weighing an offer from the Comets against his comfortable job at Ole Miss. He went to his father, Winston B. Chancellor, who advised him to remember how many friends he had at Ole Miss and told him, “You don’t know nobody in Houston.” Van Chancellor said, “But what if they offer me a whole lot more
money in Houston? I mean a whole lot more.”
Said Van Chancellor’s daddy: “Just remember, son, you can always make new friends.”
Courtesy of Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum director Rick Cleveland, author of Mississippi’s Greatest Athletes. Cleveland can be reached at rcleveland@msfame.com.
| Sat, Aug 31 |  | vs Furman | W, 76-0 |
| Sat, Sep 7 |  | vs Middle Tennessee | W, 52-3 |
| Sat, Sep 14 |  | @ Wake Forest | W, 40-6 |
| Sat, Sep 21 |  | vs Georgia Southern | W, 52-13 |
| Sat, Sep 28 |  | vs Kentucky | L, 20-17 |
| Sat, Oct 5 |  | @ South Carolina | W, 27-3 |
| Sat, Oct 12 |  | vs LSU | L, 29-26 (2 OT) |
| Sat, Oct 26 |  | vs Oklahoma | W, 26-14 |
| Sat, Nov 2 |  | @ Arkansas | W, 63-35 |
| Sat, Nov 16 |  | vs Georgia | W, 28-10 |
| Sat, Nov 23 |  | @ Florida | L, 24-17 |
| Sat, Nov 30 |  | vs Mississippi State | W, 26-14 |
| Thu, Jan 2 |  | vs Duke (Gator Bowl) | W, 52-20 |
| Mon, Nov 4 |  | vs Long Island University | W, 90-60 |
| Fri, Nov 8 |  | vs Grambling | W, 66-64 |
| Tue, Nov 12 |  | vs South Alabama | W, 64-54 |
| Sat, Nov 16 |  | vs Colorado State | W, 84-69 |
| Thu, Nov 21 |  | vs Oral Roberts | L, 100-68 |
| Thu, Nov 28 |  | vs BYU | W, 96-85 OT |
| Fri, Nov 29 |  | vs 13 Purdue | L, 80-78 |
| Tue, Dec 3 |  | @ Louisville | W, 86-63 |
| Sat, Dec 7 |  | vs Lindenwood | W, 86-53 |
| Sat, Dec 14 |  | vs Southern Miss | W, 77-46 |
| Tue, Dec 17 |  | vs Southern | W, 74-61 |
| Sat, Dec 21 |  | vs Queens University | W, 80-62 |
| Sat, Dec 28 |  | @ Memphis | L, 87-70 |
| Sat, Jan 4 |  | vs Georgia | 11:00 AM SECN |
| Wed, Jan 8 |  | @ 23 Arkansas | 6:00 PM TBA |
| Sat, Jan 11 |  | vs LSU | 5:00 PM SECN |
| Tue, Jan 14 |  | @ 5 Alabama | 6:00 PM TBA |
| Sat, Jan 18 |  | @ 17 Mississippi State | 5:00 PM TBA |
| Wed, Jan 22 |  | vs 13 Texas A&M | 8:00 PM TBA |
| Sat, Jan 25 |  | @ Missouri | 5:00 PM SECN |
| Wed, Jan 29 |  | vs Texas | 8:00 PM ESPN2 |
| Sat, Feb 1 |  | vs 2 Auburn | 3:00 PM TBA |
| Tue, Feb 4 |  | vs 10 Kentucky | 6:00 PM ESPN |
| Sat, Feb 8 | | @ LSU | 7:30 PM SECN |
| Wed, Feb 12 |  | @ South Carolina | 6:00 PM SECN |
| Sat, Feb 15 | | vs 17 Mississippi State | 5:00 PM TBA |
| Sat, Feb 22 |  | @ Vanderbilt | 2:30 PM SECN |
| Wed, Feb 26 | | @ 2 Auburn | 6:00 PM TBA |
| Sat, Mar 1 |  | vs 12 Oklahoma | 1:00 PM TBA |
| Wed, Mar 5 |  | vs 1 Tennessee | 8:00 PM TBA |
| Sat, Mar 8 |  | @ 6 Florida | 5:00 PM SECN |
Rick Harris
June 10, 2015 at 6:44 am
Coach Chancellor is one of the finest men I ever got to meet and that includes President Ronald Reagan!
Anonymous
June 10, 2015 at 5:01 pm
GREAT GUY. WENT TO CHURCH AND SCHOOL WITH HIM.
Troy Bond
June 10, 2015 at 9:07 pm
Great man ,coach and friend. Will also be honored to have had him as a friend and customer.
Gara Lovorn Ward
June 10, 2015 at 10:12 pm
I am so proud of Winston Van. His mother, Wanda, was my first cousin. His grandmother, my Aunt Kate Bateman, was my father’s sister.
Van chancellor
June 10, 2015 at 10:51 pm
Thank you Rick for the kind words and happy memories.
La
June 14, 2015 at 8:39 am
It was nice to read about a great coach that my brother Kent knew well while growing up in Louisville Mississippi. My brother has kept me informed of all his accomplishments. I started doing the same from Florida. I was fortunate to be able to speak to Van at a Comets’ game in Orlando several years ago. He was the same friendly guy that I remembered from Louisville. All the people from Louisville are very proud of him.