Drury University Athletics

Steve Hesser will enter his 17th season as the head coach of the Drury Panthers in 2020-21 and is the program's all-time leader in career coaching wins. 

On Feb. 16, 2019, Hesser took won his 317th career game at Drury with a 63-53 win at Missouri S&T and passed the legendary A.L. Weiser for the all-time lead in career wins at DU. Weiser went 316-256 in his 31 years guiding Drury's program. 

Hesser will enter the 2020-21 season with a career mark of 343-135 (.717) at the collegiate level. In addition, he owns a 204-82 record in conference play and has guided the Panthers to nine regular season conference titles, three league championships, 10 NCAA-II tournament appearances, two Elite Eight appearances, and the NCAA-II National Championship in 2013.

On June 4, 2020, coach Hesser was named to the Impactful Men's Basketball Head Coaches list by Silver Waves Media and was one of only 50 at the NCAA-II and NAIA to receive such honors. The 2019-20 season saw the Panthers win at least 20 games for the third-straight season and it was the 12th 20-win campaign in Hesser's 16 years leading the program. Conley Garrison was named First Team All-GLVC, was selected to the league's All-Defensive team, named All-Midwest Region, and was an Academic All-District honoree. 

In addition to going 20-9, his 2019-20 posted a team grade-point-average of 3.56 and earned a GLVC Team Academic Award. 

Hesser is the second-longest tenure as a Drury head coach, and his .703 winning percentage is also the best mark in program history for any coach with more than one season at the helm. 

In 2018-19, the Panthers won 12 straight games late in the year, advanced to the GLVC tournament championship game, and made their second-straight appearance in the NCAA-II tournament. The team also saw guard Conley Garrison become a First Team All-GLVC selection and was picked to the All-Midwest Region team. 

On Feb. 17, 2018, coach Hesser reached the 300-win milestone in a 74-57 Drury win over Wisconsin-Parkside. The win was part of a 21-8 season for the Panthers as Drury also went 13-5 in the conference, and earned a bid to the NCAA-II tournament. 

While his win total and winning percentage are among the top 10 active coaches in NCAA-II, Hesser's crowning achievement came in 2013 when he led the Panthers to the NCAA-II national championship with a 74-73 win over Metro State in the title game in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the NABC Division II National Coach of the Year that season as the Panthers finished the year 31-4, 16-2 in the GLVC and were conference champions. 

Despite losing key players to graduation, including the bulk of the team's scoring load from their national title team, Hesser guided the Panthers to another GLVC division title and their second straight trip to the Elite Eight as Drury went 28-4 in 2013-14.

Under Hesser, the Panthers have been particularly tough at home. Drury is 131-18 all-time at the O'Reilly Family Event Center since the arena opened for the 2010-11 season and the Panthers won a program-record 32-straight home game from 2013-15. Drury was 78-13 through six years under Hesser at Weiser Gym putting his career record at 210-31 (.871) in home games.

Hesser became the 19th head coach in Drury men's basketball history after successful stints as a high school coach in Oklahoma and Missouri. Before his arrival on Drury's campus, coach Hesser spent six years as head coach at Glendale High School and compiled a 97-39 mark with the Falcons. At Glendale, he won an Ozark Conference title in 2001 and got his team to the Class 5 sectional in 2003.

In Oklahoma, Steve Hesser put together a record of 262-142 with stops in Pauls Valley (1980-84), Bartlesville (1985-92) and Stillwater (1993-99). He coached future major league baseball player and St. Louis Cardinal Matt Holliday at Stillwater HS and went 87-62 winning four conference titles and making two state tournament appearances. Hesser's Bartlesville teams won Oklahoma Class 6A state championships in 1989, 1991 and 1992 and were the state runner-up in 1988. He compiled a 147-47 mark in seven seasons coaching Bruins before serving one year as an assistant coach at Western Illinois University. His first head coaching job came at Pauls Valley where be coached for four seasons before joining Billy Tubbs at Oklahoma University as a graduate assistant coach.

Hesser was inducted into the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2014, the Bartlesville Area Sports of Hall of Fame in 2011 and the Oklahoma Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2007.

As a student-athlete, Hesser was a two-sport standout at Stillwater High School, excelling in both basketball and football. He started his college playing career in both sports at New Mexico Military Academy before moving on to finish his college education, and playing days, at the University of Central Oklahoma.

After his playing career was ultimately cut short by a leg injury, Hesser finished his undergraduate degree at Oklahoma State, and he earned a Master's degree in secondary education from Oklahoma University in 1985.

Hesser and his wife, Patti, have one son, Tyler, a daughter-in-law Stephanie, and two grandchildren.

AWARDS & HONORS

• Impactful Men's Basketball Head Coaches List, 2020 (Silver Waves Media) 
• Missouri Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, 2014
• NABC NCAA-II Midwest Region Coach of the Year, 2014
• NABC NCAA-II National Coach of the Year, 2013
• Bartlesville, Okla. Area Sports Hall of Fame, 2011
• Oklahoma Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, 2007