McKillop Among Nominees for Naismith Hall of Fame
12/19/2025 2:01:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Already set to join the Southern Conference and Davidson Athletics Halls of Fame in 2026, former Wildcats basketball coach Bob McKillop will also be under consideration for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
The Naismith committee announced its list of 2026 nominees Friday afternoon, and McKillop, nominated in 2019, will be among those under review for the game's premier hall.
Now 75, McKillop is the most successful coach in school and league history and concluded his illustrious 33-year tenure at Davidson in 2022 with 634 wins (ranked 54th on the NCAA Division I wins list) and 10 NCAA bids, including a storybook run to the Elite Eight in 2007-08.
The 2007-08 NABC National Coach of the Year, McKillop and a guard named Stephen Curry led Davidson to the 2008 NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional Championship game with victories over three nationally ranked foes — Gonzaga, Georgetown and Wisconsin. The Wildcats' unbelievable run ended with a two-point loss to eventual national champion Kansas, and Davidson finished the campaign with a final ranking of ninth in the ESPN/USA Today Poll.
During the 2021-22 campaign, his final on the bench, McKillop guided the Wildcats to their second-most wins in a single season, going 27-7 overall, which included a program-best 15-3 mark in Atlantic 10 play. In addition to earning his 11th (9 – SoCon, 2 – A-10) Conference Coach of the Year honor, McKillop's final campaign was capped by the school's second at-large NCAA Tournament bid.
McKillop led the Wildcats to 23 conference titles (15 – regular season, 8 – tournament), and in all, 19 McKillop-coached teams reached the postseason — the NCAA Tournament in 1998, 2002, 2006-08, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2022; the NIT in 1994, 1996, 2005, 2009, 2014, 2016, 2019 and 2021; and the CBI in 2011.
The Wildcats hit the 20-win plateau 17 times under McKillop's leadership, while seven teams won 25 games or more.
His 2007-08 team tied the school's single-season wins record with 29, while stringing together a national-best 25 consecutive victories, before falling to the Jayhawks on the doorstep of the Final Four.
Davidson's Belk Arena hardwood was named "McKillop Court" in his honor on Feb. 1, 2014 during his 25th season.
McKillop coached his 1,000th game at Davidson on Jan. 29, 2022, becoming just the 10th coach in Division I history to reach the milestone at one school.
His teams were successful off the court as well. He had a perfect Academic Progress Rate of 1.000 each year since the NCAA began tracking it in 2003.
McKillop in the Hall of Fame
• Davidson Athletics Hall of Fame: To be inducted Jan. 10, 2026
• Southern Conference Hall of Fame: To be inducted March 5, 2026
• New York City Basketball Hall of Fame: Inducted in 2015
• North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame: Inducted in 2024
The Naismith committee announced its list of 2026 nominees Friday afternoon, and McKillop, nominated in 2019, will be among those under review for the game's premier hall.
Now 75, McKillop is the most successful coach in school and league history and concluded his illustrious 33-year tenure at Davidson in 2022 with 634 wins (ranked 54th on the NCAA Division I wins list) and 10 NCAA bids, including a storybook run to the Elite Eight in 2007-08.
The 2007-08 NABC National Coach of the Year, McKillop and a guard named Stephen Curry led Davidson to the 2008 NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional Championship game with victories over three nationally ranked foes — Gonzaga, Georgetown and Wisconsin. The Wildcats' unbelievable run ended with a two-point loss to eventual national champion Kansas, and Davidson finished the campaign with a final ranking of ninth in the ESPN/USA Today Poll.
During the 2021-22 campaign, his final on the bench, McKillop guided the Wildcats to their second-most wins in a single season, going 27-7 overall, which included a program-best 15-3 mark in Atlantic 10 play. In addition to earning his 11th (9 – SoCon, 2 – A-10) Conference Coach of the Year honor, McKillop's final campaign was capped by the school's second at-large NCAA Tournament bid.
McKillop led the Wildcats to 23 conference titles (15 – regular season, 8 – tournament), and in all, 19 McKillop-coached teams reached the postseason — the NCAA Tournament in 1998, 2002, 2006-08, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2022; the NIT in 1994, 1996, 2005, 2009, 2014, 2016, 2019 and 2021; and the CBI in 2011.
The Wildcats hit the 20-win plateau 17 times under McKillop's leadership, while seven teams won 25 games or more.
His 2007-08 team tied the school's single-season wins record with 29, while stringing together a national-best 25 consecutive victories, before falling to the Jayhawks on the doorstep of the Final Four.
Davidson's Belk Arena hardwood was named "McKillop Court" in his honor on Feb. 1, 2014 during his 25th season.
McKillop coached his 1,000th game at Davidson on Jan. 29, 2022, becoming just the 10th coach in Division I history to reach the milestone at one school.
His teams were successful off the court as well. He had a perfect Academic Progress Rate of 1.000 each year since the NCAA began tracking it in 2003.
McKillop in the Hall of Fame
• Davidson Athletics Hall of Fame: To be inducted Jan. 10, 2026
• Southern Conference Hall of Fame: To be inducted March 5, 2026
• New York City Basketball Hall of Fame: Inducted in 2015
• North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame: Inducted in 2024
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