RAMSEY: Former Air Force coach Mooney lifts Richmond

DENVER • Chris Mooney is winning, which is no surprise if you watched him during the five seasons he transformed Air Force basketball program.

Mooney is the gentle tyrant who has directed Richmond to 28 wins, but he didn’t grab the nation’s attention until Thursday night. That’s when Mooney and his Spiders, who had been inexplicably shackled with a No. 12 seed, shocked No. 5 Vanderbilt.

The victory leaves Mooney, the perpetual underdog, in a strange position. He spent his playing career at Princeton and his early coaching career with Air Force’s Falcons. Neither destination carried the burden of great expectations.

His Spiders carry a burden. On Saturday, Richmond will rank as a slight favorite when it meets No. 13 seed Morehead State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Pepsi Center.

Hard to believe, but it was only four years ago that the Spiders were a wreck. Mooney had finished a dreadful 8-22 season, which followed a horrific 13-17 season.

His mood at the time?

“Sour,” Mooney said, laughing Friday evening as he returned to those painful days.

What followed was a basketball version of a resurrection. Mooney discovered a high school star from Atlanta named Kevin Anderson, who had been lightly recruited because of his lack of size.

And he persuaded Justin Harper, an immensely talented 6-foot-10 jump shooter from Richmond, to stay home.

Slowly, the little man and the big man and the gifted coach changed a loser to a winner.

Mooney has won 54 games in the past two seasons, and he insists he always could see those victories on the horizon.

He just thought it would take, using his words, “50 years” to win 54 games instead of only two.

He offers a distinctive blend as a leader. In practice, he corrects every error, no matter how tiny. This relentless dedication to detail means Mooney can be a bit of a nag.

But Mooney is as dedicated to listening as he is to criticizing. He asks his players for input, and he actually incorporates their advice into his strategy.

“The thing I like about Coach Mooney,” Anderson said, “is he values your opinion.”

Mooney’s tough yet sensitive approach to his job is nothing new. It’s the same style he used while working at Air Force.

His sprint to Richmond in 2005, after only one season as Falcons head coach, blurred the value of his time at the academy. It was obvious he disliked working under the direction of athletic director Hans Mueh, although both men have never spoken publicly about their strained relationship.

Before Mooney departed, he served a crucial role. He worked four seasons as Joe Scott’s top assistant with the Falcons, and together they turned one of the nation’s worst basketball programs into the 2004 Mountain West Conference regular-season champion.

They opened their four seasons together by working 85 straight days without a break. They arrived in Colorado Springs and labored without ceasing. They were obsessed, believing, against overwhelming evidence, Air Force could win.

Scott was the shouting, strutting face of the program with Mooney working as the quiet yet stern voice in the background. His work at Air Force left him with an understanding of the price tag of defying the odds.

“You have to have a certain worker’s mindset if you’re going to accomplish something like that,” Mooney said of Air Force’s rise from the bottom of college basketball. “And you have to believe — believe in your values, believe in how you go about your business and believe in your vision.”

On Thursday, Mooney — who’s a lanky 6-foot-7 — stood in front of the bench as his Spiders prepared to conquer Vanderbilt. He was, once again, the underdog, but he believed Richmond would win.

He was right, of course. He defied the odds, one more time.