Friends University’s head coach Dale Faber disagrees with a referee’s call in the first half of the KCAC men’s final against Sterling College at Hartmann Arena. (March 2, 2015)
Jaime Green
The Wichita Eagle
A coaching legend in the Wichita community has decided to hang up the whistle, as long-time Friends University men’s basketball coach Dale Faber announced Thursday he will retire at the end of this season.
From his success at all levels of basketball in Wichita to his famous one-liners, Faber carved out one of thecity’s more memorable basketball coaching careers.
Faber considered himself lucky he never had to leave his hometown of Wichita to coach basketball at all different levels for the past 39 years. While he is most known for his tenure at Friends, which began in 2003 and includes an array of six KCAC titles, two KCAC coach of the year awards and seven trips to the NAIA national tournament, Faber also spent 12 seasons (1987-99) turning Bishop Carroll High School into a winning program and even spent one season (1999-00) as an assistant coach at Wichita State.
Although he is retiring from coaching, Faber isn’t leaving Friends — he will transition to a fundraising role within the athletic department.
“I just thought it was time. There’s not one ounce of rub either way,” Faber told The Eagle. “An opportunity came up within the department and it came to fruition. A wise man once told me, ‘It’s better to start thinking about your retirement before your boss starts thinking about it for you.’ It’s been a good run and we’ve done a lot of great things.”
Friends’ coach Dale Faber, right hugs Chris Jackson as he goes down the line congratulating each player after their victory over Bethany College Tuesday (March 2, 2010) at Friends University. The Wichita Eagle
‘It’s Elvis time’: Faber’s humor also legendary
Perhaps the only thing Faber knew how to do better than win basketball games was to make people laugh. He has a one-liner for almost every occasion and his quick wit sometimes catches those who aren’t familiar with his sense of humor off guard. Make an excuse around him and Faber will tell you, “I don’t want to hear about the labor pains, I just want to see the baby.”
That was his unique way of communicating, a style that Chris Davis, the current coach of the Campus boys who spent time under Faber as a Carroll assistant, said made him so likeable.
“If you look back at some of the quotes he had after City League games, you would just crack up over some of the things he used to say,” Davis said. “I still use some of his one-liners with our kids at Campus. I remember we were in a huddle during the timeout late in a game and he goes, ‘It’s Elvis time. He ain’t coming back and neither are they.’
“He always had that great sense of humor, but he didn’t do it to try to get the spotlight. I think the No. 1 reason why was that he was trying to take the pressure off those kids.”
In the 1998-99 high school basketball season preview in The Eagle, Faber was asked for his outlook for Carroll after the team had graduated all five of its starters from the previous season. “It should be exciting,” Faber said. “I would probably expect two or three major ulcers and maybe a few migraines.” In the end, Faber led Carroll to a 13-9 record that season.
Since arriving at Friends, Faber’s performances at KCAC Media Day, which doubles as his own stand-up comedy routine, have become stuff of legend. In fact, that was one of the first experiences for Friends athletic director Rob Ramseyer when he was hired in 2018.
“I was sitting in the crowd and he introduced me to everybody and said, ‘Rob is really working hard at raising some money. He’s going to start passing a hat around, so everybody give us some money,’” Ramseyer said. “That’s just him, a sarcastic sense of humor. And he can take it as much as he can give it, so it’s just been a delightful relationship for me and I’ve really enjoyed working with him.”
So where did Faber develop his sense of humor and pick up so many of those one-liners?
He gives credit to both of his parents for instilling the sense of humor in him, but he’s lost track over the years of what came from where. Much like how basketball coaches borrow plays from one another, Faber isn’t sure how many of his zingers he invented and how many he took from others. No matter what, Faber always found a way to bring levity to a situation.
“Humor was a great tool for me,” Faber said. “I think what it did was that it kept me from showing how disappointed I could be, most of the time in myself.”
Friends coach Dale Faber talks with his players before their game with Tabor at Friends University Wednesday. (Jan 22, 2014) The Wichita Eagle
‘That innate ability to lead’: Faber’s ability to coach
That Faber went on to become a successful basketball coach doesn’t surprise Dirk Wedd, who recruited Faber, then a senior pitcher at Carroll, as the Pratt Community College baseball coach in the spring of 1977.
Wedd went on to have a successful coaching career of his own — eight years as an assistant coach on the Wichita State football team, 19 years coaching football, baseball and golf at Lawrence High School, and the past three seasons working for the KU football team, most recently as director of high school relations.
After all of those years and all of those experiences, Wedd’s first impression of Faber still sticks with him to this day.
“I knew within five minutes of talking to him, ‘I need this kid,’” Wedd said. “He could just light up a room and he had this unbelievable ability to lead people and he had it at the age of 18, which is so very unusual. He just had that innate ability to lead. In my 45 years of coaching, he would have to be one of the top five kids I ever coached as far as leading a team.”
Faber took the Carroll job in 1987 and it didn’t take long for him to build a reputation as a coach. The program had just two winning seasons in its first 22 years and had never won a state trophy. By his fourth season, Faber led Carroll to a winning record. By his fifth season, he led Carroll to its first state tournament with a third-place finish.
“He just knows how to teach kids how to play the game the right way and he holds them accountable,” Davis said of Faber. “Those kids at Carroll would dive through a wall for him. There were so many times we were overmatched, but he would always find a way. He could adjust like no other. I was a sponge. I just absorbed everything that I could. I learned 99% of what I know because of that guy.”
Faber led Carroll to winning records in eight of his final nine seasons, including two trips to the state tournament and two top-4 finishes. Jim Mernagh, a current Northwest boys assistant, said his time as an assistant under Faber at Carroll featured some of the most fun and insightful years of his coaching career.
“He could be hard, but he loved those kids and he got those kids at Carroll to believe they could step onto the floor and compete with anybody,” Mernagh said. “The fun part for me was watching him figure out how to prepare to win games. Offensive-wise, he was just unbelievable. He taught me so much running different things. He always came up with something perfect.”
Carroll was his breakthrough job, which ultimately led to him being hired on as an assistant at WSU by Randy Smithson, and Faber still considers his time there precious all these years later.
“I learned so much about coaching and about the willingness to compete, my players taught me that,” Faber said. “They bought in that there was a way for us to win, even though they hadn’t ever done it (before at Carroll). We just got on a roll and it was so much fun. The Cave was rocking every night, which was great for me because nobody could hear what I said, so I didn’t get in much trouble.”
When Faber was hired by Friends in 2003, he considered it a dream job — he had grown up in town watching a golden era of Friends basketball under Jack Kater in the 1970s. Over the past two decades, Faber has been able to add a golden era of his own.
Faber has won 294 games and counting in 18 seasons, including seven trips to the NAIA national tournament, two KCAC regular-season championships, four conference tournament titles and three KCAC Player of the Year awards. The 2013-14 season remains his finest, as Friends finished 27-7 with a KCAC title, advanced to the national quarterfinals and featured NAIA Division II National Player of the Year in Joe Mitchell.
“I think the biggest thing for a coach is being relatable to his players and that’s what he did such a great job of,” said Mitchell, who is now the coach of the Southeast boys. “Being able to reach his players and being able to communicate effectively with them has helped him over the years. He’s had a lot of teams who had a lot of success and I guarantee you it’s because he was a great communicator and he understood where kids are coming from.”
Friends coach Dale Faber gives the ref a piece of his mind in the second half of heir game with Tabor at Friends University Wednesday. (Jan 22, 2014) The Wichita Eagle
‘You compete to complete’: What comes next for Faber
Several things aligned this year for Faber to feel confident this was the time to retire from coaching.
For starters, trying to coach basketball games and operate a program during the coronavirus pandemic has been taxing. But maybe the biggest reason is that NAIA eliminated its divisions beginning this season, meaning Friends must now compete with all of the former Division I teams.
“I think the program needed a boost,” Faber said. “A little new blood will give it a shot.”
That made the decision easier to accept when a fundraising position within the athletic department became available to Faber. Even though he knew it was time, that doesn’t mean Faber won’t miss certain aspects of coaching.
“Being with young people for close to 40 years now, I’m there for them 24-7. I’m the guy that they call,” Faber said. “Being associated with so many young people kept me young and now we’ll have to figure out another way for me to stay young. The parts I’ll miss the most is the practice time and the hanging-out time, watching those guys mature.”
When coaching basketball, Faber always tried to make his players aware of the parallels between the game and life. It’s part of the reason why Faber was so successful and those lessons are what he’s trying to remember himself as he transitions to a new station in life.
“What we did on the basketball floor was teach things for a greater purpose than winning a basketball game,” Faber said. “Being in a team sport mirrors life because you need to be able to help people and you need to allow people to help you at times. That’s what we built our program on. You compete to complete. We’ve done it the same way forever.”
As for the new-found free time Faber will soon have, he isn’t yet sure what he will do to fill the void. He knows he wants to spend more time with his family — wife, Stacey, and their two daughters, Kelsey and Lia. He hopes his coaching success will make him look like the cool grandfather to his granddaughter Teagan.
There wasn’t a defense that Faber couldn’t crack for the past four decades. But finding a new hobby? That might be the thing that stumps him.
“I haven’t ever had to think about a hobby. It’s always been just my team, their academics and basketball,” Faber said. “That’s all I’ve ever done and I suppose that’s all I’ve done because it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. I’m a pretty lucky dude that way.
“I don’t know what a hobby could be or what I might like to do, but I’m definitely going to try to find something. For a hobby, I might just take a nap.”
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