Feb. 9, 2008

SIOUX CITY, Iowa - Jim Sykes, head men's basketball coach at Morningside (Iowa) College, won the 100th game of his collegiate career when the No. 1-ranked Mustangs defeated Doane (Neb.) College 88-68 on Saturday (Feb. 8) in the Rosen Verdoorn Sports Center.

Sykes has a 100-35 career record for a .741 winning percentage at Morningside. He has guided the Mustangs to a 24-1 record and a No. 1 national ranking in the NAIA Division II ranks this season. The Mustangs lead the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) standings with a 13-1 record and hold a two-game lead in the loss column over their closed pursuers.

Sykes, a 1989 graduate of the University of Nebraska, is in his fourth full season as the Mustangs' head coach. He led the Mustangs to a 28-7 record and the quarterfinals of the NAIA Division II National Tournament during the 2005-06 season. That came after a 20-11 record in 2004-05 for the college's first 20-win season since the 1994-95 campaign.

Sykes served as the Mustangs' interim head coach for the final 12 games of the 2003-04 season. The Mustangs posted a 9-3 record during that span en route to a 14-4 record in the GPAC to share the league's regular season championship with Northwestern College. Sykes was named the 2004 GPAC Coach of the Year for his efforts.

He was previously an assistant boy's basketball coach at Waverly (Neb.) High School.