Born a Hoosier, raised in the basketball capital of the hoops-happy state of Indiana, Mark Slessinger comes by his passion for the game quite naturally.
He is doing the only thing he ever wanted, to coach basketball on the Division I level in a program where players are treated with care and respect and their personal development is even more important than the task of shaping them into parts of a championship-caliber team.
That's why he is the perfect fit beginning his 10th season on the NSU staff of 11th-year head coach Mike McConathy.
Especially now, with the Demons working to regain the high level of achievement in the program over recent seasons, with three straight Southland Conference titles - the 2005 and 2006 overall SLC championships and the 2007 SLC East Division crown. In that span, there were two straight 20-win campaigns, consecutive Southland Conference titles and the signature wins over Oklahoma State, Mississippi State, Oregon State and 15th-ranked Iowa in the 2006 NCAA Tournament.
Because if there's one constant theme that "Coach Sless" espouses, it's the "let's go to work" philosophy of McConathy's program. It's not what you've done that matters - it's what you're going to do, and how you prepare, that determines your destiny.
Slessinger joined Northwestern as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator in July 2000 after three seasons at Northland Pioneer College, the last two seasons as head coach.
His first exposure came when the Demons began recruiting Melvin Roberts, one of his players at Northland Pioneer.
Roberts signed with NSU in November 1999. After that season, when a position on the Northwestern staff opened, Slessinger did a recruiting job of his own, selling himself to a very receptive McConathy.
He made the move from Holbrook, Ariz., to Natchitoches and immediately began building relationships with the Demon players and the entire NSU basketball family.
Nine years later, Slessinger is a treasured member of the NSU athletic staff. Along with his outstanding abilities as a part of the Demon basketball program, he provides a big dose of enthusiasm everywhere he turns.
He's donned the "Vic the Demon" mascot suit on a sultry April afternoon to rouse the crowd cheering the Demon softball team. He's worn a chef's cap, working behind the grill helping his friends cooking a postgame meal for the NSU baseball or soccer teams. He's become a popular guest on local morning radio shows and a guest host on the "Sports on Call" talk show that booms from Natchitoches to all of northwest Louisiana, much of east Texas and even up to Oklahoma.
Basketball, and life, for Slessinger are supposed to be fun. He'll laugh with you and at himself, but don't mistake that for a flippant approach to his role with Demon basketball.
Coach Sless is a shrewd tactician, a meticulous game planner, a motivating force at any workout and a detail-oriented operations coordinator for the basketball office.
At 24 years old, Slessinger was one of the youngest collegiate head coaches in the nation nine years ago.
Along with his three seasons at Northland Pioneer, Slessinger spent a year as an assistant coach at Central Michigan. He got his start in coaching in the 1995-96 season at his alma mater, Aurora University in suburban Chicago, under mentor James Lancaster, while graduating in physical education.
Slessinger received the Aurora University Spartan Award as the top graduating senior in the areas of scholastic and extracurricular excellence. He also won the Illinois Student Lincoln Laureate Award, presented by Gov. Jim Edgar, and the Richard Rickey Memorial Award for service to the community presented by the university's student body.
Along with earning 3 letters in basketball, he also lettered 4 years in soccer at Aurora.
At Northland Pioneer, he was assistant coach for legendary head coach Richard Zalenski in 1997-98 when the Golden Eagles were 27-4 and won the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference championship, earning a No. 8 national ranking.
He took over as head coach shortly after the 1998-99 season started. "Coach Sless" guided the Golden Eagles to a 19-12 record that season and a 17-13 mark in 1999-2000.
His immediate impact in his first year at NSU carried the Demons to the NCAA Tournament for the first time. With Slessinger on board, there've been three 20-win seasons, two NCAA Tournament wins, three SLC titles and expectations are at an all-time high, thanks largely to players he helped identify and attract to Northwestern in his role as recruiting coordinator for the Demons.
Slessinger is married to the former Toni Purvis of Williamston, N.C., who is an admissions counselor at the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts. They celebrated their third anniversary on September 23.
