Everyone wants to be a winner.  

But there aren't many people who are willing to put in the hard work, make sacrifices, and dedicate themselves to their craft to be crowned a winner at the end of the day.  

Over his 10-year coaching year, Head Men's Basketball Coach Kyle Tolin has proven to be one of those people who is willing to do whatever it takes to be a winner. On Thursday (Feb. 1), Tolin earned his 150th career win in the 107-79 victory over Western New Mexico. 

"It was special because winning is hard," said Tolin on earning his 150th career win. "Everyone in our conference has good coaches and players and is trying to be successful. So, it does really make you sit back and appreciate all of the wins that have happened." 

Coach Tolin started his coaching career right after he graduated college in 2004 as a graduate assistant for his first two years, and then became a full-time assistant coach. 

After spending 10 years as an assistant, Tolin got the opportunity to take the reins of the University of Arkansas at Monticello men's basketball program in 2014 and never looked back.  

During his time at UAM Tolin earned Great American Conference (GAC) Coach of the Year honors in 2017, qualified for the NCAA tournament twice, earned two GAC Championships (2017 & 2021) and a GAC Championship tournament title in 2021.  

Tolin has coached countless athletes who earned all-conference honors and achieved academic success in the classroom.  

While Tolin has had success every place he has coached, reaching 150 career wins wasn't on his radar.  

"My dad was a coach and that's what I always wanted to do. Basketball gave me so much and I felt like I could help others through my experience," said Tolin. "I never really thought about how many wins I had." 

Falcons showing improvement 

Coach Tolin's 150th win on Saturday was also the Falcons 13th win of the season, which ties the amount of wins they had all of last season. 

"I like where the program is headed. I feel like we are starting to set our culture," said Tolin. "Obviously, we want to continue to win games and give our team the best possible chance of winning every night."  

Currently, the Falcons are 8-7 in conference play and sitting in eighth place in the Lone Star Conference standings. With seven games left in the regular season, the Falcons only need four more wins to surpass the most wins (16) coach Tolin has had here at UTPB in a single season.  

However, it won't be an easy task to accomplish as the Falcons will play the No. 1 ranked team in the country, West Texas A&M on Thursday at home at 7:30 p.m. for their white out game. They will then turn around on Saturday and play Lubbock Christian at 3 p.m. for their black out game.  

"Those two teams have been the head of the class in our conference for the past four to five years," said Tolin.  

While the Falcons will face some tough competition to end the season, five of their last seven games will be at home, where they are 9-1 overall in the Falcon Dome.