This year's MWC basketball tourney host? It could all come down to a coin flip

Monmouth and Grinnell could be headed for a fateful 50-50 on Saturday

by Barry McNamara

Monmouth, Ill. (02/19/2026) — Magic Johnson leading the Chicago Bulls' fast break? Terry Bradshaw quarterbacking the Chicago Bears?

Those may seem like far-fetched notions, but in both cases, they were actually 50-50 propositions, decided by the toss of a coin.

Why bring up those two moments of chance half a century later? Because Monmouth College is one game away from finding itself in a similar position, along with Grinnell College.

With only Saturday's slate of games remaining in the regular season, the Fighting Scots and Pioneers are tied atop the Midwest Conference at 14-1. They split their pair of head-to-head matchups, with Monmouth winning 94-82 in Glennie Gym last month and Grinnell countering with a 100-85 victory in Iowa two weeks ago.

On Saturday, Monmouth travels to play Illinois College, while Grinnell visits Cornell. If both the Scots and Pioneers win those 1 p.m. games, the conference will conduct a coin flip that day to determine the No. 1 seed and host for next weekend's four-team MWC tournament. The tourney winner advances to the NCAA playoffs. If Monmouth and Grinnell have different outcomes Saturday, the winner will be the host. If they both lose, an earlier tiebreaker will take precedence, and the coin toss will not be needed.

"It'll just be a generic, basic coin flip," said MWC commissioner Heather Benning, who would toss what she called a "standard quarter" as she fulfills her duties overseeing the MWC's Swimming & Diving Championships. That event will be held at Grinnell, which is also the site of the MWC's office. "It's a pretty barebones operation. This would be the third or fourth time we've had to do it."

Benning said each school would have a predetermined assignment of heads or tails, so neither would need to make a call in the moment. Officials from each school would be able to watch the "10-second" event on YouTube Live.

The last time the coin toss was needed in the MWC was to determine the women's basketball host at the end of the 2022-23 season, with Knox and Ripon as the schools involved. Ripon won the toss and hosted, but Knox captured the tourney crown.

No Magic touch

In 1979, the Bulls lost a coin flip for the right to pick first in the NBA draft. Bulls general manager Rod Thorn polled fans, who suggested he call heads, but the result was tails (tails never fails, Rod!).

The Los Angeles Lakers, who'd acquired the rights to the high first-round pick from the Utah Jazz, were the winners, and Magic led them to an NBA championship his rookie season. Of course, it helped that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was one of his new teammates.

The Bulls' consolation prize? The late David Greenwood, who already had plenty of experience hooping in Los Angeles as a high school standout at Verbum Dei and as an All-American for UCLA. Greenwood did just fine his rookie season in Chicago, averaging 16 points, but that would be his high-water mark as a pro. The Bulls moved on from him in 1985, while Magic won four more titles with the Lakers and more than doubled Greenwood's career scoring mark.

Steelers steal him

The 1969 NFL season did not go well for the Chicago Bears and the Pittsburgh Steelers, with each team winning only one game. Pittsburgh won its season opener, then lost 13 straight as quarterbacks Dick Shiner and Terry Hanratty struggled. The Bears stumbled to their 1-13 mark despite having both Gale Sayers and Dick Butkus on the roster. They were, however, the better of the two squads, trouncing the Steelers 38-7 midway the season. Both Shiner and Hanratty were sacked for safeties in the contest, with Butkus doing the honors on one. Sayers ran for two TDs and Brian Piccolo caught one from Bobby Douglass.

Commissioner Pete Rozelle conducted the decisive coin toss for the No. 1 pick in the 1970 NFL draft, which was called by Bears representative Ed McCaskey. He called heads, but the coin came up tails (tails never fails, Ed!).

Bradshaw, who had starred at Louisiana Tech, led the Steelers to four Super Bowl titles. Unlike the Bulls, the Bears got rid of their No. 2 overall pick, trading it to the Green Bay Packers for linebacker Lee Roy Caffey, running back Elijah Pitts and offensive lineman Bob Hyland, none of whom had much of an impact in Chicago. Green Bay fared better, drafting defensive lineman Mike McCoy, a solid 11-year pro, with the No. 2 pick.

Bringing it home

A year ago, the Fighting Scots clinched home court for the MWC tournament outright, but they fell in the semi-final against Lake Forest. Grinnell won the other semi against Illinois College and then took the championship, beating Lake Forest. Those are the same four teams that have qualified for this year's field.

Monmouth certainly wants to come out on the right end of the coin flip and host the event, but both schools can take a measure of consolation from Chicago's failed tosses. After all, the Bears didn't get Bradshaw, but that put them in position to get Walter Payton a few years later. As for the Bulls, they missed out on Magic but, five years later, got Michael. All Air Jordan did was lead Chicago to six NBA titles.

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