Ray Shovlain ’79, ’82 MBA, who has led the St. Ambrose University men’s basketball program since 1983, will retire at the conclusion of the 2026-27 season, the university announced today. His 44th season on the Fighting Bees’ bench will be his last.
Shovlain enters his final season with 749 career victories and 18 20-win seasons. Under his leadership, the Fighting Bees have made 10 NAIA National Tournament appearances and four Sweet 16 runs, including the program’s first and only trip to the Final Four in 2004, when the team set a school record with 32 wins.
“St. Ambrose has been my home for most of my life, first as a player, then as a student, a teacher and a coach,” Shovlain said. “I’ve been blessed to work alongside great people and to coach hundreds of young men who became leaders in their families, their careers and their communities. That’s what I’m proudest of. I want to give this team everything I have one more season, and then it will be time for Betsy and me to start our next chapter.”
Shovlain’s teams have competed against an extremely competitive and challenging schedule, taking on NCAA Division I opponents including Creighton, DePaul, Drake, Bradley, Loyola Chicago, Saint Louis and Notre Dame. Throughout, he has challenged his players to “Bee” leaders, defining winning as an everyday effort to improve themselves, those around them and their communities.
"I think we forget that we are watching, in real time, one of the most significant college basketball careers in the history of the game,” said Mike Holmes, director of St. Ambrose athletics. “I know some of our younger folks will have to look up these legends I will mention, but Ray has surpassed Phog Allen in wins and will likely surpass Henry Iba in wins this season. That will make him one of the best to ever do the job. For good measure, add an impeccable record of winning without shortcuts or violations, and a consistent contribution to the youth of the Quad Cities community, and you have a model of what coaching collegiate athletes is supposed to be. What a blessing it is to be his colleague and a bystander to something truly noteworthy."
“Ray Shovlain embodies what it means to be a St. Ambrose Bee,” said Amy C. Novak, EdD, president of St. Ambrose University. “He came here as a student and never left, and over more than four decades he has given this university his heart as a coach, a professor and a mentor. Ray has shaped generations of student-athletes into leaders who reflect our mission in everything they do. His legacy will be felt on this campus long after his final game, and we are deeply grateful for his service.”
Shovlain’s ties to St. Ambrose go back more than five decades. After leading Clinton St. Mary’s High School to the 1975 Iowa state championship and earning all-state honors, he became a four-year letterman for the Bees and still holds the school’s single-game, season and career assist records. He was inducted into the SAU Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993 and earned his MBA from St. Ambrose in 1982.
Beyond the court, Shovlain has taught in the College of Business, where he was named Professor of the Year in 1989 and 1993. As activity director of the university’s National Youth Sports Program, which serves economically disadvantaged Quad-City youth ages 10 to 16, he helped St. Ambrose earn the 1996 Silvio O. Conte Award as the top NYSP program in the nation. He received the Iowa Basketball Coaches Association’s Paul Maaske Memorial Award in 1989 as the state’s top small-college coach, and in 2026 he was honored with the McMullen Award, the university’s second-highest honor.
Shovlain and his wife, Betsy, live in Davenport. They have two children, Katelyn Rae and Sean Michael.
