We continue with the second segment of our three-part series on the college careers of current basketball coaches. Today we look at the ACC and Big 12 head men, featuring some crazy hair and short shorts.
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ACC
Boston College: Al Skinner (UMass)
Al Skinner is one of just four players to have their numbers retired at UMass. The other three: George “Trigger” Burke, Lou Roe and Julius “Dr. J” Erving. Skinner was never the top athlete on the court but “he never left anything out on the floor” according to his old coach. Skinner didn’t play alongside Dr. J (he was a freshman in Erving’s last season, before freshman were allowed to play) but he did play with Rick Pitino. Unfortunately his hair retired long ago.
Clemson: Oliver Purnell (Old Dominion)
Oliver Purnell ran the point for the 1975 Division II National Champions his senior year at Old Dominion. For his college career, he averaged 14.4 points a game. It’s no surprise he had such success in college when you consider how obsessed he was playing basketball as a child. He’d even pay his mother to do his chores so that he could practice.
Duke: Mike Krzyzewski (Army)
Mike Krzyzewski didn’t even want to go to Army and wasn’t impressed with Bob Knight when the coach visited his home on a recruiting visit (he didn’t want to go far from his Chicago home). But it just took good old fashioned parental guilt for Krzyzewski to attend West Point and play under Knight. He eventually captained the 1969 Army team that finished fourth in the NIT.
Florida State: Leonard Hamilton (Gatson CC & Tennessee-Martin)
Leonard Hamilton knew nothing but success in his college playing days 40 years ago. He set a school record for most points in a game (54) while at Gaston (NC) Community College before transferring to Tennessee-Martin. At both schools he was a team captain. And at Tennessee-Martin he was the team’s MVP and Defensive Player of the Year his senior season. He was also in Martin’s first hall of fame class.
Georgia Tech: Paul Hewitt (St. John Fisher)
The Jamaican-born and NYC-raised Hewitt lettered four times at tiny St. John Fisher in upstate New York during the ’80s and was a captain of the team his senior season.
Maryland: Gary Williams (Maryland)
Gary Williams was the starting point guard under Bud Millikar and won the 1965 Sugar Bowl Tournament (yes, for basketball). He held the school record for highest field goal percentage in a game (8-for-8) for 35 years and was a team captain in 1967. He also holds the school record for shortest shorts.
Miami: Frank Haith (Elon)
Frank Haith lived at the gym while he was at Elon college. Literally. At age 20 he was already an assistant at Elon, never having played a game collegiately. His compensation was a converted storage closet at Elon’s gym so that he could live there. He’d shower in the locker room and sometimes stay up late taking shots in the empty gym. He even drove around in a Pinto to recruit athletes. Haith was truly roughing it.
North Carolina: Roy Williams (North Carolina)
Roy Williams saw playing time at North Carolina, but it was for the junior varsity team. He then coached high school basketball and golf, of all things, before returning to North Carolina as an assistant under Dean Smith. He was instrumental in recruiting Michael Jordan.
North Carolina State: Sidney Lowe (NC State)
Sidney Lowe was a point guard for the famous 1983 N.C. State National championship team coached by Jim Valvano. He still ranks second on the school’s all-time assists list and third in career steals.
Virginia: Tony Bennett (Green Bay)
Tony Bennett was a point guard at Wisconsin-Green Bay under his father, Dick Bennett. Apparently there was no pressure. He was a two-time Mid-Continent Conference Player of the Year and led the Phoenix to an NCAA Tournament berth and two in the NIT. He also finished his career as the conference’s all-time leader in points (2,285) and won the 1992 Frances Pomeroy Naimsith Award for the best player under six feet.
Virginia Tech: Seth Greenberg (Farleigh Dickinson)
Seth Greenberg chose Farleigh Dickinson in the 1970s not for the facilities or for the rich basketball tradition. He picked the Knights because “the coach practiced seven days a week.” Greenberg didn’t break any records but he started his final two seasons and was a team captain as a senior.
Wake Forest: Dino Gaudio: (Ohio)
Dino Gaudio played only intramurals at Ohio. After graduation, he spent some time as an auditor for the state of Ohio and then as an accountant. Not exactly a roaring start to a coaching career. But when he answered an ad for a business teacher-assistant basketball coach for Wheeling Central (and lied about coaching basketball) he stepped onto the first rung of the coaching ladder.
Big 12
Baylor: Scott Drew (Butler)
Unlike his legendary brother Bryce, Scott Drew’s playing days after his sophomore year of high school. But his career in basketball wasn’t over. While at Butler, Drew watched practices from the bleachers of Hinkle Fieldhouse and talked Xs and Os with then-administrative assistant Thad Matta. After serving as a Butler student manager, he went against his father’s wishes and went into coaching instead of law school.
Colorado: Jeff Bzdelik (Illinois-Chicago)
As a ballboy for Loyola University, Jeff Bzdelik had a chance to watch college basketball’s greatest coaches: Adolph Rupp, John Wooden, and Al McGuire. He was even given some advice by Rupp. Well, Rupp yelled at him to stop dribbling while he addressed his team. That didn’t stop Bzdelik from wanting to be a coach and while he played guard at Illinois-Chicago in the ’70s, Bzdelik would invite the coaches to his house for dinner. As a senior he averaged 12.2 points a game.
Iowa State: Greg McDermott (Northern Iowa)
Greg McDermott shot the lights out during his time at Northern Iowa in the ’80s, leading the team in shooting for three seasons. His 1,033 career points puts him 24th on the school’s all-time scoring list. He was also second team all-conference his junior year and a co-captain his senior season.
Kansas: Bill Self (Oklahoma State)
Despite finishing his high school career as Oklahoma’s high school player of the year, Self never averaged more than nine points a game with Oklahoma State. Part of the reason his scoring dropped was that he needed glasses. He said: “I didn’t want to wear those big, old Kurt Rambis glasses. That wasn’t cool back then.” However he did lead the Pokes in assists in 1984 and 1985.
Kansas State: Frank Martin (Miami-Dade CC & FIU)
He didn’t get into a game in high school but he still turned down an offer to be a Florida team manager. He just wanted to play. He paid his own way to Miami-Dade CC for a chance to play but couldn’t make the team his freshman and sophomore years. In his final opportunity to make the team during an emergency try out, Martin blew out his knee and ended his playing career. He got his degree from FIU in 1993.
Missouri: Mike Anderson (Jefferson State CC & Tulsa)
Mike Anderson earned the nickname “Mighty Mouse” during his two-year career at Tulsa. As a guard, he helped Tulsa win the 1981 NIT championship and reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 26 years. He originally played at Jefferson State Community College where an opposing coach, Nolan Richardson, liked what he saw. When Richardson got the head coach job at Tulsa, he gave Anderson a scholarship. (Anderson on the far right)
Nebraska: Doc Sadler (Arkansas)
Through his father, Doc Sadler got a job as a student manager under Eddie Sutton at Arkansas. He became so trusted, Sutton asked him to baby-sit his two sons Sean, the former Oklahoma State coach, and Scott, currently the Oral Roberts head coach.
Oklahoma: Jeff Capel (Duke)
Jeff Capel dreamed of going to North Carolina. It wasn’t until after he spoke with Coach K face-to-face that he ever considered Duke. Ultimately he wanted to play sooner rather than later and the decision paid off. Capel started at point guard as a freshman and finished his career in 1997 in the school’s top ten in career minutes played. He won two ACC regular season titles in the process and is still best remembered for this shot vs. UNC. His younger brother, Jason, went to Carolina.
Oklahoma State: Travis Ford (Missouri & Kentucky)
Travis Ford originally enrolled at Missouri but left after his freshman season to get away from the school’s impending probation. He landed at Kentucky, which just got out of its probation, and was on the squad that famously lost to Duke after a Christian Laettner buzzer-beater. He ran the point in 1993 when the Wildcats made it to the Final Four – the deepest run he’d make in the tournament. He was also the SEC Tournament MVP his junior and senior seasons.
Texas: Rick Barnes (Lenoir-Rhyne)
Rick Barnes’ career at Lenoir-Rhyne can be summed up in two words: nothing special. He averaged less than three points a game and never shot better than 40 percent. According to a friend on the team: “He was good, but it didn’t translate to games.”
Texas A&M: Mark Turgeon (Kansas)
Kansas coach Larry Brown asked a skinny 5-9 Mark Turgeon why he could play for Kansas: “I’m better than any guard that you have on the team right now.” Brown signed him and Turgeon didn’t disappoint, starting as a freshman and eventually becoming the team captain his junior and senior seasons. In 1986, he led the team to the Final Four.
Texas Tech: Pat Knight (Indiana)
Not even the son of Bob Knight could avoid his wrath during a game. During a 1993 contest, Bob looked to kick his son on the bench. As a result, the crowd booed Bob Knight for his actions. Pat Knight’s career at Indiana wasn’t stellar, though he was a four-year letter winner. In 1995, his final season, he scored a career high 45 points in 31 games. He’s #25 below.
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