At a glance
- Age
- 99
- Born
- October 14, 1910
- From
- Hall
- Nationality
- United States
Biography
The name that reaches most people now comes attached to a record that has not been touched: ten NCAA national championships in twelve years at UCLA, seven of them consecutive. No programme in Division I men's or women's college basketball has since strung together more than four. Along the way his teams won 88 games in a row, still the NCAA men's record.
He was called "the Wizard of Westwood", a nickname earned during that run in Los Angeles. The recognition kept pace with the results: seven Henry Iba Awards as national coach of the year, more than anyone else has collected, plus five Associated Press awards.
Before the coaching, he played the game himself, and his working life also included service as a military officer. Born in Hall in October 1910, he died in June 2010, just short of his hundredth birthday. His material on preparation, discipline and how a team is built continues to circulate through the archive kept at coachwooden.com, which is why clips of him still surface decades after the last of those championships.
He was called "the Wizard of Westwood", a nickname earned during that run in Los Angeles. The recognition kept pace with the results: seven Henry Iba Awards as national coach of the year, more than anyone else has collected, plus five Associated Press awards.
Before the coaching, he played the game himself, and his working life also included service as a military officer. Born in Hall in October 1910, he died in June 2010, just short of his hundredth birthday. His material on preparation, discipline and how a team is built continues to circulate through the archive kept at coachwooden.com, which is why clips of him still surface decades after the last of those championships.
Quotes 8
“Discipline yourself so no one else has to.”
“Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability.”
“If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?”
“Things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things turn out.”
“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation.”
“It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.”
“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”
“Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.”
