Bus Connor

Bus Connor (born November 28, 1932)

Teams coached: Boise State Broncos
Boise State record: 87-99 (.468)
Overall record: 87-99 (.468)

Career Accomplishments:

• NCAA National Championships:  0
• NCAA Tournament Appearances:  1  (1976)
• NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen:  0
• NIT Championships:  0
• NIT Appearances:  0
• Big Sky Regular Season Champion:  1  (1976)
• Big Sky Tournament Champion:  1  (1976)

Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):

1993-1996	Idaho (asst)
1973-1980	Boise State
1968-1973	Boise State (asst)
1962-1965	Idaho State (asst)

Bus Connor Facts

• Doran L. Connor
• Born November 28, 1932
• Hometown: Burley, Idaho
• Alma Mater: Idaho State University (BA, 1955) / Utah State University (MA, 1966)
• Played basketball at Idaho State for head coach Steve Belko; also played football and baseball for the Bengals
• First gig was as boys’ basketball head coach at Rigby HS (ID) from 1955-61, where he went 82-26 overall
  • Then coached for one season at Idaho Falls HS (ID), finishing as district runner-up in 1962
  • Also served as an assistant football coach throughout his high school coaching career
• Returned to alma mater ISU in 1962 and spent three seasons as an assistant under John Evans and James Nau
  • Coached the Idaho State baseball team for all three of those years (1962-65)
• Arrived at Boise State (then Boise College) in 1966, becoming the tennis coach as well as an assistant in both football and basketball (starting in 1968), the latter under head coach Murray Satterfield
• Elevated to head basketball coach in 1973 and went 87-99 in seven seasons at the helm
  • Took the program to its first NCAA Tournament in 1976 by way of victory in the first-ever Big Sky Tournament
  • Stepped away from basketball in 1980 but went back to being the tennis coach from 1981-84 and stayed on the faculty at BSU until 1989
• Later jobs include time as a part-time assistant at the College of Idaho and a three-year stint on Joe Cravens‘ staff at Idaho State from 1993-96
  • Also had stints at Treasure Valley CC (ID) and Nampa HS (ID), retiring after three years at the latter in 2008

Bus Connor Coaching Tree

• Trent Johnson (Cal State Northridge, TCU, LSU, Stanford, Nevada)
• Mike Montgomery (California, Golden State Warriors, Stanford, Montana)
• Doug Oliver (UC Irvine (w), Idaho State)