Don Haskins

Don Haskins (1930-2008)

Teams coached: Texas Western/UTEP Miners
Texas Western/UTEP record: 719-353 (.671)
Overall record: 719-353 (.671)

Career Accomplishments:

• NCAA National Championships:  1  (1966)
• NCAA Tournament Appearances:  14  (1963, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1975, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992)
• NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen:  4  (1964, 1966, 1967, 1992)
• NCAA Tournament Final Four:  1  (1966)
• NIT Championships:  0
• NIT Appearances:  6  (1965, 1972, 1980, 1981, 1993, 1995)
• WAC Regular Season Champion:  7  (1970, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1992)
• WAC Tournament Champion:  4  (1984, 1986, 1989, 1990)
• Helms Foundation National Championships:  1  (1966)

Awards:

• WAC Coach of the Year:  2  (1983, 1987)
• NABC Golden Anniversary Award (2004)
• Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (inducted 1997)
• National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame (inducted 2006)

Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):

1961-1999

Texas Western/UTEP

Don Haskins Facts

• Donald Lee Haskins
• Born March 14, 1930
• Died September 7, 2008
• Hometown: Enid, Oklahoma
• Alma Mater: Oklahoma A&M University (BA, 1952)
• Played at Oklahoma A&M (now State) under legendary head coach Henry Iba, helping lead the Cowboys to a 4th place finish in the 1951 NCAA Tournament
• Started coaching career in Texas high schools, including stints at Benjamin HS, Hedley HS and Dumas HS
• Became the head coach at Texas Western College in 1961, a position he would hold for the next thirty-eight seasons
  • Texas Western was unique in that the previous coaching staff had recruited and played African-American players in a time where – especially in the South – major college teams were predominantly white
  • By his third year, Haskins’ Miners team had won over 20 games and were poised to make a run in the NCAA Tournament
  • The 1965-66 season was historic for the program and for college basketball overall, as Texas Western won the NCAA National Championship starting five African-American players
    • The journey and season were later documented in Haskins’ autobiography Glory Road, written with Dan Wetzel and later made into a 2005 film by Disney
  • The school was renamed the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in 1967 and joined the WAC two years later in 1969
  • Though the Miners never went further than the Sweet Sixteen during the rest of Haskins’ tenure, the team enjoyed much success – especially in the 1980s and early 1990s
  • Haskins retired from coaching after the 1998-99 season, leaving with 719 career victories which makes him one of just 21 coaches (as of 2018) with over 700 wins at the Division I level
• El Paso renamed the street between its two basketball arenas “Glory Road” to honor the 1966 Miners victory
• UTEP renamed the men’s basketball arena as the Don Haskins Center in 1998, just before the coach’s retirement
• In addition to being a member of both the Naismith and College Basketball Halls of Fame (see above), Haskins was in 1997 inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame
  • The 1965-66 Texas Western team was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball HOF in 2007
• Haskins passed away in 2008 in El Paso, survived by his wife, Mary, and three sons – had a fourth son that died in 1994

Don Haskins Coaching Tree

• Tim Floyd (UTEP, USC, New Orleans Hornets, Chicago Bulls, Iowa State, New Orleans, Idaho)
• Jerry Hale (Oral Roberts, Southern Idaho)
• Dick Hunsaker (Utah Valley, Utah, Manchester, Ball State)
• Gene Iba (Pittsburg State, Baylor, Houston Baptist)
• Moe Iba (TCU, Nebraska, Memphis)
• Nolan Richardson (Arkansas, Tulsa)
• Andy Stoglin (Jackson State, Southern)