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Sox Walseth

Sox Walseth (1926-2004)

Teams coached: South Dakota State Jackrabbits, Colorado Buffaloes
South Dakota State record^: 31-18 (.633)
Colorado record: 260-246 (.514)
Overall record^: 291-264 (.524)

Career Accomplishments:

  • NCAA National Championships:  0
  • NCAA Tournament Appearances:  3  (1962, 1963, 1969)
  • NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen:  3  (1962, 1963, 1969)
  • NCAA Tournament Final Four:  0
  • NIT Championships:  0
  • NIT Appearances:  0
  • Big Eight Regular Season Champion:  3  (1962, 1963, 1969)
  • NCC (NAIA) Regular Season Champion:  1  (1956)
  • NAIA Tournament Appearances:  1  (1956)

Awards:

Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):

1980-1983 Colorado (women)
1956-1976 Colorado
1954-1956 South Dakota State
1948-1953 Colorado (freshmen)

Sox Walseth Facts

  • Russell Walseth
  • Born April 6, 1926
  • Died January 28, 2004
  • Hometown: Aberdeen, South Dakota
  • Alma Mater: University of Colorado (BA, 1948 & MA, 1950)
  • Was an all-state basketball player at Pierre HS (SD) and joined the US Navy in 1944 after graduating
    • Moved to Colorado while in the Navy and later attended UC, where he played baseball and basketball (the latter under head coach Frosty Cox)
  • After graduating from UC in 1948, Walseth spent five seasons coaching the Buffs’ freshmen team
    • During this time, the varsity team was coached first by Cox and then by Bebe Lee
  • Spent one year as the head coach at Arvin HS in Kern County, California
  • Hired in 1954 to be the head coach at then-NAIA South Dakota State
    • Went 31-18 in two seasons at SDSU, winning the NCC regular season title in 1956
  • Returned to alma mater Colorado in 1956, where he spent the next twenty years coaching the men’s basketball team
  • Came out of retirement in 1980 to coach the Colorado women’s team, becoming the first person to coach the men’s and women’s teams at the same school
    • Compiled an overall record of 77-21 during his three-year tenure with the women’s team
  • Passed away in 2004 in Boulder, Colorado; survived by his wife, Joan, his two sons, one daughter and four grandchildren

Sox Walseth Coaching Tree

  • coming soon

 

^ overall record includes head coaching positions at both the NCAA men’s Division I and Division II levels; South Dakota State was a Division II program until 2004