Remembering University of Dayton Basketball Coach Don Donoher

Don Donoher, who posted a 437-275 record in 25 seasons as the University of Dayton's men's basketball coach and is the school's all-time wins leader, passed away on April 12 at the age of 92. Donoher led the Flyers to postseason play in each of his first seven seasons and 15 times overall. He earned induction into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, the University of Dayton Athletic Hall of Fame, the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame, the Toledo Area High School Hall of Fame and the Toledo Central Catholic High School Hall of Fame. Donoher was a three year letter winner as a UD player under Coach Tom Blackburn, who he later succeeded after Blackburn died of lung cancer in 1964.

In 1967, Donoher guided the Flyers to the NCAA Championship Game, where they lost 79-64 to a UCLA squad led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was then known as Lew Alcindor. The Bruins had won the 1964 and 1965 NCAA titles under Coach John Wooden, who eventually captured a record 10 NCAA championships. Donoher is the first coach to lead his alma mater to the NCAA Championship Game after playing in the NCAA Tournament for his alma mater.

Donoher's Flyers followed up their NCAA runner-up finish by capturing the 1968 NIT title at a time when the NIT was much more prestigious than it is now. Dayton beat Kansas 61-48 in the 1968 NIT Championship Game. That Kansas squad was led by future Hall of Famer Jo Jo White, who later won two NBA titles (1974, 1976) with the Boston Celtics. UD's star player in the late 1960s was Don May, a two-time All-America selection who won the 1968 NIT MVP award. May was a member of New York's 1970 NBA championship team.

The Flyers made postseason appearances from 1969-71 before logging a pair of 13-13 seasons. In 1974, the Flyers finished 20th in the final AP poll after losing 111-100 in triple overtime to Bill Walton's UCLA squad in the NCAA Tournament. 

It would be 10 years before Dayton returned to the NCAA Tournament, but the Flyers participated in the NIT four times in a five year span from 1977-1982. Future two-time NBA All-Star Jim Paxson--whose brother John won three NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s--played for the Flyers from 1976-79.

I remember following the exploits of those late 1970s and early 1980s Flyers teams as a young boy, watching them on TV and sometimes going to games with my Dad. I still vividly recall several of those players, including big center Mike Kanieski, lanky forward Richard Montague, and scrappy point guard Kevin Conrad. 

Roosevelt Chapman, my all-time favorite college basketball player, joined the squad in 1980, and became UD's all-time leading scorer (a record that he still holds). He led the 1984 NCAA Tournament in scoring with 105 points in four games for a 26.3 ppg scoring average, highlighted by a 41 point outburst as he outdueled Wayman Tisdale--who became the second overall pick in the 1985 NBA Draft--in UD's 89-85 win over #2 ranked Oklahoma 89-85. Chapman and the 1984 Flyers authored one of the best Cinderella runs in NCAA Tournament history.

Donoher was highly respected within the coaching ranks. Bobby Knight tapped Donoher to be an assistant coach for the Team USA squad that won the 1984 Olympic gold medal. The Flyers qualified for the 1985 NCAA Tournament and then played in the 1986 NIT before enduring three straight losing seasons. In 1989, UD fired Donoher and replaced him with Jim O'Brien, who led the Flyers to the 1990 NCAA Tournament with players recruited by Donoher before going 39-77 in the next four seasons. O'Brien later spent nearly two decades as an assistant coach and head coach in the NBA. I interviewed O'Brien about the connections between basketball and chess.

Bobby Knight was outraged after UD fired Donoher, declaring to Ritter Collett (a Dayton sports columnist), "When I was named coach of the U.S. Olympic team, nobody could have wanted to represent the United States better than I did. So why did I pick Donoher to help me? Because I couldn't get a better coach. I may not know a lot of things, but I think I know basketball and I know I know more basketball than (Tom) Frericks and Brother (Raymond L.) Fitz. Donoher has maintained a very good Division I basketball program during a period when his salary was probably $25,000 under the average Big Ten coaching salary. Over the years, I've had a lot of people call me and ask me if I thought Don would be interested in another coaching job. When I called him to ask if he was interested, he invariably said, 'No, I don't even want to talk to them.' He was content to stay in Dayton. He has had a love affair with the school and the community. I think that is what burns me the most. Here is a man who had chances to leave, and I'm talking about some major jobs that have come open. He has never gone in to Frericks and said, 'Look, I've got this opportunity and it will pay me such-and-such.' He's never tried to use that to improve his earning power."

Donoher helped sign the players who led the Dayton Wings to World Basketball League titles in 1991 and 1992, and he also later worked as a scout for the Cleveland Cavaliers when Jim Paxson was the team's General Manager. Donoher spent some time as a high school coach in Ohio, and he was as serious about game plan preparation for those contests as he was when he coached players in the NCAA Tournament and the Olympics, telling writer Tom Archdeacon that those high school games were every bit as important to those players as the prime time games were to the more famous players.

I never met Donoher, but I have wonderful memories of interacting with several of his players. Chapman and Montague were two of my counselors at summer basketball camps in the early 1980s. Chapman taught me how to properly shoot a layup. He was a flamboyant player who specialized in fancy dunks and smooth finger rolls, but in person he was not flashy. As campers in awe of his jumping ability, we were always asking him to do a dunking exhibition for us, but he politely declined. I remember being excited when Chapman was selected by the Kansas City Kings in the third round of the 1984 NBA Draft, but I also remember that he did not seem thrilled when he showed up at our basketball camp after the NBA Draft; he understood that--as a 6-4 tweener--he was not likely to make the team, and indeed he ended up playing in the CBA before enjoying a successful pro career overseas.

I played in many pickup games with and against Dan Obrovac, who won the opening tip against Abdul-Jabbar in the 1967 NCAA Championship Game. Obrovac's hands were incredibly strong; he could hold a basketball in front of his body in those two big meathooks, and grown men could not punch the ball out of his grip. I would see him sometimes in the weight room, and he would easily do the full stack of weights on any resistance training machine that he used. Obrovac's knees were shot by the time that I played with him, but you could tell that he just enjoyed being on the court and playing in any capacity. 

I have a personal connection with UD as well, because in 2016 I became a UD alum after graduating from UD's two year law school program. Don Donoher and UD Flyers basketball were a big part of my childhood, and I will always remember him, those teams and those players fondly.

Remembering Denny Crum and His Great, Exciting Louisville Basketball Teams

Denny Crum, who passed away yesterday at the age of 86, is one of the greatest coaches in college basketball history--and perhaps the most underrated of the elite coaches. He was the face of the University of Louisville's college basketball program from 1971-2001, posting a 675-295 record that included two national titles (1980, 1986) and six Final Four appearances. Crum was inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1994.

Only Mike Krzyzewski, John Wooden, Dean Smith, Roy Williams, and Tom Izzo have more Final Four appearances than Crum, who is tied with Adolph Rupp and ahead of (among others) Bob Knight, Lute Olsen, and Jim Boeheim (this list does not include vacated Final Four appearances by Rick Pitino and John Calipari). Crum is one of 15 coaches who won at least two NCAA Division I basketball titles; there are only six coaches who won more than two titles (Wooden, Krzyzewski, Rupp, Williams, Jim Calhoun, and Knight).

Crum played for Wooden at UCLA, and then won three national titles while serving as an assistant coach for Wooden. Bill Walton, the center and dominating force for UCLA's 1972 and 1973 championship teams, was recruited by Crum, whose Louisville team lost to UCLA in the 1972 Final Four. Crum's Cardinals lost to Wooden's Bruins 75-74 in overtime in the 1975 Final Four as Wooden went on to win his 10th NCAA title before retiring after that campaign. Crum declined an offer to replace Wooden, determined to build his own legacy separate from UCLA.

Crum's best Louisville team was the 1980 squad that posted a 33-3 record en route to winning the NCAA title. Louisville beat UCLA, then coached by Larry Brown, in the championship game (the Bruins' tournament appearance was subsequently vacated by the NCAA). Six players from the 1980 Louisville championship team made it to the NBA, including Darrell Griffith, the 1980 Wooden Award winner, the 1980 Final Four Most Outstanding Player, and one of college basketball's greatest dunkers. Griffith won the 1981 NBA Rookie of the Year Award, averaged at least 20 ppg in four of his first five NBA seasons, and became the NBA's first prolific three point shooter while leading the league in three point field goals made in 1983-84 and 1984-85. Another future NBA player from Louisville's 1980 championship team, Derek Smith, is credited with popularizing the high five. As a young basketball fan, I loved watching that Louisville team and Griffith was one of my favorite college basketball players.

George Mikan's prime predated my childhood by three decades; he seemed like a prehistoric figure to me--his highlights only available in grainy black and white footage--so I can only imagine how long ago 1980 must seem to today's young basketball fans, but as someone who saw and vividly remembers Griffith and his teammates flying through the air I can say without hesitation that those players and that team would do just fine if teleported into 2023. In fact, I would argue that college basketball teams from that era were better than today's college basketball teams, because in the 1980s the best basketball players went to college and stayed for at least two seasons. College basketball talent today is watered down; I am not talking about the merits of NIL and early entry into the NBA Draft for individual players, but just noting the reality that college basketball today is not played at the same level that college basketball was played when the best players played college basketball--a point that should be obvious, but is either ignored or else disputed by those who insist that college basketball is the best, purest form of the sport.

Crum's 1986 championship team went 32-7 and featured four future NBA players, headlined by "Never Nervous" Pervis Ellison who--like Griffith--won the Final Four Most Outstanding Player Award. The Cardinals started the season 15-7 before winning 17 straight games, culminating in a 72-69 victory over Duke in the national championship game. Louisville was ranked as low as 18th in the AP poll during the season. Ellison was the third leading scorer (13.1 ppg) of a well-balanced attack that season, but the slender 6-9 freshman peaked at the right time with double doubles in each of Louisville's last three NCAA Tournament games, including 25 points and 11 rebounds versus Duke.

Some coaches are best known for recruiting, while others are highly regarded for their strategic acumen. Crum was strong in both areas: he coached 13 players who became first round NBA draft picks (including Griffith and Ellison, who was the number one overall selection by Sacramento in the 1989 draft), and he was respected for his play calling. Crum's teams often featured athletic guards and forwards who played at a fast pace, and that made his teams exciting and fun to watch. 

Time stops for no one. It is difficult to believe that 43 years have passed since Darrell "Dr. Dunkenstein" Griffith thrilled basketball fans, but the memories of his high-flying exploits and the feats of Denny Crum's other exciting teams are indelible to those of us who watched those long ago games.

Comparing the Greatest Sports Dynasties

The December 9, 2013 issue of Autoweek contains an article by Al Pearce titled "No End in Sight" (an abridged version can be found here); Jimmie Johnson had just claimed his sixth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title in his 12th full season on the circuit, placing him one behind record holders Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt. Petty considers Johnson a lock to win at least eight crowns and would not be surprised if Johnson pushes the standard to 10. Although Johnson receives most of the glory, racing is a team sport and the success of Rick Hendrick Motorsports with Johnson behind the wheel and Chad Knaus serving as crew chief raises an intriguing question: where does this accomplishment rank in the pantheon of great sports dynasties?

Hendrick has actually won 11 Sprint Cup Series titles overall--with Jeff Gordon serving as the driver for four of them and Terry Labonte capturing the other one--and a sidebar to Pearce's article (not included in the online version) notes that Hendrick is tied with the NHL's Detroit Red Wings and MLB's St. Louis Cardinals for the seventh most championships won by a professional sports organization. The leaders are the New York Yankees (27 World Series championships), the Montreal Canadiens (24 Stanley Cups), the Boston Celtics (17 NBA titles), the Los Angeles Lakers (16 NBA titles), the Toronto Maple Leafs (13 Stanley Cups) and the Green Bay Packers (13 NFL titles).

Autoweek notes that Hendrick has captured 11 championships in 30 seasons, a .367 winning percentage that is the best in American sports history, ahead of the Celtics (17/67, a .254 winning percentage), the Canadiens (24/95, a .253 winning percentage) and the Yankees (27/113, a .239 winning percentage). Hendrick has been incredibly dominant in the past two decades, winning 11 of 19 championships (.579).

Autoweek lists some of the "Best of the Best" sports dynasties without ranking them:
 
Boston Celtics of the late 1950s/early 1960s (nine NBA championships in a 10 year span), Michael Schumacher (five straight Formula I titles and a record seven titles overall), Los Angeles Lakers (five NBA championships in the 1980s), Chicago Bulls (six NBA championships in eight years during the 1990s), Pittsburgh Steelers (four Super Bowl wins in a six season span during the 1970s), John Force (16 NHRA Top Fuel championships in 24 years as a driver, 18 NHRA championships as a team owner), New York Yankees of the late 1940s/early 1950s (six World Series wins in seven years), Montreal Canadiens (five straight Stanley Cup wins in the 1950s), UCLA (10 NCAA basketball championships in a 12 year span in the 1960s/1970s), Jack Nicklaus (18 pro golf major wins), Tiger Woods (14 pro golf major wins), Dario Franchitti (four IndyCar titles in five seasons), Sebastien Vettel (four straight Formula I titles, 2010-13), Sebastien Loeb (nine consecutive World Rally Championships, 2004-12), A.J. Foyt (seven IndyCar titles, the most all-time), Richard Petty/Dale Earnhardt (seven NASCAR titles each).

Considering the source, it is not surprising that eight of the 17 dynasties involve some form of auto racing but overall that list is a good one. If individual athletes like Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods are going to be mentioned, though, then Bjorn Borg deserves consideration; when Borg retired he held the records for most Wimbledon wins (five), most consecutive Wimbledon wins (five), most French Open wins (six) and most consecutive years with at least one Grand Slam win (eight). Borg still holds the record for best Grand Slam winning percentage (.407, 11 wins in 27 appearances). Even though some of Borg's records have been surpassed by various players, no player in tennis history has been dominant enough to hold all of those records at the same time the way that Borg did.

Objectively ranking the aforementioned dynasties is an impossible task; it is difficult enough to rank the greatest players of all-time in one sport, let alone compare athletes and teams from various generations and vastly different sports. I agree with Pearce, though, that the best of the best have a special quality about them:

Elite competitors, like newly minted six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, have it. They always have, and they always will. No worthy champion achieves anything without it.

Michael Jordan had it during those magical years with the Chicago Bulls. Tiger Woods had it before foolishly throwing it away. The Boston Celtics and Arnold Palmer and "Mr. October" Reggie Jackson had it. "I am the greatest" Muhammad Ali had it. So did Wayne "The Great One" Gretzky. And, don't laugh, but Terry Bradshaw had it, too.

It's an indefinable gene that carries the day and elevates an athlete. It separates truly great ones from those who think they're great or merely think about being great.

"It" is a powerful combination of talent, work ethic, confidence and will power. Someone once said of Jack Nicklaus that he knew he was the best, his opponents knew that he was the best and he knew that they knew. Ranking the great sports dynasties is impossible but it is clear that they all had that type of dominance, an expectation of victory that inspired them and that inspired fear/resignation in even the staunchest opponents.

New Blood Versus Blue Blood: Memphis Faces Kansas on Championship Monday

So much for this being the greatest, most competitive Final Four ever. One would think that four number one seeds who had only lost nine games collectively in the regular season could combine to produce two closely contested National Semifinal games but that did not prove to be the case: UCLA stayed close for a half before Memphis ran over, around and through the Bruins in a 78-63 win, while Kansas hit North Carolina with a 40-12 run to start their game and then let the Tar Heels creep to within four points before delivering the knockout blow in an 84-66 victory.

What did we learn from these two lopsided contests? First and foremost, speed kills--particularly when the fast guys are also big. UCLA simply could not contain Derrick Rose (25 points, nine rebounds, four assists, 7-16 field goal shooting) and Chris Douglas-Roberts (28 points, 9-17 field goal shooting), who went wherever they wanted to go and did whatever they wanted to do. As CBS' Billy Packer put it, Rose "plays under control but with speed and power." Packer also noted that Russell Westbrook (22 points on 10-19 field goal shooting) looked like he would fit in nicely in Memphis colors but the rest of the UCLA team simply could not match up with Memphis' big, fast guards. The Bruins wanted to play a slow paced game but they could not get defensive stops or control the boards and therefore could not impose their tempo on Memphis. Call this the "38 special game," because Memphis set an all-time NCAA single-season record by notching win number 38. Curiously, the three previous teams that won 37 games did not win championships in their record-setting seasons.

For most of the first half of the Kansas-North Carolina game it looked like the Tar Heels were running around in cement shoes while the Jayhawks were on roller skates--or that Kansas was actually played seven on five. North Carolina, the top seeded team in the entire tournament, trailed 38-12 at the 7:32 mark of the first half and Packer flatly declared, "It's over." It seemed a bit early for such a definitive statement but his sentiment was quite understandable considering how completely inept North Carolina looked. Kansas pushed the lead to 40-12 but then, as Jayhawks Coach Bill Self put it after the game, they "went brain dead." Inexplicably, Kansas players started jacking up shots from all angles and their defensive intensity noticeably dropped off. Part of this undoubtedly stemmed from fatigue but it also seemed like they thought that the game was over and they could just do whatever they wanted to do. The Tar Heels closed to within a very workable 15 point margin before a last second Sherron Collins jumper made the halftime score 44-27.

Packer said that the first three minutes of the second half would prove to be vital. Kansas certainly looked sharp on the first possession, crisply executing a play that resulted in a Mario Chalmers layup. After three minutes, Kansas still led 52-36. The Tar Heels had finally figured out how to score but they still were not getting many stops and, as Jim Nantz helpfully noted, North Carolina could not afford to trade baskets. Then, all of a sudden, the next five minutes turned into the Danny Green/Wayne Ellington show. Green nailed a three, then he made a two point jumper, then Ellington made a jumper and Kansas' lead had shrunk to 54-44 with 14:10 left. Neither team scored for nearly two minutes, as players from both squads took ill advised shots. Packer observed, "Both teams are not making good judgments when they've got an advantage on the break." Earlier in the game, he repeatedly mentioned that North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough is not a shotblocker but that he is good at taking charges; Hansbrough took three charges in the first half and Packer was mystified that Kansas' players did not understand that they should simply stop crashing into him and instead shoot pullup jumpers that Hansbrough would not be able to block.

After the brief lull by both teams, Ellington sandwiched a couple baskets around a Hansbrough putback and North Carolina only trailed by four, 54-50. The Tar Heels had answered Kansas' 40-12 opening salvo with a 38-14 bombardment of their own. This looked like it had all the makings of the greatest comeback (or greatest choke, depending on your perspective) in Final Four history but Brandon Rush--who scored a game-high 25 points--made a nifty driving layup and North Carolina never got closer than five points the rest of the way. When the Tar Heels tried a half court trap in an attempt to force turnovers or goad Kansas into shooting long jumpers, the Jayhawks patiently broke the trap with one pass and then--following the classic dictum that Hubie Brown always preaches--found the open man under the basket with the second pass out of the trap. Ellington cooled off and the rout was again on for Kansas.

What we are left with now could be called "New blood versus blue blood": the Memphis program has a limited Final Four history but is undergoing a revival under John Calipari, while the Kansas program has a rich, deep tradition that dates all the back to James Naismith. I expected North Carolina to win the championship, so you can take this prediction with a grain of salt, but now I think that this is Memphis' year.