Haskins' teams lived up to his nickname

Chris Cochran, Las Vegas, NV — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:49:27 GMT

I was 10 years old when TWC (now UTEP) won the national championship in 1966. Everyone in El Paso was so excited about this team. We would stay up after the local 10 o'clock news to watch the re-runs of the home games, the newscasters telling us to turn down the volume and look away from the screen if we didn't want to know the score. We were all deflated a little when TWC lost the last game of the regular season, ending the opportunity for an undefeated season.

Like all kids our age, my brother and I took up basketball because of Miner mania. My brother was a lot better than me and even made the All City team in his junior year in high school. But I always liked to think that I played defense like a Haskins player could.

Over the next several years after that championship season, before Haskins became credited for being the coach to break the college basketball color barrier, TWC, then UTEP, was the trivia question answer to which college interrupted the string of UCLA championships in the 1960s. During this time, Haskins was tarnished by a Sports Illustrated story that Haskins exploited his players. That was not true. Haskins treated all of his players the same. Although he never won another championship, he gave Miners fans thrills throughout his entire career. He brought Nate "Tiny" Archibald (we in El Paso called him Nate the Skate) to UTEP a couple of years after winning the national championship. TWC changed its name to UTEP, joined the Western Athletic Conference, and through Archibald's career there, dominated the conference. Haskins teams always remained competitive in the conference and made the NCAA tournament 16 times.

Haskins always claimed that he recruited and played the best players he could find, black, white and Hispanic. I remember so many of those players, Jim "Bad News" Barnes - an All American from then TWC before they won the national championship (no, unlike the depiction in the movie Glory Road, Haskins had been at the College for several years by the time they won the championship and played in the NCAA tournament twice before their championship season). Nolan Richardson played for him before that championship season. The championship team included the finally better known players like Lattin, Hill, Worsley, Artis, Cager, Shed, Flournoy, Armstrong; he also had great players like Gary Brewster, Gus Baily, Fred Reynolds, Luster Goodwin, Jeep Jackson, Dave Feitl. Three others from the 80s and 90s era of basketball would go on to the NBA: Tim Hardaway, Antonio Davis, and Greg Foster. Other fan favorites were David Palacio, Beto Bautista, Wayne Campbell, Juden Smith, Prince Stewart, Kent Lockhart. All colors.

But most importantly, Haskins was devoted to his adopted home town of El Paso and the fans that supported him. He was known as the Bear, prowling the court and letting refs have it when the made bad calls. He looked uncomfortable in the ties that he wore before his game, and the clips ons came off immediately after tip off. He stayed there for more than 30 years, retiring in 1998. For Miners fans we have awakened to the reality that from here on out, UTEP will be a stepping stone for coaches on the way up like Billy Gillespie and Doc Sandler. When Haskins retired, UTEP honored him by renaming the Special Events Center the Haskins Center. It is doubtful that UTEP will ever have another basketball arena named after a coach.

Rest in peace Don.

Haskins' teams lived up to his nickname

Sid Sperry, Guthrie, OK — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:05:59 GMT

Don Haskins was a disciple of his own college coach and mentor, Henry P. Iba of Oklahoma State University. If he learned how to be a 'bear' and both prowl and growl along the sidelines, he no doubt learned from the best defensive mind in college basketball history: Mr. Iba. Just ask Coach K, Coach Knight, or Coach Sutton - three of the winningest coaches in collegiate basketball. All three of these great coaches - along with Don Haskins - subscribed to Mr. Iba's theory that DEFENSE wins basketball games.

Haskins' teams lived up to his nickname

Ana, El Paso, TX — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 23:31:52 GMT

Mike,

The stories that have been pouring on the internet are all accounts from older journalists that HAD to know who Coach was. It brings me joy to know that there is a younger generation from outside of Texas that completely understands what it means to have grown up looking up to this man and what a loss the basketball world has taken with his loss.