Denny Crum, the Hall of Fame college basketball coach who led Louisville to a pair of national championships in the 1980s, died Tuesday at the age of 86.
Crum played college basketball under John Wooden at UCLA in the late 1950s, then joined the Bruins’ staff as an assistant under Wooden, helping the program to three national titles during his time there. Louisville hired the California native as its head coach in 1971, and the program rose to national prominence under his watch.
Crum led the Cardinals to the Final Four six times — winning national titles in 1980 and ’86 — and made the NCAA tournament 23 times in his 30 seasons. He oversaw Louisville’s move from the Missouri Valley Conference to the Metro Conference to Conference USA, and his teams won 15 regular-season conference championships across the two different leagues.
In 1993, Crum became the second fastest coach to win 500 games. Nicknamed “Cool Hand Luke” for his calm demeanor, he had a 675-295 mark at Louisville before retiring in 2001.