No, not her... Him... The greatest college basketball coach ever turns 99 today, and to celebrate the milestone, the L.A. Times offers 99 things about John Wooden you may or may not know.
Not only did he accomplish a lot he also knew when it was time to retire. Unlike some other coaches ...cough, cough, Bowden....who hang on till they have destroyed all the good that they did early in their career. Going out on top has to be a very difficult decision, so few make the right choice.
A special Coach. Steve Spurrier had lots of quotes from him that he used/uses in his coaching career. Happy Birthday John.
Rhymes with....... Actually, I believe that the answer to the trivia question, What school has won the most Big 10 basketball championships is.....<drumroll>.....Purdue.
When you think of it Purdue has a number of American Icons amongst it's graduates. Orriville Redenbacher, John Wooden and Neil Armstrong...and of course Stu!
... but all Stu learned there was chasing women and smoking cigars... or was it chasing smoking women with cigars... nah, that was slick Willie! :wink:
As would most people. That's why it's an interesting trivia question. As I understand it, Purdue dominated the Big 10 from about 1926 to about 1940, winning most of the league championships during those years.
Wooden's coaching philosophy was simple and based primarily on one concept; perfecting the fundamentals. And he believed there was always room for improvement. Look at films of his teams.... great spacing, ball handling, experts at picks and screens superb passers, outstanding defense and full court presssure and of course, deadeye shooters. Bill Walton said that they would routinely have entire practice sessions with no shooting.
Purdue won a lot of Big 10 championships during the Keady years...and I think he is the only B10 coach with a winning record against The General.
Those were some great rivalry games, weren't they, Stu? Remember when BK had a donkey on his show making reference to Purdue?