Cameron Dollar (born December 9, 1975) is an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach who was most recently an assistant coach for the

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac-1 ...

. He was previously an assistant coach at Washington before serving as the head coach for the

Seattle Redhawks The Seattle Redhawks are the intercollegiate varsity athletic teams of Seattle University of Seattle, Washington. They compete in the NCAA's Division I as a member institution of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). History Between 1950 and ...

. Dollar played college basketball for the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) ...

, and was a member of their 1995 national championship team. In the championship game against

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

, he replaced injured starter

Tyus Edney Tyus Dwayne Edney Sr. (born February 14, 1973) is an American basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the San Diego Toreros men's team of the West Coast Conference (WCC). Listed at , he played point guard. He played coll ...

Early life

Dollar was born in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. His father Donald was a longtime high school basketball coach in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

who won three state championships and more than 600 games. Dollar's mother was murdered in Atlanta when Cameron was four years old. Her killer has never been identified. Dollar played at Douglass High School in Atlanta as a sophomore under his father. After his father briefly stopped coaching to become a school administrator, Dollar attended a pair of prep schools in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

College career

While in Maryland, Dollar was recruited to the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

(UCLA) by Bruins assistant coach

Mark Gottfried Mark Frederick Gottfried (born January 20, 1964) is an American men's college basketball coach and former player who most recently served as head coach of the Cal State Northridge Matadors Gottfried played one season at Oral Roberts and three se ...

. Dollar attended UCLA in the fall of 1993. Leading up to the final game against

in the 1995 NCAA tournament, the team was uncertain of the status of

, their starting point guard, who had injured his wrist in the semifinals against

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

. After Edney did not return after leaving less than three minutes into the Arkansas game, Dollar played 36 minutes and contributed eight assists and four steals as UCLA won the championship game, 89–78. Asked if UCLA would have won without Dollar's performance, then-UCLA coach

Jim Harrick James Richard Harrick (born July 25, 1938) is a former American basketball coach. He has been the head coach at UCLA, Pepperdine University, the University of Rhode Island and the University of Georgia over a combined total of 23 seasons. During ...

said, "Absolutely not." Earlier in the tournament against

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, Dollar inbounded the ball with 4.8 seconds left in the game to Edney, who drove the length of the court and hit a bank shot as time expired to win 75–74 in the second round. Dollar would repeat the feat himself 2 years later in the 1997 NCAA tournament, going coast to coast and hitting the game winner against Iowa State to advance to the Elite 8. Dollar started in his last two seasons, and the Bruins won three Pacific-10 Conference championships. During his four-year career, Dollar averaged 5.0 points, 3.7 assists and 2.3

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

. "His leadership qualities were off the charts," Harrick said. "He was always an extension of the coach on the floor."

Coaching career

At age 22, Dollar was the country's youngest college coach when he was first hired as a head coach at

Southern California College Vanguard University of Southern California is a private Christian university in Costa Mesa, California. It was the first four-year college in Orange County. The university offers over 39 undergraduate degrees and emphases in 15 different depart ...

, a

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its st ...

(NAIA) school (now known as Vanguard University). He served ten years (1999–2009) as an assistant with Saint Louis and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

under head coach

Lorenzo Romar Lorenzo Romar (born November 13, 1958) is an American basketball coach and former player. He is the head men's basketball coach at Pepperdine University, a position he held from 1996 to 1999 and resumed in 2018. Romar also served as the head me ...

, who was an assistant at UCLA during Dollar's playing career. At Washington, Dollar received a one-month suspension in 2002 for a recruiting violation. Dollar was hired in the spring of 2009 as the head coach of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, which was transitioning to compete in Division I after dropping out in 1980. He hired his father as an assistant. Dollar was fired after eight seasons. He was re-hired as an assistant at Washington under new coach Mike Hopkins.

Head coaching record

Personal

Dollar has three children. His brother Chad served as an assistant coach at

Arkansas State Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

. Dollar is a Christian.

References

External links

Seattle profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dollar, Cameron 1975 births Living people Basketball coaches from Georgia (U.S. state) Basketball players from Atlanta College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Georgia Bulldogs basketball coaches Harlem Globetrotters players Point guards Saint Louis Billikens men's basketball coaches Seattle Redhawks men's basketball coaches UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball coaches UCLA Bruins men's basketball players Washington Huskies men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players