Eddie Fogler (born June 12, 1948) is an American retired
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 ...
player and coach. He played for the
University of North Carolina
The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC S ...
from 1967 to 1970 where he played as a
point guard
The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run the team's offense by ...
on two
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...
Final Four teams. Fogler was an All-City guard at
Flushing High School
Flushing High School is a four-year public high school in Flushing, in the New York City borough of Queens. The school is operated by the New York City Department of Education.
As of the 2020-21 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1, ...
in
Flushing, New York
Flushing is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is the fourth-largest central business district in New York City. Downtown Flushing is a major commercial and retail area, and the i ...
.
Background
“I was a pretty good high school player growing up and did pretty well,” said Fogler. “North Carolina always had a tradition of looking in New York for players from Coach (Frank) McGuire who passed that down to Coach Smith. “I went to a summer camp in North Carolina before my senior year. I loved it and they felt I might be good enough to help their program. It worked out for me to become a student-athlete at Chapel Hill in 1966–1970. We played freshman ball and my freshman coach was Larry Brown.” As a junior, Fogler was a solid starter at guard and the Tar Heels reached the Final Four again as ACC Champions and ACC Tournament champions finishing with a 27–5 record. North Carolina lost in a semifinals game to Purdue (92–65) who was led by All-American Rick Mount.
[Eddie Fogler recalls his career, Commodore History Corner Archive January 12, 2011]
After graduating from UNC with a degree in Mathematics, Fogler spent the next year teaching and coaching at
DeMatha Catholic High School
DeMatha Catholic High School is a four-year Catholic high school for boys located in Hyattsville, Maryland, United States. Named after John of Matha, DeMatha is under the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and is a member of the Washington ...
in
Hyattsville, Maryland
Hyattsville is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and also a close, urban suburb of Washington, D.C. The population was 21,187 at the 2020 United States Census.
History
Before Europeans reached the area, the upper ...
, under prep legend
Morgan Wootten. After one year in Hyattsville, Fogler would return to Chapel Hill as a graduate assistant for two seasons under Smith. He would spend 15 years as a Tar Heel assistant where the university won eight ACC Championships, five ACC Tournament Titles and made the Final Four four times with a national title in 1982 over Georgetown. Coaching for his mentor Smith was an experience of a lifetime for a young college coach.
Fogler served as an assistant college basketball coach at UNC and then served as the head basketball coach at
Wichita State University
Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...
,
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...
, and
University of South Carolina.
From 1986 to 1989, he served as head coach at Wichita State University where he compiled a 61–32 (.656) record which included two NCAA Tournament appearances and one NIT berth for the
Shockers.
From 1989 to 1994, Fogler served as the head coach at Vanderbilt where his
Commodores
Commodores are an American funk and soul band, which were at their peak in the late 1970s through the mid 1980s. The members of the group met as mostly freshmen at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in 1968, and signed with Motown in ...
compiled an 81–48 record. His 1989–90 team captured the NIT Championship with a 74–72 victory over
St. Louis University
Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private Jesuit research university with campuses in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, and Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Mississip ...
. His 1992–93 team was ranked as high as #5 in the country and finished 28–6, including a 14–2 record in the
SEC, a trip to the NCAA Tournament's "Sweet Sixteen", and he was named National Coach of the Year after winning the
SEC championship. In the four years that he coached Vanderbilt, the Commodores achieved two NIT berths and two NCAA Tournament bids. Fogler's move from Vanderbilt to South Carolina, following the success of the team's 1992–93 season, left many Vanderbilt fans embittered toward the school's Athletic Director, Paul Hoolahan, and his handling of the matter.
From 1994 to 2001, Fogler coached at South Carolina. He coached the
Gamecocks
A cockfight is a blood sport, held in a ring called a cockpit. The history of raising fowl for fighting goes back 6,000 years. The first documented use of the ''word'' gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or ente ...
to two NCAA Tournament appearances. His best team was the 1996–97 unit, which went 15–1 in conference play to win the school's only outright Southeastern Conference title, while finishing sixth in the final AP Poll—the highest final ranking in school history. That team, however, was upset by
Coppin State
Coppin State University (Coppin) is a public historically black university in Baltimore, Maryland. It is part of the University System of Maryland and a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. In terms of demographics, the Coppin State stu ...
in the
first round
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
. The Gamecocks were seeded second in the East Regional, their highest-ever seeding in an NCAA Tournament; their defeat at the hands of Coppin State was only the third time a #2 seed had lost in the first round. The following year, the Gamecocks battled back for 23 wins and a 3-seed in the NCAA tournament, but fell again in the
first round
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
to 14th-seeded Richmond by a point. South Carolina did not achieve another winning record during his tenure, and he retired after the 2000–01 season, having compiled a 123–117 (.513) overall record at South Carolina in 8 seasons. Commenting after his final game as a head coach, Fogler stated "It is very difficult with college athletics being the way it is today and the pressures. You are darned if you do, darned if you don't," Fogler said. "I'm leaving college basketball with my dignity, my integrity and my sanity."
Fogler now serves as an analyst for
Fox Sports Network
Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by The Walt Disney Company on Mar ...
, guest hosts a one-hour, weekly, NCAA Basketball show on
WGFX "104.5 FM The Zone" (sports talk) in
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...
, serves as an advisor to schools seeking new basketball coaches,
[Fogler's history of helping find coaches, The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'', March 17, 2011] and resides in
Elgin, South Carolina with his wife, Robin, daughter, Emma, and son, Ben.
Head coaching record
References
Additional sources
Commodore History Corner Archive – Bill Traughber – January 12, 2011The Nashville Scene: The Enemy Within – Randy Horick – 10-12-1995CBS Sports-Associated Press:UConn Ends Fogler's S.C. RunThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Fogler’s history of helping find coaches – Doug Roberson – March 17, 2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fogler, Eddie
1948 births
Living people
American men's basketball coaches
American men's basketball players
Basketball players from New York City
Basketball players from New York (state)
College basketball announcers in the United States
College men's basketball head coaches in the United States
Flushing High School alumni
North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball coaches
North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball players
Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball)
People from Kershaw County, South Carolina
Point guards
South Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball coaches
Sportspeople from Queens, New York
Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball coaches
Wichita State Shockers men's basketball coaches