Harlan P. Sanborn (1889-1948) was best known for being the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of the Virginia Tech Hokies men's basketball team and the North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team.

Coaching at Virginia Tech

Sanborn was the head coach of Virginia Tech men's basketball during the 1916–17 basketball season. As head coach of the Hokies, Sanborn led the team to a record of 17–2. Sanborn's .895 winning percentage is the second highest of any Virginia Tech men's basketball head coach. Sanborn left as head coach after coaching only one season for Virginia Tech, one in which the final

Premo-Porretta Power Poll The Premo-Porretta Power Poll is a retroactive end-of-year ranking for American college basketball teams competing in the 1895–96 through the 1947–48 seasons. The Premo-Porretta Polls are intended to serve collectively as a source of informa ...

listed the Hokies at #21.

Coaching at North Carolina

After

Monk McDonald Angus Morris "Monk" McDonald (February 21, 1901 – September 2, 1977) was an American college athlete, a head coach for the North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team, and a urologist. He is best known for his time as a college athlete pla ...

left as the North Carolina head coach, Sanborn became the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels. Sanborn would inherit a strong North Carolina team, with

Jack Cobb John Blackwell "Sprat" Cobb (August 4, 1904 – September 9, 1966) was an American college basketball player at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Cobb is one of eight Tar Heels basketball players who have had their jersey retired, ...

, who would later be named to the All-American team and would later have his number retired at North Carolina, Bill Dodderer, and Sam McDonald. These players had earned the nickname for the Tar Heels as the "White Phantoms" because of their fast playmaking and defense. Sanborn's team was very successful going undefeated at home playing in the

Tin Can A steel can, tin can, tin (especially in British English, Australian English, Canadian English and South African English), steel packaging, or can is a container for the distribution or storage of goods, made of thin metal. Many cans re ...

. In one of the more memorable games during Sanborn's time as head coach, the Tar Heels played

NC State Wolfpack The NC State Wolfpack is the nickname of the athletic teams representing North Carolina State University. The Wolfpack competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I (Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for college footb ...

team that planned to slow down the game in order to counter the Tar Heels fast offense. Because there was no

shot clock A shot clock is a countdown timer used in a variety of games and sports, proving a set amount of time that a team may possess the object of play before attempting to score a goal. Shot clocks are used in several sports including basketball, wat ...

in college basketball at this time, the team on offense could hold the ball as long as they wanted without taking a shot. In the end, the Wolfpack was able to maintain control of the ball and North Carolina lost the game with a final score of 17–8. These eight points are the fewest points ever scored in a North Carolina game. By the end of the season, North Carolina had won the regular season when going into the Southern Conference Tournament. In the Southern Conference Tournament, North Carolina made it to the finals and beat

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univers ...

in the finals to win the tournament. This would be the third year in a row that the Tar Heels won the Southern Conference regular season and the Southern Conference Tournament all while having three different head coaches. The final

has North Carolina ranked #18. After the season ended, Sanborn left as head coach of the Tar Heels and

James N. Ashmore James Newton Ashmore (November 11, 1878 – April 26, 1944) was an American football, basketball and baseball coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at the Washington Agricultural College and School of Scie ...

took over as head coach. This would be the fourth coaching change in four years.

Head coaching record

References

;General * * * * ;Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanborn, Harlan American men's basketball coaches North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball coaches Virginia Tech Hokies men's basketball coaches Dartmouth College alumni 1889 births 1948 deaths