John Bryan Friel (August 26, 1898 – December 12, 1995) was 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, 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

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

Cougars The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large cat native to the Americas. Its range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. ...

for 30 seasons, from

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhan ...

He holds the school record for victories by a men's basketball coach with 495, and led Washington State to the NCAA tournament championship game in 1941. He was later the first commissioner of the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eig ...

. Friel played college basketball at Washington State before becoming a high school coach. In 1928, he was named the head coach of Washington State. His teams won one Pacific Coast Conference championship and three divisional titles. Friel officiated college football games and was head coach of the Cougars baseball team from 1943 to 1945.

Early years

Born in Waterville, Washington, Friel enrolled at

Washington State College Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant univer ...

in 1916, then served in Europe during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He returned to Pullman after the war and was the captain of the basketball team, playing at forward and earning all-conference honors in 1922. He claimed six varsity letters, and in 18 starts as a baseball

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

had a win–loss record of 15–1.

High school coach

Following graduation in 1923, Friel coached high school basketball, first at Colville, then at North Central in

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...

, winning the state title in his third and final season at North Central.

Washington State

He became the head basketball coach at his alma mater in 1928, and his team posted a 9–14 record in his first season. Washington State increased its victory total each of the next three seasons, winning 22 games in 1931–32. The Cougars won at least 20 games in 10 of Friel's 30 seasons as head coach, and had 21 winning seasons. The 1940–41 team was Friel's only one to make the NCAA Tournament. One of three Washington State teams to win a Pacific Coast Conference divisional championship under Friel, the 1940–41 Cougars won the conference title, and won two games in the NCAA Tournament to advance to the final, where they lost 39–34 to

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. Friel has been credited as helping to change

free throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the restricted area. Free throws ...

rules in college basketball. In addition to his duties as basketball coach, Friel was Washington State's baseball head coach from 1943 to 1945 and a college football official; he was originally selected to officiate the

1942 Rose Bowl The 1942 Rose Bowl was the 28th edition of the college football bowl game, played on Thursday, January 1, 1942. Originally scheduled for the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, it was moved to Durham, North Carolina, due to fears about an attack b ...

, but his basketball schedule prevented him from serving as referee. After the early 1950s, his Cougar teams struggled, failing to post a winning record following a 19–16 mark in 1951–52; in November 1957, Friel announced that he would retire at the end of the season. Friel had the eighth-most wins among Division I men's college basketball coaches when he retired. He remained with the school into the 1960s, continuing as golf coach and in the physical education program. The court inside

Beasley Coliseum Beasley Coliseum is a general-purpose indoor arena in the northwest United States, located on the campus of Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. The home venue for both the Cougars men's and women's basketball teams of the Pac-1 ...

, the Cougars' home arena, was named after Friel in April 1977, as announced by university President

Glenn Terrell William Glenn Terrell Jr. (May 24, 1920 – August 30, 2013) was an American academic and administrator. He was the president of Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, Pullman from 1967 to 1985. Early life and education Born in Tall ...

at a meeting of the board of regents; the dedication ceremony was at halftime on The following year, Friel was among the first to be inducted into Washington State's Athletic Hall of Fame.

Conference work

Friel was a supervisor for the Pacific-10 Conference's basketball officiating bureau and spent eight years as the first commissioner of the

, beginning in 1963. Into the 1980s, Friel continued working for the Pac-10, evaluating officials.

Death

Friel died at the age of 97 in Pullman on December 12, 1995, due to

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

. In 2003, he was inducted into the Pac-10 Basketball Hall of Honor. That summer, his widow Catherine died at age 101.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Friel, Jack 1898 births 1995 deaths American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Washington (state) Basketball players from Washington (state) Big Sky Conference commissioners Forwards (basketball) High school basketball coaches in the United States People from Waterville, Washington Washington State Cougars baseball coaches Washington State Cougars baseball players Washington State Cougars men's basketball coaches Washington State Cougars men's basketball players