Larry Hunter (August 8, 1949 – May 4, 2018)Larry Hunter Western Carolina Basketball Coach – Daily Catamount
was an American former

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. He served as the head basketball coach at

Wittenberg University Wittenberg University is a private liberal arts college in Springfield, Ohio. It has 1,326 full-time students representing 33 states and 9 foreign countries. Wittenberg University is associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. ...

from 1976 to 1989,

Ohio University Ohio University is a Public university, public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confeder ...

from 1989 to 2001, and

Western Carolina University Western Carolina University (WCU) is a public university in Cullowhee, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system. The fifth oldest institution of the sixteen four-year universities in the UNC system, WCU was founded t ...

from 2005 to 2018, compiling a career college basketball coaching record of 702–453. As head coach of the

Ohio Bobcats men's basketball The Ohio Bobcats men's basketball team is an intercollegiate varsity sports program of Ohio University. The team is a member of the Mid-American Conference competing in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The Bobc ...

team from 1989 to 2001, he had a record of 204–148.NC State assistant makes in-state move – Men's College Basketball – ESPN
/ref> His Bobcats teams made one

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...

appearance in 1994, an NIT appearance

in 1995 IN, In or in may refer to: Places * India (country code IN) * Indiana, United States (postal code IN) * Ingolstadt, Germany (license plate code IN) * In, Russia, a town in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast Businesses and organizations * Independ ...

, and won the

Preseason NIT The NIT Season Tip-Off is an annual college basketball tournament that takes place in November of each year, toward the beginning of the season. The first two rounds are held at campus sites, while the semifinals and the finals are held during the ...

in 1994. Despite his winning record and being second on Ohios' all-time wins list with only two losing seasons, he was fired in 2001. Hunter also played at Ohio University from 1970 to 1971. Ohio hired its alumnus away from

Springfield, Ohio Springfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Clark County, Ohio, Clark County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Mad River (Ohio), Mad River, Buck Creek, and Beaver Creek, approxim ...

. Hunter was the head coach at Wittenberg for 13 seasons, leading the Tigers to the program's second

NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament (officially styled as "Championship" instead of "Tournament") is a tournament to determine the NCAA Division III national champion. It has been held annually from 1975 to 2019 & since 2022, but no ...

championship, in

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

, and garnered NABC Division III National Coach of the Year the same year.Hunter has spent four seasons on NC State staff – Men's College Basketball – ESPN
/ref> He was the first coach in NCAA history to win a national championship in his first season at a school. In total, Hunter won six regular season

Ohio Athletic Conference The Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) was formed in 1902 and is the third oldest athletic conference in the United States. Its current commissioner is Sarah Otey. Former commissioners include Mike Cleary, who was the first General Manager of a profe ...

championships and six Ohio Athletic Conference tournament championships during his tenure at Wittenberg. Before moving to

, he was an assistant coach and an associate head coach under

Herb Sendek Herbert Joseph Sendek Jr. (born February 22, 1963) is an American college basketball coach who is the current men's basketball head coach at Santa Clara. Early life Herbert Joseph Sendek, Jr. of Slovak descent, grew up in Pittsburgh and attended ...

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...

. On March 4, 2018, Hunter announced that he was stepping down as coach of Western Carolina. Less than two months after he stepped down at Western Carolina, he suffered a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

and was sent to a hospital in

Cary, North Carolina Cary is a town in Wake and Chatham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina and is part of the Raleigh–Cary, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area. According to the 2020 Census, its population was 174,721, making it the seventh largest muni ...

, where he died less than a week later.

Head coaching record

Basketball

Soccer

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter, Larry 1949 births 2018 deaths American men's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Ohio Basketball players from Ohio College men's basketball head coaches in the United States College men's soccer coaches in the United States Marietta Pioneers men's basketball coaches NC State Wolfpack men's basketball coaches Ohio Bobcats men's basketball coaches Ohio Bobcats men's basketball players Ohio University alumni People from Athens, Ohio Western Carolina Catamounts men's basketball coaches Wittenberg Tigers men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players American soccer coaches

Head coaching record

Basketball

Soccer

See also

References