Louis McLaughlin Orr (May 7, 1958 – December 15, 2022) was an American
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
player and coach. He played professionally in the
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...
(NBA) and became a
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. Orr was the head coach at
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research facilities in the ...
from 2007–2014 and at
Seton Hall
Seton Hall University (SHU) is a private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesa ...
from 2001 until 2006. He was formerly an assistant at
Xavier University
Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati and Evanston (Cincinnati), Ohio. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier has an undergraduate enrollment of 4,860 studen ...
,
Providence College
Providence College is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic university in Providence, Rhode Island. Founded in 1917 by the Dominican Order and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, local diocese, it offers 47 undergradua ...
and his alma mater
Syracuse University
Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...
, before getting his first head coaching job at
Siena College
Siena College is an American private Franciscan college in Loudonville, New York. Siena was founded by the Order of Friars Minor in 1937. The college was named after Bernardino of Siena, a 15th-century Italian Franciscan friar and preacher. St ...
. He was also an assistant coach at
Georgetown under his former
New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...
teammate
Patrick Ewing
Patrick Aloysius Ewing (born August 5, 1962) is a Jamaican-American basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the Georgetown University men's team. He played most of his career as the starting center for the N ...
.
Playing career
Orr attended Withrow High School where he was coached by Charles Cadle. Orr played at
Syracuse University
Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...
from 1976 to 1980 and was part of the famed "Louie & Bouie Show" with teammate
Roosevelt Bouie. The duo was named so after the student newspaper
The Daily Orange
''The Daily Orange'', commonly referred to as ''The D.O.'', is an independent student newspaper published in Syracuse, New York. It is free and published daily during the Syracuse University academic year.
It was one of the first college papers ...
ran a caricature of them heading up the basketball court in tuxedos and top hats. After graduating from Syracuse in 1980, he was the 28th pick in the
1980 NBA draft
The 1980 NBA draft was the 34th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on June 10, 1980, at the Sheraton Centre Hotel & Towers, before the 1980–81 season. In this draft, 23 NBA teams took turns selectin ...
, selected by the
Indiana Pacers
The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first esta ...
. Orr played two seasons with the Pacers, which included a playoff appearance his rookie season, during which Orr averaged 12 points, 5 rebounds, and 2.5 steals a game in a
first round loss against the
Philadelphia 76ers
The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...
. After that, he moved on to the
New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...
, and played for six years, with three overall playoff berths. Orr averaged career highs in points and rebounds for the Knicks, with 12.7 and 4.9, respectively, in the
1984–85 season. On January 20, 1987, Orr scored 8 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, recorded 6 assists, and hit a game-winning three point shot as time expired in a 111-109 win over the
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...
. He scored over 5,500 career points as a pro.
Coaching career
He got his first assistant coaching job in 1990 with
Xavier in
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, Ohio, the city where Orr was from. Then, in 1994, he began serving under
Pete Gillen
Peter Joseph Gillen (born June 20, 1947) is an American former college basketball head coach of the Division I, Providence Friars and Virginia Cavaliers and is a member of the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame. Gillen is currently a college b ...
at
Providence
Providence often refers to:
* Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion
* Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity
* Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...
and soon he was an assistant under
Jim Boeheim
James Arthur Boeheim Jr. ( ; born November 17, 1944) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach of the Syracuse Orange men's team of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Boeheim has guided the Orange to ten Big East Conference ...
and the
Syracuse Orangemen. During his tenure there, he rose to become a noted assistant, and helped them to a 92–40 record in that time. Syracuse reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament twice during Orr's time there.
Siena
In
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
, Orr received his first head coaching job, accepting the position as head coach of the
men's basketball team at
Siena College
Siena College is an American private Franciscan college in Loudonville, New York. Siena was founded by the Order of Friars Minor in 1937. The college was named after Bernardino of Siena, a 15th-century Italian Franciscan friar and preacher. St ...
. In his lone year at Siena, Orr led the Saints to a three-way tie for first place in the
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC, ) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I. Of its current 11 full members, 10 are located in three states of the northeastern United States: Connecticut, New Jersey, and N ...
and a 20–11 record, the best ever for a first-year Siena coach. Siena broke many attendance records that year as well.
Seton Hall
Orr became the first former Big East player to become a head coach in the conference after he was hired in
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
by
Seton Hall
Seton Hall University (SHU) is a private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesa ...
after
Tommy Amaker
Harold Tommy Amaker Jr. (; born June 6, 1965) is an American college basketball coach and the head coach of the Harvard University men's basketball team. He has also coached for the University of Michigan and Seton Hall University. He played po ...
left to become the head coach at
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
. In his first year in the
Big East Conference
The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and M ...
, Orr went 12–18, but was noted for playing
Duke
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...
very close in the
Maui Invitational.
By his fifth season at Seton Hall, Orr had led the Pirates to two NCAA Tournaments in three years. In the
2004 NCAA tournament, Seton Hall defeated the 9th seed
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
in the first round before falling to 1st seed Duke in the second round. During the
2005–06 season, Orr led Seton Hall to a 9–7 record in the Big East and an 18–12 record overall. Seton Hall was seeded 10th in the
2006 NCAA tournament and played the 7th seed
Wichita State
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 ...
, falling 86–66. Although Orr had made the NCAA tournament twice and the
NIT once in his five seasons at Seton Hall, concerns about lackluster recruiting resulted in his firing after the 2005–06 season with a record of 80–69.
Bowling Green
After sitting out from coaching for a season, Orr was hired to become the
men's basketball coach at
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research facilities in the ...
, replacing former head coach
Dan Dakich
Daniel John Dakich (born August 17, 1962) is an American basketball sportscaster. He is a former player, assistant coach, interim head coach for the Indiana University Hoosiers and former head coach at Bowling Green State University. He current ...
whose contract was not renewed by Bowling Green after ten seasons. In his
first season at Bowling Green, Orr posted a 13–17 overall record and 7–9 record in the MAC, finishing 5th in the East Division. The
following season, Orr led Bowling Green to their 10th MAC regular season title after the Falcons posted an 11–5 conference record. Although the top seed in the
conference tournament, Bowling Green would fall in the tournament semifinals to eventual champion
Akron
Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...
. As the MAC regular season champion, Bowling Green received an automatic bid to the
2009 National Invitation Tournament. Bowling Green was the 8th seed in bracket 3 and played at the bracket's top seed
Creighton. Bowling Green made a strong comeback, but fell short, losing to Creighton 73–71 in their first-round game. Orr was named the MAC Coach of the Year for Bowling Green's performance during the 2008–09 season.
On March 11, 2014 Bowling Green announced that it would not renew Orr's contract. Orr was 101–121 in seven seasons, including a record of 54–60 in Mid-American Conference play.
Death
On December 15, 2022, Orr died of
melanoma
Melanoma, also redundantly known as malignant melanoma, is a type of skin cancer that develops from the pigment-producing cells known as melanocytes. Melanomas typically occur in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye ( ...
at his home in Cincinnati at the age of 64.
Head coaching record
References
External links
''Orangehoops.org'' with an Orr profileBowling Green profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orr, Louis
1958 births
2022 deaths
20th-century African-American sportspeople
21st-century African-American people
African-American basketball coaches
African-American basketball players
American men's basketball players
Basketball coaches from Ohio
Basketball players from Cincinnati
Bowling Green Falcons men's basketball coaches
College men's basketball head coaches in the United States
Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball coaches
Indiana Pacers draft picks
Indiana Pacers players
New York Knicks players
Power forwards (basketball)
Providence Friars men's basketball coaches
Seton Hall Pirates men's basketball coaches
Siena Saints men's basketball coaches
Small forwards
Syracuse Orange men's basketball coaches
Syracuse Orange men's basketball players
Xavier Musketeers men's basketball coaches