Lynn Sanford Nance (born September 3, 1942) is 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 also served as head coach at Iowa State, Central Missouri State, Saint Mary's,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, and Southwest Baptist.

Early life and education

Nance was born in

Granby, Missouri Granby is a city in Newton County, Missouri, United States. The population was 2,134 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Joplin, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area. History A post office called Granby has been in operation since 1856. The c ...

, where he graduated from Granby High School. At Southwest Baptist Junior College (now University), Nance was a junior college All-American player before transferring to the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

, where he became an honorable mention all-American. Nance went on to be selected in the fourth round of the 1965 NBA draft by the

St. Louis Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

. Unfortunately, a knee injury ended his professional career before he ever played a game for St. Louis.

Coaching career

Nance began his coaching career as head basketball coach at Versailles High School in

Versailles, Missouri Versailles is a city in Morgan County, Missouri, United States. The population was 2,482 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Morgan County. Locally, the town's name is pronounced “Ver-sails”, rather than “Ver-seye,” as in the Fr ...

. He was freshman team coach at Washington in 1967–68. From 1968 to 1970, Nance was assistant varsity coach at Washington under

Tex Winter Morice Fredrick "Tex" Winter (February 25, 1922 – October 10, 2018) was an American basketball coach and innovator of the triangle offense. He was a head coach in college basketball for 30 years before becoming an assistant coach in the National ...

before leaving to join the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

. In 1974, Nance returned to coaching basketball, as an assistant on Joe B. Hall's staff at

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

for two seasons. From 1976 to 1980, Nance was head coach at Iowa State, during which Nance went 41–59. Following an 8–10 start to the season, Nance resigned from Iowa State on January 29, 1980. Iowa State reached a settlement to buy out the remaining two years on his contract, worth around $36,000. Nance's next job was at Central Missouri State (now Central Missouri), an Division II where he was head coach from 1980 to 1985. Nance led Central Missouri State to a 29–3 record and

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

in the 1983–84 season. Returning to the Division I level, Nance was an assistant coach at

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

in 1985–86. Nance again worked as a head coach from 1986 to 1989 at Saint Mary's College, going 61–27 with a school record 25 wins,

West Coast Athletic Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting of ...

title, and NCAA tournament appearance in 1988–89. Nance's final two head coaching jobs were at schools where he played college basketball. From 1989 to 1993, Nance was head coach at Washington, going 50–62. From 1996 to 1999, Nance was head coach at Southwest Baptist, going 36–42. In 2010, Nance returned to coaching to serve as an assistant under

Trent Johnson Trent Aubrey Johnson (born September 12, 1956) is an American college basketball coach who is currently head coach at Cal State Northridge. Johnson had previously been the head coach at Texas Christian University, Louisiana State University, Stanf ...

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

Outside of coaching

Aside from his career as a coach, Nance also served as a special agent for the

from 1970 to 1973. From 1973 to 1974, Nance was an investigator for the

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 an ...

. Nance drew upon his experience as an FBI agent to write a novel titled ''Bridger: Deadly Peril''. In 1989, Nance spoke negatively about his former job as an NCAA investigator and said that NCAA rules "don’t take into consideration that some players’ parents don’t have money."

Head coaching record

(*) ISU finished the season 7–20, but was later awarded a win vacated by

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

.
(**) Indicates record/standing at time of resignation from Iowa State.

References