Nelson D. Haggerty (September 16, 1973 – April 16, 2021) 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 ...

coach and

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 ...

player. He had been serving as an assistant coach for the

North Texas Mean Green North Texas Mean Green (formerly North Texas Eagles) represents the University of North Texas (UNT) in intercollegiate athletics. The teams compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). North Texas competed in th ...

at the time of his death. He played for the

Baylor Bears The Baylor Bears are the athletic teams that represent Baylor University. The teams participate in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as one of only two private school members of the Big 12 Conference. Prior to j ...

, staying four years; in 1994–95 he led the NCAA Division I in assists, averaging 10.1 per game. He is the all-time leader for career assists for Baylor with 699.

College career

Haggerty was born in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, where he attended Willowridge High School. In 1991 he signed to play for Baylor, and in his freshman season he started 15 of 22 games, playing 23.3 minutes per game and averaging 2.8 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists: he ranked second on his team in assists per game behind

David Wesley David Barakau Wesley (born November 14, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is the current television color analyst for the New Orleans Pelicans. He is the cous ...

. After Wesley's graduation, Haggerty became the starting point guard for the Bears, and in his sophomore year he started 25 of 26 games, and improved his averages to 6.3 points, 3.2 rebounds and a team and

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma an ...

-leading 7.3 assists per game. On February 27, 1993, in a game against

Oral Roberts Granville Oral Roberts (January 24, 1918 – December 15, 2009) was an American Charismatic Christianity, Charismatic Christianity, Christian televangelist, ordained in both the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, Pentecostal Holin ...

, Haggerty recorded 19 assists, a career high and the Baylor all-time record for most assists in a single game. Haggerty's junior season saw him playing 22 games (19 starts) averaging 6.1 points, 2.1 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game, which ranked him second in the SWC behind David Edwards of

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

. On December 20, 1993, he posted 18 assists against Southwestern Louisiana, the second best mark in his career; this performance was tied for most assists in a single game in the 1993–94 NCAA Division I season. Haggerty also led his team in free throw percentage with a career-best 78.8%. In Haggerty's senior season he played a career-high 36.2 minutes per game, starting all of his 28 games, and recorded career highs in points per game (7.3), rebounds per game (3.9) and steals per game (1.2). His 10.1 assists per game (284 in 28 games) led the nation in the 1994–95 season, and were a Baylor all-time record for most assists in a season. Throughout the season he had several games with 13 or more assists, including 14 against Southwestern Louisiana on December 22, 1994, 16 against UMKC on February 1, 1995, and 18 against

TCU TCU may stand for: Education * Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania * Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas ** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school * Tok ...

on February 14. That year he was a second-team All-SWC selection by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

, the ''

Houston Post The ''Houston Post'' was a newspaper that had its headquarters in Houston, Texas, United States. In 1995, the newspaper shut down, and its assets were purchased by the ''Houston Chronicle''. History Gail Borden Johnson founded the ''Houston Po ...

'' and the ''

Waco Tribune-Herald The ''Waco Tribune-Herald'' is an American daily newspaper serving Waco, Texas, and vicinity. Background The newspaper has its roots in five predecessors, beginning with the ''Waco Evening Telephone'' in 1892. The ''Tribune-Herald'' took its curr ...

''. His 699 career assists are a Baylor record as of 2019.

College statistics

, - , align="left" , 1991–92 , align="left" , Baylor , 22 , , 15 , , 23.2 , , .261 , , .286 , , .667 , , 2.0 , , 3.0 , , 0.5 , , 0.0 , , 2.8 , - , align="left" , 1992–93 , align="left" , Baylor , 26 , , 25 , , 35.3 , , .315 , , .349 , , .741 , , 3.2 , , 7.3 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 6.3 , - , align="left" , 1993–94 , align="left" , Baylor , 22 , , 19 , , 31.1 , , .319 , , .327 , , .788 , , 2.1 , , 7.3 , , 0.9 , , 0.1 , , 6.1 , - , align="left" , 1994–95 , align="left" , Baylor , 28 , , 28 , , 36.2 , , .302 , , .225 , , .757 , , 3.9 , , style="background:#cfecec;" , 10.1 , , 1.2 , , 0.0 , , 7.3 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , , 98 , , 87 , , 31.9 , , .304 , , .294 , , .750 , , 2.9 , , 7.1 , , 0.9 , , 0.0 , , 5.8 , -

Coaching career

After finishing his 4-year career at Baylor, Haggerty took up the assistant coach position at

Hutchinson Community College Hutchinson Community College (HutchCC or HCC) is a public community college in Hutchinson, Kansas, United States. It serves nearly 5,000 credit students every semester. History The college was established in the spring of 1928 as Hutchinson Ju ...

Hutchinson, Kansas Hutchinson is the largest city and county seat in Reno County, Kansas, United States, and located on the Arkansas River. It has been home to salt mines since 1887, thus its nickname of "Salt City", but locals call it "Hutch". As of the 2020 cen ...

, where he stayed two seasons from 1997 to 1999 under

Tim Jankovich Timothy Robert Jankovich (born June 4, 1959) is a former American college basketball coach and former head coach at Southern Methodist University. During his first year (2007–08) at Illinois State, Jankovich led the Redbirds to a 13–5 second-p ...

, obtaining a 50–14 record. He then served two years as an assistant coach at North Shore Senior High School in his hometown of Houston before moving to

Pittsburg, Kansas Pittsburg is a city in Crawford County, Kansas, United States, located in southeast Kansas near the Missouri state border. It is the most populous city in Crawford County and southeast Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the ci ...

where he was hired as a graduate assistant for the

Pittsburg State Gorillas The Pittsburg State Gorillas, commonly referred to as Pitt State, are the athletic teams that represent Pittsburg State University. They are in the NCAA Division II as a member of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA). Th ...

, joining head coach

Gene Iba Clarence Eugene Iba (born November 5, 1940) is a former American college basketball coach. He was previously the Pittsburg State Gorillas men's basketball coach until 2010. He was head coach at Houston Baptist from 1977 to 1985, Baylor from 1985 ...

. In 2007 he joined Kim Anderson at

Central Missouri The University of Central Missouri (UCM) is a public university in Warrensburg, Missouri. In 2019, enrollment was 11,229 students from 49 states and 59 countries on its 1,561-acre campus. UCM offers 150 programs of study, including 10 pre-profes ...

, spending three seasons as an assistant coach. In 2009 Haggerty entered the Midwestern State staff as an assistant to head coach

Grant McCasland Grant McCasland (born October 14, 1976) is an American college basketball coach who is currently the head coach for Texas Tech Red Raiders. McCasland previously coached at North Texas from 2017 to 2023, where he guided the Mean Green to two postse ...

. After two years in the position, Haggerty was named head coach after McCasland took up an assistant coach job at Baylor. In his first season as a head coach, Haggerty had a 29–4 record (15–3 in conference play), won the conference tournament, and advanced to the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

national quarterfinals. This performance earned him the

Lone Star Conference The Lone Star Conference (LSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the southwestern United States, with schools in Tex ...

Coach of the Year award. The following season he had a 22–9 record, reaching the conference tournament finals and advancing to the South Central regional semifinals. In 2013–14 his team advanced to the South Central Regional finals. In 2015–16 Haggerty again won the Lone Star Conference tournament after a 24–6 overall record (10–4 in conference play), and was named the Lone Star Conference Coach of the Year for the second time in his career. In 2019 Haggerty left the head coach position at Midwestern State after eight seasons, and joined Grant McCasland's staff at

North Texas North Texas (also commonly called North Central Texas) is a term used primarily by residents of Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas to describe much of the north central portion of the U.S. state of Texas. Residents of the Dallas–Fort Wor ...

as an assistant.

Personal life

Haggerty died in a car accident on April 16, 2021, less than a month after the Mean Green played in the NCAA tournament. He had a wife, Krissie, and four children (one son and three daughters).

References

External links

Profile at RealGM.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haggerty, Nelson 1973 births 2021 deaths African-American basketball coaches American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Texas Basketball players from Houston Baylor Bears men's basketball players Central Missouri Mules basketball coaches High school basketball coaches in Texas Hutchinson Blue Dragons men's basketball coaches Midwestern State Mustangs men's basketball coaches North Texas Mean Green men's basketball coaches Pittsburg State Gorillas men's basketball coaches Point guards 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American sportspeople Road incident deaths in Texas