Ralph W. Underhill (August 8, 1941 – September 8, 2011) was an American college basketball coach, known for leading the

Wright State Raiders men's basketball The Wright State Raiders men's basketball is the men's college basketball team that represents Wright State University in Fairborn, Ohio. The school's team currently competes in the Horizon League at the NCAA Division I level. The Raiders won t ...

team for 18 seasons.

Education

Underhill graduated from Lloyd High School in Erlanger, Kentucky, where he lettered four times each in basketball, football, track, and baseball. He then played collegiate basketball and ran track for Tennessee Tech. As a junior, he was a member of the team that won the Ohio Valley Conference championship. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in health and physical education from Tennessee Tech in 1964 and earned a Master of Arts degree in guidance and education in 1965 from Western Kentucky University, where he worked as a graduate assistant basketball coach.

Coaching career

Early years

Underhill was the head coach at Ohio County High School in

Hartford, Kentucky Hartford is a home rule-class city in Ohio County, Kentucky, in the United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 2,668 at the 2020 census. The town slogan, "Home of 2,000 happy people and a few soreheads" welcomes visitors whe ...

and at Louisville Manual High School. His first collegiate coaching job was as an assistant coach under Ron Shumate at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Wright State

Underhill was the most successful coach in Wright State history, with a career total of 356 wins, including leading the team to an NCAA Division II National Championship in the 1982–83 season. Hired as head coach for the 1978–79 season, Underhill led the Raiders for 18 seasons. Including the national championship, his squads earned a total of seven Division II regional appearances before taking Wright State up to the Division I level in 1987–88. He was recognized with three Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year awards and one Division II Coach of the Year award. Known for being a strong recruiter, Underhill had several All-Americans at Wright State: Roman Welch (1980), Rodney Benson (1981) Gary Monroe (1983), Fred Moore (1984), Mark Vest (1985 and 1986), Grant Marion (1986) and Andy Warner (1986), and one player selected in the NBA draft (

Vitaly Potapenko Vitaly Nikolaevich Potapenko ( uk, Віталій Миколайович Потапенко, pronounced ''vee-TAH-lee poe-TAH-pen-koe'', born March 21, 1975) is a Ukrainian former professional basketball player who is currently an assistant coac ...

, 1996). His 1993 team, led by star Bill Edwards, won the

Mid-Continent Conference The Summit League, or The Summit, is an NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic conference with its membership mostly located in the Midwestern United States from Illinois on the East of the Mississippi River to the Dakotas and Nebraska on t ...

Tournament title against the University of Illinois at Chicago and advanced to the

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 ...

as a 16 seed matched against Bobby Knight and the 1 seed Indiana Hoosiers. That year's IU team included Calbert Cheaney and Knight's son Pat Knight.

Yearly records

Halls of Fame

*Mary and Al Schwarz Wright State Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003 *Cincinnati Area Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Underhill, Ralph 1941 births 2011 deaths American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Kentucky Basketball players from Kentucky Chattanooga Mocs baseball coaches Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball coaches College men's basketball head coaches in the United States High school basketball coaches in the United States People from Kenton County, Kentucky Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles men's basketball players Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles men's track and field athletes Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball coaches Western Kentucky University alumni Wright State Raiders men's basketball coaches