Thomas Joseph Young (September 17, 1932 – March 20, 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 ...

coach. He coached at

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

Catholic University Catholic higher education includes universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher education privately run by the Catholic Church, typically by religious institutes. Those tied to the Holy See are specifically called pontifical univ ...

and Old Dominion University.

Early life and education

Born in

Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania Natrona Heights is an unincorporated community in Harrison Township, Allegheny County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is located in Western Pennsylvania within the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area, approximately northeast of Pit ...

, Young attended the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

, where he played on the

basketball team Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

, graduating in 1958. Young interrupted his college career for a 19-month tour of duty in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

for the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

after the 1952–53 season. In 2003, the University of Maryland Athletic Hall of Fame inducted him into its ranks.

Coaching career

After graduating from Maryland in 1958, Young became head coach at the

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by U.S. ...

. In nine seasons, Young went 134–88 at Catholic.Search under coach for Tom Young a
NCAA Career Statistics
/ref> From 1967 to 1969, Young was an assistant coach at his alma mater Maryland. Young then was head coach at

from 1969 to 1973 and Rutgers from 1973 to 1985. At Rutgers, Young's 1976 Scarlet Knights had an undefeated regular season record and advanced to 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 ...

Final Four. Young also served as an assistant coach for the

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast D ...

of the National Basketball Association under Head Coach Eddie Jordan, who was the starting point guard on the 1976 Rutgers team. Under Young's tutelage,

Phil Sellers Phillip Sellers, Jr. (born November 20, 1953) is an American former professional basketball player for the Detroit Pistons of the NBA. Amateur career Born in Brooklyn, New York, Sellers played high school basketball at Thomas Jefferson High School ...

James Bailey James Bailey may refer to: People Academics * James Bailey (classical scholar) (died 1864), English schoolmaster * J. O. Bailey (1903–1979), professor of literature * Jay Bailey (James E. Bailey, 1944–2001), American biochemical engineer and ...

, and Jordan evolved into All-Americans and went on to play in the

NBA 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 St ...

. From 1985 to 1991, Young was head coach at

Old Dominion Old Dominion most commonly refers to: *The Old Dominion, a nickname for the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia ** Colony of Virginia *Old Dominion University, a public university in Norfolk, Virginia **Old Dominion Monarchs, the athletic teams represe ...

. He led Old Dominion to the 1986 NCAA tournament in his first season, but this would be one of just two postseason tournaments in his six-year tenure. Old Dominion fired Young on March 7, 1991. Two months earlier, Old Dominion suspended Young two games for an incident caught on camera where Young and several Old Dominion players chased a

Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogniz ...

player towards the locker room after a 77–74 loss to Western Kentucky. After leaving Old Dominion in 1991, Young became a television analyst for

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Eastern ...

broadcasts. On June 25, 2003,

head coach Eddie Jordan added Young to his coaching staff. After four seasons with the Wizards, Young retired from coaching on June 13, 2007.

Early life and education

Coaching career

Death

Head coaching record

See also

References

Further reading