Billy Hahn (born June 22, 1953) is an American former

basketball 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 ...

coach who was most recently an assistant coach for the

West Virginia Mountaineers The West Virginia Mountaineers are the athletic teams that represent West Virginia University, an American university located in Morgantown, West Virginia. The school is a member of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I. The Mou ...

under

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

Bob Huggins Robert Edward Huggins (born September 21, 1953) is an American college basketball coach. Nicknamed “Huggy Bear,” he is currently the head coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball team. Huggins previously held the head coach ...

. During his head coaching and assistant coaching career, Hahn has coached and recruited 19 future NBA players and set various school records at

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

with numerous NCAA Tournament appearances over his career. However, he was widely criticized for his role in a 2004 rape scandal while coaching the La Salle University

Explorers Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

Early life

Born in

Mishawaka, Indiana Mishawaka is a city on the St. Joseph River, in Penn Township, St. Joseph County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 51,063 as of the 2020 census. Its nickname is "the Princess City". Mishawaka is a principal city of the South ...

, Hahn graduated from Penn High then 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 ...

. During his tenure at Maryland, Hahn was a three-year letterwinner on three of the greatest teams in Terrapins' history. As a freshman, in 1971, Hahn's Terps won the National Invitation Tournament. That season, he played as a key reserve off the bench. Hahn was team captain during his senior season and was part of the 1974–1975 squad that went 24–5. Hahn graduated from Maryland with a

bachelor’s degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six y ...

in distributive education and a minor in business administration in 1975.

Coaching career

Morris Harvey College and Davidson

Hahn began his coaching career at

Morris Harvey College The University of Charleston (UC) is a private non-profit university with its main campus in Charleston, West Virginia. The university also has a location in Beckley, West Virginia, known as UC-Beckley. History The school was founded in 1888 ...

in 1975 as an assistant coach under Rick Meckfessel. In 1976, Hahn became an assistant coach at Davidson College.

Rhode Island

After his season at Davidson, Hahn became an assistant coach at

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

, where he helped the team to the NCAA tournament in 1978, and the NIT in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

. Hahn recruited and coached future NBA player

Sly Williams Sylvester Williams (born January 26, 1958) is a retired American basketball player. Born in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1979 he was drafted 21st overall by the New York Knicks and he played parts of seven seasons in the National Basketball Assoc ...

while at Rhode Island.

Ohio

In 1980, Hahn left Rhode Island for the assistant coaching position at

Ohio University Ohio University is a public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation and subseq ...

under

Danny Nee Daniel Hugh Nee (born June 18, 1945) is an American basketball coach. He served as the head men's basketball coach at Ohio University from 1980 to 1986, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln from 1986 to 2000, Robert Morris University in 2000–0 ...

. During his six-year tenure, the Bobcats won the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great L ...

Championship in 1983 and 1985 and went to the NCAA tournament in both of the seasons. In 1986, Hahn helped the Bobcats to the NIT. After the 1986 season, Hahn was named head coach. He led the Bobcats to the MAC Championship Game in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

. During his head coaching tenure, he recruited and coached the school's all-time leading scorer, Dave Jamerson, and the MAC Player of the Year in

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

, Paul Graham.

Maryland

After his head coaching stint at

ended following the 1989 season, Hahn returned to his alma mater, the

, to become the assistant coach under

Gary Williams Gary Bruce Williams (born March 4, 1945) is an American university administrator and former college basketball coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Maryland, the Ohio State University, Boston College, and American University. I ...

. During his tenure from 1989 to 2001, Hahn's Terps went to the NCAA tournament a school-record eight straight years, including the 2001 Final Four. The Terps also finished fourth or higher in the ACC eight consecutive seasons and established school records for regular season victories, 28 in 1999, and ACC victories in a season, 13 in 1999. Hahn was promoted to associate head coach in 1997 and became the leading recruiter and scout along with his on-court coaching duties. During the tenure, he coached

Walt Williams Walter Ander "The Wizard" Williams (born April 16, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player. A sharpshooting 6'8" forward/guard, Williams attended school at the University of Maryland from 1988 to 1992, and is credited by many ...

, Joe Smith, and Steve Francis, who all became NBA Lottery draft selections. He was also named one of the top ten recruiters in the eastern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

by Eastern Basketball. The year after he left, 2002, the Terps won the national championship with most of Hahn's recruits. He was given a championship ring by Williams and the Terrapins basketball squad, even though he was not associated with the school anymore. Hahn coached future NBA players

Tony Massenburg Tony Arnel Massenburg (born July 31, 1967) is an American former professional basketball player. He shares a National Basketball Association (NBA) record with Chucky Brown, Joe Smith & Jim Jackson for having played with twelve different teams o ...

, Jerrod Mustaf, Keith Booth, Sarunas Jasikevicius,

Laron Profit Bronta Laron Profit (born August 5, 1977) is an American professional basketball coach and former professional basketball player. Early life and college Profit was born in Charleston, South Carolina. Because his stepfather James Truiett served i ...

Terence Morris Terence Darea Morris (born January 11, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player. He was twice the Israeli Basketball Premier League Defensive Player of the Year, in 2007 and 2008. He was an All-EuroLeague First Team selection i ...

, Obinna Ekezie, Steve Francis, Chris Wilcox,

Lonny Baxter Lonny () is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France. Population See also *Communes of the Ardennes department The following is a list of the 449 communes of the Ardennes department of France. The communes cooperate ...

Steve Blake Steven Hanson Blake (born February 26, 1980) is an American professional basketball coach and former player. After winning the 2002 NCAA Championship with Maryland, Blake was selected by the Washington Wizards with the 38th overall pick in the 2 ...

, and

Juan Dixon Juan Dixon (born October 9, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player and the current head coach for Coppin State University in Baltimore. Dixon led the University of Maryland Terrapins to their first NCAA championship in 2002 a ...

, at Maryland.

La Salle

Tenure

Hahn was hired as La Salle's men's basketball coach in 2001, succeeding longtime coach

Speedy Morris William "Speedy" Morris (born April 26, 1942) is an American basketball coach. Born in Manayunk, Morris acquired the nickname "Speedy" because he was one of the slowest kids in his neighborhood. Morris started coaching at St. John the Baptist ...

. In each of his three seasons at La Salle, Hahn's

had losing records. While at La Salle, Hahn coached NBA players Steven Smith and Rasual Butler.

Scandal and resignation

Hahn was forced to resign in 2004 when a women's basketball player claimed he discouraged her from reporting a rape she said occurred in April 2003 that allegedly involved one of Hahn's players. Hahn claimed that the woman didn't want to report the incident at the time. However, La Salle school policy required Hahn to report the incident to a counselor. This was to ensure compliance with the

Clery Act The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act or Clery Act, signed in 1990, is a federal statute codified at , with implementing regulations in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations at . The Clery Act requ ...

, a federal law which requires colleges to make timely reports of crime on campus. La Salle women's basketball head coach John Miller was also forced to resign on the same day as Hahn, also for not reporting the alleged rape.

West Virginia

After spending three seasons out of coaching, Hahn was hired by new head coach,

, at

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...

in April 2007. Hahn and Huggins had been rivals, when Huggins coached

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 ...

. In Hahn's first season with the team, the

Mountaineers Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbin ...

finished the regular season with a 22–9 record. The team also advanced to the semifinals of the Big East tournament and the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament, which included a second round victory over the #2-seed

Duke Blue Devils The Duke Blue Devils are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Duke University, located in Durham, North Carolina. Duke's athletics department features 27 varsity teams that all compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association ...

. Hahn retired from coaching after the 2017 season.

Family

Hahn's son Matt, was a reserve on the Maryland basketball team from 1996–2000. He served as an assistant coach at IUP, Robert Morris, and

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hahn, Billy 1955 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Indiana Basketball players from Indiana Charleston Golden Eagles men's basketball coaches College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Davidson Wildcats men's basketball coaches High school basketball coaches in the United States La Salle Explorers men's basketball coaches Maryland Terrapins men's basketball coaches Maryland Terrapins men's basketball players Ohio Bobcats men's basketball coaches People from Mishawaka, Indiana West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball coaches Point guards