San Francisco Dons Men's Basketball
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The San Francisco Dons men's basketball team represents the
University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded in 1855, it has nearly 9,000 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees ...
in
NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...
men's
college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...
. The Dons compete in the West Coast Conference, where they have won sixteen regular season championships and one conference tournament championship. The current head coach is Chris Gerlufsen. They play home games at the War Memorial Gymnasium, which also serves as the venue for women's basketball, volleyball, athletic department offices, and athletic training rooms. Some games may be played at Chase Center. The basketball team claims three national titles: the 1949 NIT under Pete Newell, and the 1955 and
1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...
NCAA Division I championships. The latter two were under
Phil Woolpert Philipp D. Woolpert (December 15, 1915 – May 5, 1987) was an American basketball coach, best known as the head coach of the University of San Francisco Dons in the 1950s. He led them to consecutive national championships in 1955 Biograph ...
, and led by player and National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Russell. USF retained its status as a basketball powerhouse into the 1970s and early 1980s, holding the distinction of being a "major" program in a "mid-major" conference (the WCC having declined somewhat in stature since the 1960s). It held the number one spot in the polls on numerous occasions. In 1977, led by All-American center Bill Cartwright, the Dons started 29–0 and were regarded as the #1 team in the nation in both major polls before dropping their last two games. The San Francisco Dons men's basketball program has been rated the 29th "Greatest College Basketball Program of All-Time" by '' Street & Smith's'' magazine, 49th by
NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...
"Greatest Programs of All-Time","The greatest programs of all-time"
at NBC Sports, 10 Oct 2012
and 75th by the
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
/ Sagarin All-Time College Basketball Rankings, higher in all three rankings than any other West Coast Conference school and many schools from BCS Conferences ( Pac-12, Big Ten, Big 12, Big East,
Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...
).


History

Basketball got its start at USF, then known as St. Ignatius College, in 1910. The original coach was Orno Taylor, whose subsequent achievements were lost to history. The scores had grown since 1895 but the writing was as florid as ever. The College Annual reported that "the entire team did nobly in the season just finished and the student body as a unit thanks them for their loyalty and devotion." The results weren't bad either. The St. Ignatius team won six of its seven games, losing only to
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(then located in San Jose) by a mere three points. Included in the victories was a sweep of Santa Clara, still a major rival, by scores of 38–31 and 22–13.


Pete Newell era

After serving in the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
from 1942 to 1946, Pete Newell was appointed men's basketball head coach at the University of San Francisco in 1946. During his four-year tenure at USF, Newell compiled a 70–37 record and coached the Dons to the 1949 National Invitation Tournament (NIT) championship, beating Loyola (Chicago) 48-47. (At the time, the NIT was more prestigious than the NCAA Tournament.) This was the team of All-American Don Lofgran, Joe McNamee, captain John Benington, Ross Giudice, Frank Kuzara and a baby-faced guard named Rene Herrerias. New York's
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crowds were notoriously tough to please. Lofgran, Herrerias and company had them cheering in the aisles. In 1950, he accepted an appointment as head coach at
Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...
, where he stayed until 1954. He later led the
University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...
to the 1959 NCAA men's basketball championship, and a year later coached the gold medal-winning U.S. team at the
1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...
. After his coaching career ended he ran an instructional basketball camp and served as a consultant and scout for several
National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...
(NBA) teams.


Phil Woolpert and the Russell era

Newell left for Michigan State in 1950, and USF hired
Phil Woolpert Philipp D. Woolpert (December 15, 1915 – May 5, 1987) was an American basketball coach, best known as the head coach of the University of San Francisco Dons in the 1950s. He led them to consecutive national championships in 1955 Biograph ...
as his successor. He assumed both the posts of men's basketball coach and athletic director. During his tenure at USF, Woolpert posted a 153–78 record, including a 60-game win streak that at the time was the longest in college basketball (surpassed later by
John Wooden John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed "the Wizard of Westwood", he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, nati ...
's 88 straight wins at
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...
.). His teams, anchored by Bill Russell, K.C. Jones, Eugene Brown and Mike Farmer, were known for their defense and held opponents below 60 points on 47 different occasions. USF won the National Championship in 1955 and
1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...
, and finished third in 1957. Woolpert also won Coach of the Year honors in 1955 and 1956. Bill Russell was ignored by major college scouts, largely because he didn't even start at McClymonds High School in Oakland. He did not receive a single letter of interest until Hal DeJulio from USF watched him in a high school game. DeJulio was not impressed by Russell's meager scoring and "atrocious fundamentals", but sensed that the young center had an extraordinary instinct for the game, especially in clutch situations. When DeJulio offered Russell a scholarship, the latter eagerly accepted. Sports journalist John Taylor described it as a watershed in Russell's life because Russell realized that basketball was his one chance to escape poverty and racism. At USF, Russell became the new starting center. Woolpert emphasized defense and deliberate half-court play, concepts that favored defensive standout Russell. Woolpert was unaffected by issues of skin color. In 1954, he became the first coach of a major college basketball squad to start three
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
players: Russell, K.C. Jones and Hal Perry. In his USF years, Russell used his relative lack of bulk to develop a unique style of defense: instead of purely guarding the opposing center, he used his quickness and speed to play help defense against opposing forwards and aggressively challenge their shots. Combining the stature and shot-blocking skills of a center with the foot speed of a guard, Russell became the centerpiece of a USF team that soon became a force in college basketball. After USF kept Holy Cross star Tom Heinsohn scoreless in an entire half, ''
Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...
'' wrote, "If ussellever learns to hit the basket, they're going to have to rewrite the rules." Nonetheless, these games were often difficult for the USF squad. Russell and his African American teammates became targets of racist jeers, particularly on the road. In one notable incident, hotels in
Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...
refused to admit Russell and his black teammates while they were in town for the 1954 All-College Tournament. In protest, the whole team decided to camp out in a closed college dorm, which was later called an important bonding experience for the group. Decades later, Russell explained that his experiences hardened him against abuse of all kinds. "I never permitted myself to be a victim," he said. Note: This source appears to have a typo it was corrected in this article: It reads "I did now want..." in the source, it was changed to the obviously intended form, "I did not want..." On the hardwood, his experiences were far more pleasant. Russell led USF to NCAA championships in 1955 and 1956, including a string of 55 consecutive victories. He became known for his strong defense and shot-blocking skills, once denying 13 shots in a game.
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...
coach
John Wooden John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed "the Wizard of Westwood", he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, nati ...
called Russell "the greatest defensive man I've ever seen". While at USF, together with K. C. Jones, he also helped pioneer a play that later became known as the alley-oop. During his college career, Russell averaged 20.7 points per game and 20.3 rebounds per game. Besides basketball, Russell represented USF in
track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...
events. He competed in the race, which he could complete in 49.6 seconds. He also participated in the
high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...
; '' Track & Field News'' ranked him as the seventh-best high jumper in the world in 1956. That year, Russell won high jump titles at the Central California AAU meet, the Pacific AAU meet, and the West Coast Relays. One of his highest jumps occurred at the West Coast Relays, where he achieved a mark of . After his years at USF, the
Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters is an American Exhibition game, exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, entertainment, and comedy in their style of play. Over the years, they have played more than 26,000 exhibition games in 124 ...
invited Russell to join their
exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...
basketball squad. Russell, who was sensitive to any racial prejudice, was enraged by the fact that owner Abe Saperstein would only discuss the matter with Woolpert. While Saperstein spoke to Woolpert in a meeting, Globetrotters assistant coach Harry Hanna tried to entertain Russell with jokes. The USF center was livid after this snub and declined the offer: he reasoned that if Saperstein was too smart to speak with him, then he was too smart to play for Saperstein. Instead, Russell made himself eligible for the 1956 NBA draft. Woolpert stayed at USF for nine years. During his tenure, he was known for building national powers almost exclusively on Bay Area talent; the athletic department had virtually no recruiting budget and had little to offer out-of-state players.


1960s and 1970s dominance

The Dons remained as a powerhouse for several years after their 1950s run. The team added four more Elite Eight appearances to its resume: 1964,
1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...
,
1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...
, and 1974. USF retained its status as a basketball powerhouse into the 1970s and early 1980s under Bob Gaillard and Dan Belluomini, holding the distinction of being a "major" program in a " mid-major" conference (the WCC's stature declined somewhat in the 1960s). Although John Wooden and his UCLA Bruins had eclipsed San Francisco as the premier West Coast power, the Dons remained an elite program well into the early 1980s. It held the number one spot in the polls on numerous occasions and six consecutive conference titles from 1977–82, and all but two WCC regular-season titles from 1972 to 1982. In 1977, led by All-American center Bill Cartwright, the Dons started the season 26–0 and were regarded as the #1 team in the nation in both major polls. Sports Illustrated highlighted the 1977 team with a cover story titled "The Dandy Dons." Until they lost to Notre Dame.


NCAA violations and self-imposed death penalty

The Dons remained an elite program well into the early 1980s, perennially ranked in the top 20, and captured six consecutive conference titles from 1977–82. San Francisco's success on the court came at a price, however. The NCAA placed the Dons on probation two times in the late 1970s for booster/alumni interference with the program and recruiting improprieties by coaches. Each NCAA investigation eventually led to the dismissal of a San Francisco head coach, leading '' San Francisco Chronicle'' sportswriter Glenn Dickey to call the program "totally out of control." As a response to these incidents, school president Rev. John Lo Schiavo, S.J. a lifelong basketball enthusiast and all-city
power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers and are typi ...
in his youth, gave an ultimatum after the second NCAA case was resolved in 1980: if there was any further incident, the program would be shut down.Boyle, Robert; and Roger Jackso
Bringing Down the Curtain
''
Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...
'', 1982-08-09.
Despite Lo Schiavo's warning, the improprieties continued. An exclusive invite-only booster organization called the Dons Century Club committed hundreds of thousands of dollars to illegally recruiting players, paying off family members, and covering travel expenses, while other alumni were also giving or "lending" players large sums of money, paying them for no-show jobs, providing lavish gifts, as well as picking up pricey restaurant and entertainment tabs. Basketball players continued to receive special academic treatment; many were marginal students at best, and at least one incident occurred in which a player threatened another student, and the incident was swept under the rug by school officials. It was also commonplace for "tutors" to take tests and write papers for players.Dickey, Glenn
Winning the Right Way Delights USF Chancellor
'' San Francisco Chronicle'', 1998-03-11.
The situation finally came to a head in December 1981, when All-American guard Quintin Dailey was found guilty of raping a female student. During the subsequent investigation, Dailey admitted taking a no-show job for $1,000 a month at a business owned by a prominent USF booster, and that another booster also paid Dailey $5,000 since 1980. True to his word, on July 29, 1982, Lo Schiavo announced that he was shutting down the basketball program—the first time a Division I university had voluntarily shut down a major sport under such circumstances. Lo Schiavo said that the Dons program "was once a source of inspiration, respect and pride for this university and city." By contrast, the recent scandals had resulted in USF being perceived as "being hypocritical or naïve or inept or duplicitous, or perhaps some combination of all those." Under the circumstances, Lo Schiavo felt that the only responsible course was to shutter the program. In a prepared statement, Lo Schiavo later said, "We hope that it one day may be possible to restore a men's intercollegiate basketball team. That possibility will depend upon whether those responsible for this university are convinced that the factors that destroyed the program are not going to beset it again." His decision made international headlines, to the degree that while visiting San Francisco, Queen Elizabeth II pulled Lo Schiavo aside to ask when he would reinstate the basketball program. Drastic as it was, the move was widely applauded by several members of the coaching fraternity. San Francisco reinstated men's basketball in 1985, but without the overzealous Dons Century Club. The successor to the Dons Century Club is the Green and Gold Club, a group of boosters under the direct control of the athletic department.


Reinstatement of Dons basketball

Lo Schiavo resurrected the program in 1985 with former star Jim Brovelli as head coach, who quickly returned the program to respectability. He was not able to reach the postseason, however, and resigned in 1995. Three years later USF went to the 1998 NCAA tournament under Phil Mathews and they had a 2005 NIT berth under former coach Jessie Evans. The program regressed the next few years, and Jessie Evans was granted a request for a 'leave of absence' on December 27, 2007. Basketball coach Eddie Sutton took over on an interim basis, needing two wins for a personal milestone of 800 career coaching victories. At the time,
Bob Knight Robert Montgomery Knight (October 25, 1940 – November 1, 2023) was an American men's college basketball coach (basketball), coach. Nicknamed "the General", he won 902 NCAA Division I men's basketball games, a record at the time of his retire ...
was the only other Division I men's coach to have accomplished the feat. After months of speculation, Evans was finally officially fired by USF on March 20, 2008. Rex Walters was named as the Dons' head coach on April 14, 2008. In 2010, the USF Dons won over 20 games and went to the quarterfinals of the postseason CIT tournament. Walters was relieved of his duties on March 9, 2016, and replaced by Kyle Smith. At the conclusion of the 2018–2019 season, Kyle Smith was hired by Washington State University after three consecutive 20-win seasons. Smith's Associate Head Coach Todd Golden was promoted to Head Men's Basketball Coach on March 27, 2019. Under Golden, the 2021-22 Dons returned to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 24 years. Golden departed after the season to coach
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
and was replaced by Chris Gerlufsen. The Dons have never approached the prominence they enjoyed from the 1940s to the 1980s, in part because Lo Schiavo significantly increased admissions standards for all student-athletes. In a 2011 interview, Lo Schiavo reiterated that he never questioned his decision, noting that all but one trustee voted in favor of shuttering the program in 1982 "because we had to make the point that we mean what we say and we intended to be good citizens."


Postseason results


NCAA tournament results

The Dons have appeared in 17 NCAA Tournaments. Their combined record is 21–15. They are two time National Champions ( 1955,
1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...
).


NIT results

The Dons have appeared in eight National Invitation Tournaments (NIT). Their combined record is 7–6. They were NIT champions in 1949.


CBI results

The Dons have appeared in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) three times. Their combined record is 4–3.


CIT results

The Dons have appeared in one CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT). Their record is 2–1.


Retired numbers

The Dons have retired seven numbers to date:


All-Americans


Dons in the NBA

The
University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded in 1855, it has nearly 9,000 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees ...
has had 24 players go on to play in the NBA: * Jamaree Bouyea 2022 * Winford Boynes 1978–1980 * Wallace Bryant 1983–1985 * Bill Cartwright 1979–1994 * Chubby Cox 1982 * Pete Cross 1970–1972 * Quintin Dailey 1982–1991 * Joe Ellis 1966–1973 * Mike Farmer 1958–1965 * Eric Fernsten 1975–1983 * James Hardy 1978–1981 * K. C. Jones 1958–1966 * Fred LaCour 1960–1962 * Dave Lee 1967–1968 * Don Lofgran 1950–1953 * Joe McNamee 1950–1951 * Jonathan Mogbo 2024 * Erwin Mueller 1966–1973 * Paul Napolitano 1948 * Marlon Redmond 1978–1979 * Billy Reid 1980 * Kevin Restani 1974–1981 * Bill Russell 1956–1969 * Fred Scolari 1946–1954 * Phil Smith 1974–1982 * Ime Udoka (finished NCAA career at Portland State) 2003–2011 * Guy Williams (finished NCAA career at Washington State) 1984–1985


Other notable players

* Angelo Caloiaro (born 1989), basketball player in the
Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl (, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is a professional basketball league in Israel and the highest level of basketball in the country. The league's name is abbreviated as either BSL ...
* Ollie Johnson, selected by the
Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...
, played professionally in Belgium * Ken McAlister, played in the NFL without any college football experience * Shamell Stallworth, basketball player in NBB * Mark Tollefsen, 2018–19 top scorer in the Israel Basketball Premier League * Kwame Vaughn (born 1990), basketball player for Maccabi Haifa in the Israeli Basketball National League * Sinqua Walls, actor, starred in the 2023 remake of '' White Men Can't Jump''


Notes and references


External links

*
Team history
at
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