Phil Woolpert
Sport(s) | Basketball |
---|---|
Biographical details | |
Born |
Danville, Kentucky | December 15, 1915
Died |
May 7, 1987 71) Sequim, Washington | (aged
Alma mater |
Los Angeles Junior College Loyola University, Los Angeles |
Playing career | |
1936–1940 | Loyola (CA) |
Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
1946–1950 | St. Ignatius Prep |
1950–1959 | San Francisco |
1961–1962 | San Francisco Saints |
1962–1969 | San Diego |
Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
1950–1959 | San Francisco |
1962–1969 | San Diego |
Head coaching record | |
Overall |
243–168 (college) 63–29 (high school) |
Tournaments | 13–2 (NCAA / NCAA University Division) |
Accomplishments and honors | |
Championships | |
2 NCAA Tournament (1955, 1956) 4 CBA/WCAC regular season (1955–1958) | |
Awards | |
2× UPI Coach of the Year (1955, 1956) | |
Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 1992 (profile) | |
College Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 2006 |
Phil Woolpert (December 15, 1915 – May 7, 1987) was an American basketball coach. He is best known for coaching the University of San Francisco Dons to two straight national championships in 1955 and 1956.
Born in Danville, Kentucky, Woolpert attended high school in Los Angeles. He subsequently attended Los Angeles Junior College and Loyola University, Los Angeles, where he played basketball for three years and was initiated into the Alpha Delta Gamma National Fraternity.
In 1946, Woolpert was hired as basketball coach for St. Ignatius College Preparatory in San Francisco, California where he posted a 63–29 record in his four years as coach. Upon Pete Newell's departure for Michigan State University, the University of San Francisco hired Woolpert to succeed Newell. 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's 88 straight wins at UCLA. Woolpert's teams, anchored by Bill Russell, K. C. Jones, Gene Brown, and Mike Farmer, were known for their defense and held opponents below 60 points on 47 different occasions. USF won the NCAA Tournament in 1955 and 1956, and finished third in 1957. At the time the youngest college basketball coach to win a national championship, Woolpert also won Coach of the Year honors in 1955 and 1956.
After briefly coaching the San Francisco Saints of the American Basketball League, Woolpert returned to the college ranks in 1962, this time with the University of San Diego. While in San Diego, Woolpert posted a 90–90 record and served as both men's basketball coach and athletic director.
Woolpert retired from coaching in 1969. He later settled down in Sequim, Washington and became a school bus driver. Woolpert died of cancer in 1987.
Woolpert's son, Paul, is the assistant coach of the D-League Los Angeles D-fenders.[1]
Head coaching record
College
Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
San Francisco Dons (Independent) (1950–1952) | |||||||||
1950–51 | San Francisco | 9–17 | |||||||
1951–52 | San Francisco | 11–13 | |||||||
San Francisco Dons (California Basketball Association / West Coast Athletic Conference) (1952–1959) | |||||||||
1952–53 | San Francisco | 10–11 | 6–2 | 2nd | |||||
1953–54 | San Francisco | 14–7 | 8–4 | 2nd | |||||
1954–55 | San Francisco | 28–1 | 12–0 | 1st | NCAA Champion | ||||
1955–56 | San Francisco | 29–0 | 14–0 | 1st | NCAA Champion | ||||
1956–57 | San Francisco | 21–7 | 12–2 | 1st | NCAA University Division Third Place | ||||
1957–58 | San Francisco | 25–2 | 12–0 | 1st | NCAA University Division Sweet 16 | ||||
1958–59 | San Francisco | 6–20 | 3–9 | 6th | |||||
San Francisco: | 153–78 (.662) | 67–17 (.785) | |||||||
San Diego Toreros (Independent) (1962–1969) | |||||||||
1962–63 | San Diego | 6–19 | |||||||
1963–64 | San Diego | 13–13 | |||||||
1964–65 | San Diego | 15–11 | |||||||
1965–66 | San Diego | 17–11 | |||||||
1966–67 | San Diego | 14–11 | |||||||
1967–68 | San Diego | 15–10 | |||||||
1968–69 | San Diego | 10–15 | |||||||
San Diego: | 90–90 (.500) | ||||||||
Total: | 243–168 (.591) | ||||||||
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
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