Bill Henderson (basketball coach)

Bill Henderson

Henderson from the 1950 Round-Up
Sport(s)	Basketball
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1941–1943, 1945–1961	Baylor
Head coaching record
Overall	201–233 (.463)
Tournaments	NCAA: 3–5 (.375)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
NCAA Runner-up (1948) NCAA Final Four (1950) 4x SWC Champion (1946, 1948–1950)

R. E. "Bill" Henderson (1901 – 1979) was an American basketball coach. He was the head men's basketball coach at Baylor University from 1941–42 to 1942–43, and from 1945–46 to 1960–61. In his 18 seasons at Baylor, Henderson had a win–loss record of 201–233, and his teams made three NCAA Tournament appearances.

Prior to becoming a college head coach, Henderson coached the Temple High School boys' basketball team, which reached the 1928 state championship game. Although Henderson's Temple team lost to Austin High School in the title game, it was eventually awarded the championship because an ineligible player had been on Austin's roster. In Henderson's first two seasons in charge of Baylor, the team finished with records of 11–9 and 6–14. After his two-season break, he guided the team to a 25–5 record, Southwest Conference championship, and NCAA Tournament berth in 1945–46. In the 1948 NCAA Tournament, the Bears reached the title game, rallying from sizable deficits against Washington and Kansas State along the way. Baylor faced Kentucky for the national championship, losing 58–42. It was the first time a Southwest Conference team had advanced to the championship game in an NCAA Tournament.

Henderson's team reached the Final Four of the 1950 NCAA Tournament, losing to Bradley 68–66. The Bears did not return to the NCAA Tournament during Henderson's coaching tenure, and their record declined to 4–20 in his final season, 1960–61. After the season, he announced his resignation. Henderson has been noted for barring his players from smoking, drinking, and swearing, and for what author Allan Zullo called his "nervous habit of tying and untying his shoes at critical points in a game so he wouldn't have to watch a play unfold." The Texas Sports Hall of Fame inducted Henderson in 1976.