Bob King (basketball)
| Sport(s) | Basketball |
|---|---|
| Biographical details | |
| Born |
August 24, 1923 Gravity, Iowa |
| Died | December 10, 2004 (aged 81) Albuquerque, New Mexico |
| Playing career | |
| 1941 | Iowa |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1960–1962 | Iowa (asst.) |
| 1962–1972 | New Mexico |
| 1975–1978 | Indiana State |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 236–113 (.676) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 1964 WAC 1968 WAC |
|
| Awards | |
| 1987 UNM Athletics Hall of Honor 1999 ISU Athletics Hall of Fame 2014 MVC Athletics Hall of Fame |
|
Bob King (August 24, 1923 – December 10, 2004) was a college basketball coach and administrator. He was head coach at the University of New Mexico from 1962 to 1972 and at Indiana State University from 1975 to 1978. He also served as Assistant Athletics Director at New Mexico (1972–73) and Athletics Director at Indiana State (1974–80).
King coached basketball Hall of Famers Larry Bird, Mel Daniels, and Don Nelson. The success of his New Mexico teams led to the construction of The Pit, the home venue of the Lobos, and its court is named after him. He also assembled the Indiana State team that went to the 1979 NCAA Final Four and lost in the championship game. Both schools have inducted King into their Athletics Halls of Fame, as has the Missouri Valley Conference.
King was born in Gravity, Iowa, where he was an All-State basketball player in high school. He played on the freshman team at the University of Iowa before graduating in three years with a bachelor's degree in Physical Education in 1947. He earned a master's degree in Educational Guidance and Psychology from Drake University in 1957. King coached for 12 seasons at Britt and Algona high schools in Iowa and West High in Rockford, Illinois, compiling a record of 205-75. He then became an assistant coach at Iowa for two seasons (1960–62) under Sharm Scheuerman, where he coached two-time All-American and NBA player and Hall of Fame coach Don Nelson.
King was hired as head coach of the New Mexico Lobos in 1962. The Lobo program had gone 42–149 (.220) over the previous eight seasons and had only two winning seasons in the previous fifteen years. King transformed the program immediately, winning more games in his first two seasons than the team had won in the previous six combined. In ten seasons as Lobo head coach, King compiled a record of 175-89 (.663), the second most coaching wins in team history, with two Western Athletic Conference (WAC) titles, three appearances in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), and the school's first NCAA Tournament bid.
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