Former UTEP coach dies

September 08, 2008 12:17 am

— From staff, AP reports
EL PASO, Texas — Don Haskins, credited with helping break color barriers in college sports in 1966 when he used five black starters to win a national basketball title for Texas Western, died Sunday. He was 78.
Texas-El Paso spokesman Jeff Darby said the Hall of Fame coach died Sunday afternoon. UTEP was previously known as Texas Western.
Pittsburg State men’s basketball coach Gene Iba got his first collegiate job in 1972 when Haskins hired him as his only assistant at UTEP. Haskins played college ball at Oklahoma A&M for Iba’s uncle, Henry Iba.
“He was one of the most amazing human beings ever known without question,” Gene Iba said Sunday night. “I’ve told people he was an extraordinary person in ways normal people aren’t extraordinary. If he’d been around in 1880, you never would have known about Wild Bill Hickok or someone like him. You would have known about Don Haskins.
“Don belonged in El Paso. A couple of other places tried to hire him, but it never would have worked. He was very unique.”
Haskins was an old-time coach who believed in hard work and was known for his gruff demeanor. That attitude was portrayed in the 2006 movie “Glory Road,” the Disney film that chronicled Haskins’ improbable rise to national fame in the 1966 championship game against Kentucky. The movie, which was preceded by a book of the same title, also sparked renewed interest in Haskins’ career.
Iba’s cousin, Moe, was Haskins’ assistant in the Miners’ championship year.
Haskins retired in 1999 after 38 seasons at the school. He had a 719-353 record and won seven WAC championships. He took UTEP to 14 NCAA tournaments and to the NIT seven times and briefly worked as an adviser with the Chicago Bulls.