USF’s Best MBB Coach

[smazza]

On 2/1/2020 at 1:22 PM, NewEnglandBull said:

 

it may have been bill gibson. he went 15-10 and died after having a second heart attack

i often imagine what may have been

chip conner took over

[CoralSpringsBull]

I'm sure very few of you ever heard of coach Bill Gibson. The first USF men's basketbull coach was Don Williams who started the program in 1970. Coach Williams announced his retirement shortly before the end of the 1973-1974 season. We played Florida State at Curtis Hixon Convention Hall (our home court) about three days after Coach Williams announced he would be soon retiring. I sat on the bench ( I was the student manager) as we upset the Seminoles before a ruckus crowd. What a great game as the team dedicated the win to Coach Williams. Bill Gibson was named coach a few weeks later. He was the coach at the University of Virginia and had been named the ACC Coach of the Year a year or two before he chose to leave UVA and become the Golden Brahmans coach. Steve Mazza is absolutely right. Coach Gibson guided USF to a 15-10 record. We were not yet in a conference. We came close to beating  Coach Dean Smith's North Carolina Tar Heels on the road. In July of 1975 Coach Gibson died of a massive heart attack. The future of Brahman Basketball looked very bright prior to Coach Gibson's death. His top assistant, Chip Connor, became our coach.  Coach Connor was fired during the 1976-1977 season while leading the team to a dismal record. Steve is again correct, if Coach Gibson had not died the Golden Brahmans would have been good for many years.