Don Haskins

Who was Don Haskins?

Donald Lee Haskins, nicknamed "The Bear", was an American collegiate player and basketball coach. He played for three years under coach Henry Iba at Oklahoma A&M. He was the head coach at Texas Western College from 1961 to 1999, including the 1966 season when his team won the NCAA Tournament over the Wildcats of the University of Kentucky, coached by Adolph Rupp.

In his time at Texas Western/UTEP, he compiled a 719–353 record, suffering only five losing seasons. He won 14 Western Athletic Conference championships and four WAC tournament titles, had fourteen NCAA tournament berths and made seven trips to the NIT. Haskins led UTEP to 17 20-plus-win seasons and served as an assistant Olympic team coach in 1972.

He was enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997 as a basketball coach. His 1966 team was nominated in its entirety to the Basketball Hall of Fame on September 7, 2007.