Edgar Diddle

Who was Edgar Diddle?

Edgar Allen Diddle was an American college men's basketball coach. He is known for coaching at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky from 1922 to 1964. Diddle became the first coach in history to coach 1,000 games at one school. Diddle was known for waving a red towel around along the sidelines during his games. He was known to wave, toss, and chew on this towel, and even cover his face in times of disappointment. His red towel is now part of WKU's official athletic logo. Diddle experienced only five losing seasons in 42 years and overall, averaged 25 wins per year. He was born in Gradyville, Kentucky.

Diddle's teams claimed 32 conference championships, played in 11 postseason tournaments; won 20+ games eighteen different times,; became the first team from the South to participate in the Olympic Trials; and won an amazing 759 games. When he stepped down in 1964 Diddle had won more games than any coach in NCAA history and today he still ranks in the top ten on the all-time list.

While Diddle was best known for coaching men's basketball, he also coached football baseball and women's basketball at WKU, although men's basketball was his only coaching job for the vast majority of his tenure at the school.