Former Sooners basketball coach Billy Tubbs dead at 85

Legendary Oklahoma Sooners basketball coach led team to an appearance in 1988 national championship game

According to multiple reports Sunday afternoon, former Oklahoma basketball coach Billy Tubbs has passed away at age 85.

News four has learned that former #Sooners basketball coach Billy Tubbs has died at the age of 85.

— Dylan Buckingham (@DylanBuckingham) November 1, 2020

SI Sooners had previously reported that Tubbs had been placed in hospice care.

Over the course of a coaching career that spanned nearly half a century, Tubbs accumulated 641 wins, with 333 of those victories coming at Oklahoma. He served as the Sooners' head basketball coach from 1980-1994, earning Big Eight Coach of the Year honors four times.

Tubbs brought life to a downtrodden program almost immediately upon his hiring in 1980, and OU’s fortunes took off when he brought in three-time All-American Wayman Tisdale from Tulsa in 1982. Tisdale remains the program's all-time leading scorer.

In 1988, Tubbs guided Mookie Blaylock, Stacey King and the Sooners to the national championship game, where they lost to Larry Brown, Danny Manning and the Kansas Jayhawks.

Tubbs, who was born in St. Louis and grew up in Tulsa, left OU after going 15-13 in 1993-94. He then coached TCU to 156 wins from 1994-2002, and he finished his Division I career with three seasons as head coach at his alma mater, Lamar (2003-06). Tubbs had previously coached the Cardinals from 1976-80, and continued to serve as the school's athletic director until 2011.

Hired on April 1, 1980, the then-45-year-old Tubbs was tasked with one of the most daunting turnaround projects in college basketball history. Oklahoma had reached the NCAA Tournament just once over the 32 seasons prior to Tubbs' arrival and held a combined winning percentage of .471 from 1950-80.

Tubbs reached the NCAA Tournament in just his third season in Norman and went on to make eight consecutive March Madness appearances. Under Tubbs, Oklahoma reached four Sweet 16s, two Elite Eights and the 1988 Final Four and national championship game. He directed his squads to No. 1 seeds in 1985, 1988, 1989 and 1990, and his 15 NCAA Tournament wins are the most by an OU head coach.

During his 14 seasons at the Sooners' helm (1981-94), Tubbs racked up a 333-132 (.716) record – good for the most wins in program history. The Sooners won regular season Big Eight titles four times in a six-season stretch, claiming the conference crown in 1984, 1985, 1988 and 1989. Tubbs also led the Sooners to Big Eight Tournament titles in 1985, 1988 and 1990.

Over a seven-year run (1983-90), Oklahoma cumulated a 202-45 (.818) overall record, including an astounding 108-2 (.982) mark at Lloyd Noble Center. The Sooners boasted five undefeated home seasons under Tubbs and assembled a school-record 51-game winning streak. Tubbs’ teams were 4-0 when hosting No. 1-ranked opponents in Norman.

At the height of OU's dominance (1984-90), Oklahoma spent 33 weeks ranked in the top five of the AP Top 25. Only Duke, North Carolina and Georgetown spent more weeks in the top five during that five-season stretch. The 1989-90 Sooners entered the NCAA Tournament ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll.

"We are deeply saddened by the passing of coach Billy Tubbs,” said OU athletic director Joe Castiglione. “Billy is one of the most successful, popular and colorful figures in the history of OU Athletics. His passion and vision of the game defined an era of Sooner basketball and forever changed the trajectory of our hoops program. His teams also helped usher in a fan-friendly style of basketball during a time when college basketball was really growing and evolving. His teams would go anywhere, at any time, to play anyone if it helped the program in the long run.

“While Billy will always be known for having teams with legendary players who wreaked havoc on defense and scored a lot of points, he’ll also be remembered for his quick-witted humor and charm. His one-liners and joyful charisma helped define the persona of the coach we loved. We send our thoughts and our prayers to Pat, Tommy and Taylor, as well as his entire family and many close friends throughout Sooner Nation. He will truly be missed but never forgotten."

Tubbs used innovation and speed to take advantage of college basketball’s evolution and designed one of the highest-scoring programs in the sport’s history. During Tubbs’ tenure, the NCAA introduced college basketball’s first shot clock (1985) and 3-point line (1986). Tubbs took full advantage of the changes, averaging 98.4 points per game over the first five seasons of the 3-point era and outscoring opponents by an average of 14.8 points per contest during that same span.

Oklahoma ranked in the top three nationally for points per game for seven consecutive seasons (1984-90). The Sooners averaged over 100 points a game in 1987-88 (102.9), 1988-89 (102.2) and 1989-90 (101.3). OU's 4,012 total points in the 1987-88 season remain the most for a single season by any team in NCAA history.

Eight other NCAA records are credited to Tubbs' teams, including most points in a half versus a Division I opponent (97 vs. U.S. International in 1989) and most steals against a Division I opponent (34 vs. Centenary in 1987).

"Some people call it run and gun or run and shoot,” Tubbs infamously said about his style of play. “I hope it's not run and shoot…I hope it's run and SCORE."

Tubbs’ high-scoring teams were made possible by the play of legendary Sooners, including four OU players who combined for seven All-America seasons – Wayman Tisdale (1983, 1984, 1985), Harvey Grant (1988), Stacey King (1988, 1989) and Mookie Blaylock (1989). Tisdale was college basketball’s first player to earn AP first-team All-America honors as a freshman.

Tubbs also coached 17 players who were selected in the NBA Draft and mentored Big Eight Player of the Year recipients four times (Tisdale in 1983, 1984, 1985 and King in 1989).

Six of the top seven scorers in program history played for Tubbs – Tisdale (2,661 career points), Jeff Webster (2,281), Tim McCalister (2,275), Darryl "Choo" Kennedy (2,097), King (2,008) and Ryan Minor (1,946).

Tubbs earned honors himself throughout his time in Norman. He was recognized as Big Eight Coach of the Year on four occasions and named National Coach of the Year by Basketball Weekly in 1983 and 1985.

The youngest of nine kids, Tubbs, who was born on March 5, 1935, was resilient throughout a childhood of numerous tragedies. His father, Oscar, passed away when Tubbs was 3 years old. His mother, Bessie, died when Tubbs was 14.

With the support of friends and his brother Buzz, Tubbs graduated from Central High School in Tulsa in 1953 before attending Lon Morris Junior College in Jacksonville, Texas. It was at Lon Morris that he met his wife, Pat.

After transferring and graduating from Lamar in 1957, Tubbs received a master’s in physical education from Stephen F. Austin in 1959. He soon joined Lamar's coaching staff and spent the next 11 seasons as an assistant coach for his alma mater.

Tubbs briefly branched out with a two-year stint as the head coach at Southwestern University and one year as an assistant coach at North Texas. In 1976, he returned to Lamar as head coach.

In four seasons at the helm of his alma mater, Tubbs won three straight Southland Conference titles and reached back-to-back NCAA Tournaments. It was his run to the Sweet 16 in 1980 that began attracting larger schools and helped lead him to Oklahoma.

He ended his career with a 609-317 (.658) record as a Division I head coach.

"All of Sooner Nation mourns coach Tubbs’ passing," said OU president Joe Harroz. "His leadership on and off the court made an indelible impact on so many of our student-athletes and our larger OU family. He coached basketball like he lived — with passion, love, and care for all of those around him. We’re so thankful for his legacy and especially for the fact that OU was so profoundly tied to his life. He is one of those special members of our community who help form the heartbeat of our University. Coach Tubbs will be missed, but his memory will be enduring. My deepest sympathies and prayers are with the Tubbs family."

“The history and tradition of the Oklahoma basketball program is rooted in Billy Tubbs and his legendary teams," said OU head coach Lon Kruger. "Coach Tubbs was an incredible innovator and mastermind behind some of the highest-scoring teams in college basketball history. His historic run with Sooner Basketball continues to be the foundation of our program to this day. He remained an avid ambassador for the university and supported the program as a confidant and friend. Our hearts go out to Pat, Tommy and the entire Tubbs family.”

“I never had an interaction with coach Tubbs that didn’t leave me better than I was before I saw him. Ever. He was a coaching icon – a legend whose teams played as uniquely and euphorically as their head coach coached. The bar he set, from a performance standpoint, is one we’re all still jumping to touch, but how he did what he did will always be what set him apart. I feel blessed to call him my friend.”

Following his coaching career, Tubbs maintained an active lifestyle and was an avid golfer. He boasted two holes-in-one, with his most recent ace coming at the age of 83 at Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club.

Tubbs is survived by his wife, Pat, son, Tommy (married to Ann), daughter, Taylor (married to Steve McDaniel) and eight grandchildren. Tommy played for his father at Oklahoma from 1982-85 and was later an assistant coach from 1990-92. Taylor cheered on the Sooners as a member of the OU pom squad.

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