Now that’s just sweet: College hoops coaches across the country wore bow ties yesterday to honor the man who’s coached more games than anyone else:
Jim Phelan remembers the last time Mount St. Mary’s went looking for a new basketball coach. That was back in 1954.
Phelan was 25 and working as an assistant coach at La Salle University. His boss offered to recommend him for the job.
He told Phelan: “You’ll love it. You’ll win a lot of games, you’ll stay forever, and no one will ever hear of you.”
Forty-nine years later, everyone’s hearing of Jim Phelan.
The bow tie-wearing Phelan will coach his final game at The Mount on Saturday.
Coaches across the country will wear bow ties on the court Saturday to honor the man who’s coached more college basketball games than anyone else in the history of the sport.
Coaches at Texas, Cincinnati, South Florida, Saint Joseph’s, Rider, San Diego, Tennessee, Rice, Oklahoma and Kansas already have committed to wearing bow ties for their Saturday games.
Phelan’s career record going into his last game was 829-524. Not too shabby.