Coaching career Bill Blakeley

1 coaching career

1.1 intercollegiate basketball: ncaa division i
1.2 intercollegiate basketball: njcaa division i
1.3 professional basketball: aba
1.4 interscholastic sports: high school

coaching career
intercollegiate basketball: ncaa division i

1975–76 1982–83 — head coach @ university of north texas mean green basketball


march 18, 1975, sports media announced athletic director hayden fry had named blakeley new head coach men s basketball @ north texas. media reported 10 days after gene robbins had resigned position.
with overall 134-85 coaching record, of 2010, blakeley holds third wins , fourth highest winning percentage of men s basketball coach in north texas history. none of 5 head coaches have succeeded him (through 2010) have surpassed overall winning percentage; though, johnny jones, former head coach, surpassed overall win record on december 31, 2009, win on university of arkansas @ little rock. pete shands (henry gilchrist shands; b 1899; d 1983), coached north texas men s basketball 1935 1959, has wins 217 on 22 seasons.
blakeley holds all-time north texas record reaching 100 wins fastest, reaching in 6th season (1980–81).
blakelely coached 3 consecutive 20-win seasons: 1975–76 (22-4); 1976–77 (21-6); 1977–78 (22-6)
north texas achieved first and, of 2010, top 20 national ranking. associated press men s basketball poll ranked north texas 20th on february 3, 1976, , 20th on february 10, 1976.
blakeley established tradition of draping cloth sign on of chair @ court-side. during first season, sign read don t expect miracles. next year read miracles never cease? year read under construction.
when hired, told media that, beat north texas, opponents have score @ least 90 points. in first season, proceeded turn around team 6-20 in 1975, 22-4 in 1976, averaging 96 points game, second highest in nation. eagles invited neither ncaa tournament nor nit. frustrated on politics involved in getting invited ncaa tournament, blakeley conceded concrete argument ncaa held against north texas 6 of games 1975–76 season teams outside of division i; so, 1976–77 season, blakeley beefed-up schedule dropping non-division teams.
in november 1976, sports illustrated declared, eagles can fly; there not player on team can t dunk. junior-college transfer charles mcmillian, 6 3 forward 22.5-point average, can perform 42-inch vertical jump.
as of 2010, 4 players under blakeley among north texas top 20 all-time career scorers , north texas 1000 point club.
in 1991, ncaa published article nationally ranked top 38 improved year-over-year team records since 1974 (the first year history compiled). 2 teams tied improved @ 16-1/2 games. third improved team, @ 16 games, north texas during blakeley s first season (1975–76), finishing 22-4 record, verses 6-20 previous year. accomplished first-year feat 1 player added previous year s squad. of 2010, 16-game year-over-year improvement stands north texas record dating 1957–58 season. blakeley holds biggest drop in year-over-year season wins of minus 11 games: fourth season (1978–79) record of 11-16.
blakeley hired jimmy gales, served assistant coach 1975–76 1982–83 , kept billy tubbs, had been assistant coach @ north texas since 1973–74 season. after first season coaching blakeley, tubbs won head coaching job @ lamar university (1976–77 year). blakeley hired jim moffitt in march 1976 replace tubbs. gales went on serve head coach of mean green basketball 7 seasons: 1986–87 1992–93. gales teams won total of 84 games during tenure head coach, total ranks third-best in school history (as of 2010). gales led mean green men s team first ever ncaa tournament in 1988. of 2010, mean green since advanced twice ncaa tournament in 2007 , 2010, both under head coach johnny jones. gales, blakeley, induced north texas athletic hall of fame in 2009.
blakeley , gales might own distinction of being north texas hall of famers fired north texas.



as independent under blakeley, north texas had no conference tournament entitled winner automatic berth ncaa championships. north texas had difficultly scheduling games conference schools did, including teams southwest conference, particularly nearby rival smu, which, separated 35 miles, offered strong attendance possibilities on home-and-home basis. in 1976, ken wilson, sports writer denton record-chronicle, surveyed schools southwest, big 8, big ten, , southeastern conferences , major independents. schools not interested in scheduling north texas basketball. they, according wilson, wanted giveaway games. north texas, 1976 , 1977 seasons, not giveaway school. wilson inferred smu , tcu felt gain little beating north texas, might suffer in recruiting if lost.
in spring of 1977, time when north texas vying membership in southwest conference, smu coach sonny allen, expressed disinterest in scheduling north texas, killing basketball home-and-home series.
smu grappling likelihood of losing strong north texas football team coached hayden fry, smu had fired , north texas had hired in december 1972. after 2 close encounters mean green (7-6 in 1974 , 38-31 in 1976), smu lost 24-13 in 1977, ending 45-year drought. smu football coach ron meyer told press after game, athletic program, @ least in football , basketball, can compare in country. haven’t considered north texas being in [southwest] conference, because don’t have vote , meyer continued, concerned having 3 non-conference games. fry had resumed football series smu in 1974. until then, teams had not met since 1942.

notable athletes started blakeley recruited gene robbin s during tenure (year recruited)

notable athletes recruited during blakeley s tenure (year recruited)

intercollegiate basketball: njcaa division i

1967–1970 — head men s basketball coach christian college of southwest trojans

blakeley s 1968 team (ccsw s first year of varsity basketball), included standout athlete joe hamilton (who later played university of north texas; and, of 2010, 14th highest career scorer 1092 points on 2 seasons), won njcaa region 5 tournament, earning njcaa division team invitation national juco championship in hutchinson, kansas.
in recruiting, blakeley talked joe hamilton out of kentucky , put name in lights [at ccsw].
ccsw achieved #1 ranking in national junior college athletic association poll during 1970–71 season.
during 6-year tenure, teams never lost 2 games in row.
his overall win-loss record 125-24.
due financial stress, ccsw dropped basketball after 1969–70 season.

professional basketball: aba

1970–1971 season — head coach dallas chaparrals — american basketball association team (now san antonio spurs of nba)

april 6, 1970 — dallas chaparrals hired blakeley, naming him business manager. team put him in charge of player relations , recruiting, made him designated assistant coach, , assistant general manager max williams.
november 1970 — williams resigned coach , bill blakeley named replacement


interscholastic sports: high school

1957–1958 — assistant high school basketball coach @ st. mark s of texas
1958–1966 — head high school basketball coach @ st. mark s of texas


blakeley won 4 state championships
blakeley head tennis coach compiling unprecedented record of 203-2 on 9 seasons.



1957 — head basketball coach of season @ blackwell high school


blakeley resigned january 18, 1957.




^ blakeley named new coach , denton record-chronicle, pp. 1a , 1c, march 18, 1975
^ james lloyd rogers (1926-2006), story of north texas: texas normal college, 1890, university of north texas, pg. 478, university of north texas press (©2002)
^ mean green men s basketball game notes: north texas vs. rice, pg. 7, dec. 5, 2009, published mean green athletics
^ nt rated 20th ap pollsters , denton record-chronicle, sec. b, pg. 1, feb 3, 1976
^ college poll archive
^ north texas not begging miracles , corpus christi times, jan. 18, 1977
^ best of rest: 5 watch , sports illustrated, november 29, 1976
^ james m. van valkenburg, ncaa director of statistics, basketball notes , ncaa news, pg. 5, feb 6, 1991
^ james lloyd rogers (1926-2006), story of north texas: texas normal college, 1890, university of north texas, pg. 478, university of north texas press (©2002)
^ jim moffitt replace billy tubbs , denton record-chronicle, sec. b, pg. 1, march 2, 1976
^ ken wilson, eagles victory rekindles conference prospects , denton record-chronicle, jan 19, 1977
^ art chapman, nt-smu end all, denton record-chronicle, sept 20, 1977
^ once considered nt post, blakeley joins dallas chaparrals staff , denton record-chronicle, pg. 8, april 7, 1970
^ blakeley new north texas cage coach , las cruces sun-news, col. 7, pg. 9, march 18, 1975
^ north texas hire acc-ex? , abilene reporter-news, sec. c, pg. 1, march 18, 1975
^ coach quits @ blackwell , abilene reporter-news, col. 5, pg. 7-a, jan. 18, 1957