Bill Blair (basketball)

Bill Blair
Personal information
Born	May 17, 1942 (age 81); Washington Bullets (assistant)
1991–1993	Indiana Pacers (assistant)
1993–1995	Minnesota Timberwolves
1996–1998	Indiana Pacers (assistant)
1999–2001	Cleveland Cavaliers (assistant)
	Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

William Henry Blair Jr. (born May 17, 1942^[1]) is an American retired basketball coach. Blair is the only person to have played on and then later coached THE SAME TEAM, The Virginia Military Institute, VMI, to the Southern Conference Championship Title and the NCAA tournament. Bill was the captain of the 1964 team that won the Southern Conference Championship and went on to the NCAA tournament, then returned as the coach of VMI in 1973. In 1976, he led VMI again, this time as their coach, to the Southern conference championship and went to the “Elite Eight” in the NCAA tournament. Not only is he the only player / coach to accomplish this with any team, but it is even more impressive that he did it with a military academy.

Blair worked twenty seasons in the

Washington Bullets under Wes Unseld, and next the Indiana Pacers under Larry Brown—coaching spectacular teams with Reggie Miller at the helm. In 1993, he became the head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves, then returned to the Pacers, and finally finished his career under Randy Whitman at the Cleveland Cavaliers.^[2]

Blair is a 1960 graduate of Randolph-Macon Academy where he starred on the best basketball team the school ever had.^[

St. Louis Hawks in the 4th round, but had to complete his military service of two years.^[3] While in the Army serving in Korea, he played AND coached the 8th Army Division team which won the Korean championship and the Asian-Pacific Championship in Okinawa. He toured with the Army All Star team and won the Armed Forces Inter-service championships in 1966.^{[citation needed}

]
After two stints at Virginia high schools, he returned to
NCAA tournament berth and an Elite 8 appearance.^[4] After a five-year stint with the Colorado Buffaloes
, he moved on to the NBA. He is now retired and enjoying life with his family. Coach Bill Blair is the only college coach to both play in and coach the same team to the Southern Conference Championship and the NCAA tournament. He played (and Captained) VMI in 1964 and let them to the Southern Conference Championship and into the NCAA tournament, then returned as the head coach and in 1976 led them to the Southern Conference Championship and to the "Elite Eight" in the NCAA Tournament.

Head coaching record

College

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason

VMI Keydets (Southern Conference) (1972–1976)

1972–73 VMI 7–19 3–9 8th

1973–74 VMI 6–18 3–9 7th

1974–75 VMI 13–13 6–6 T–4th

1975–76 VMI 22–10 9–3 1st
NCAA Elite 8

VMI: 48–60 21–27

Colorado Buffaloes (Big Eight Conference) (1976–1981)

1976–77 Colorado 11–16 5–9 6th

1977–78 Colorado 9–18 3–11 8th

1978–79 Colorado 14–13 4–10 8th

1979–80 Colorado 17–10 7–7 5th

1980–81 Colorado 16–12 5–9 6th

Colorado: 67–69 24–46

Total: 115–129

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

[4]^[5]

NBA

Legend
Regular season G Games coached W Games won L Games lost W–L % Win–loss %

Playoffs PG Playoff games PW Playoff wins PL Playoff losses PW–L % Playoff win–loss %

Team Year G W L W–L% Finish PG PW PL PW–L% Result

New Jersey 1982–83 6 2 4 .333 3rd in Atlantic – – – – L New York 0–2

Minnesota 1994–95 82 21 61 .256 6th in Midwest – – – – Missed playoffs

Minnesota 1995–96 20 6 14 .300 (fired) – – – – –

Career 108 29 79 .269 – – – –

References

ISBN 9781461726531
.

^ Bill Blair – Basketball-Reference

^ 1964 NBA Draft

^ ^a ^b 2013–14 VMI Basketball Fact Book

^ Colorado Buffaloes – All-time Results Archived 2014-07-03 at the Wayback Machine

v
t
e
VMI Keydets head basketball coaches

Pete Krebs (1908–1909)

F. J. Pratt (1909–1910)

J. Mitchell (1910–1911)

Alpha Brumage (1911–1913)

W. C. Raftery (1913–1914)

Frank Gorton (1914–1917)

Earl Abell (1917–1919)

Pinky Spruhan (1919–1922)

W. C. Raftery (1922–1934)

Frank Summers (1934–1936)

Allison Hubert
(1936–1937)

Albert Elmore (1937–1938)

Jimmy Walker (1938–1942)

Pooley Hubert (1942–1943)

Joe Daher (1943–1945)

Jay McWilliams (1945–1946)

Loyd Roberts (1946–1947)

Frank Summers (1947–1949)

Bill O'Hara (1949–1952)

Chuck Noe (1952–1955)

Jack Null (1955–1958)

Weenie Miller (1958–1964)

Gary McPherson (1964–1969)

Mike Schuler (1969–1972)

Bill Blair (1972–1976)

Charlie Schmaus (1976–1982)

Marty Fletcher (1982–1986)

Joe Cantafio (1986–1994)

Bart Bellairs (1994–2005)

Duggar Baucom (2005–2015)

Dan Earl (2015–2022)

Andrew Wilson (2022– )

v
t
e
Colorado Buffaloes men's basketball head coaches

No coach (1901–1906)

Frank Castleman (1906–1912)

John McFadden (1912–1914)

James N. Ashmore (1914–1917)

Bob Evans (1917–1918)

Enoch J. Mills (1918–1924)

Howard Beresford (1924–1933)

Henry Iba (1933–1934)

Dutch Clark (1934–1935)

Frosty Cox (1935–1942)

No team (1942–1944)

Frosty Cox (1944–1950)

Bebe Lee (1950–1956)

Sox Walseth (1956–1976)

Bill Blair (1976–1981)

Tom Apke (1981–1986)

Tom Miller (1986–1990)

Joe Harrington (1990–1996)

Ricardo Patton (1996–2007)

Jeff Bzdelik (2007–2010)

Tad Boyle (2010– )

v
t
e
Brooklyn Nets head coaches

Max Zaslofsky (1967–1969)

York Larese (1969–1970)

Lou Carnesecca (1970–1973)

Kevin Loughery (1973–1980)

Bob MacKinnon # (1980–1981)

Larry Brown (1981–1983)

Bill Blair (1983)

Stan Albeck (1983–1985)

Dave Wohl (1985–1987)

Bob MacKinnon (1987–1988)

Willis Reed (1988–1989)

Bill Fitch (1989–1992)

Chuck Daly (1992–1994)

Butch Beard (1994–1996)

John Calipari (1996–1999)

Don Casey (1999–2000)

Byron Scott (2000–2004)

Lawrence Frank (2004–2009)

Tom Barrise # (2009)

Kiki Vandeweghe (2009–2010)

Avery Johnson (2010–2012)

P. J. Carlesimo # (2012–2013)

Jason Kidd (2013–2014)

Lionel Hollins (2014–2016)

Tony Brown # (2016)

Kenny Atkinson (2016–2020)

Jacque Vaughn # (2020)

Steve Nash (2020–2022)

Jacque Vaughn (2022–2024)

Kevin Ollie # (2024)

Jordi Fernández (2024– )

# denotes interim head coach

v
t
e
Minnesota Timberwolves head coaches

Bill Musselman (1989–1991)

Jimmy Rodgers (1991–1993)

Sidney Lowe (1993–1994)

Bill Blair (1994–1995)

Flip Saunders (1995–2005)

Kevin McHale # (2005)

Dwane Casey (2005–2007)

Randy Wittman (2007–2008)

Kevin McHale (2008–2009)

Kurt Rambis (2009–2011)

Rick Adelman (2011–2014)

Flip Saunders (2014–2015)

Sam Mitchell # (2015–2016)

Tom Thibodeau (2016–2019)

Ryan Saunders (2019–2021)

Chris Finch (2021– )

# denotes interim head coach

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bill_Blair_(basketball)&oldid=1218199581"

[1] ISBN 9781461726531
.

[BR-2] Bill Blair – Basketball-Reference

[3] 1964 NBA Draft

[VMI-4] 2013–14 VMI Basketball Fact Book

[5] Colorado Buffaloes – All-time Results Archived 2014-07-03 at the Wayback Machine

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