DAYTON, Ohio — Don Donoher, the University of Dayton's winningest basketball coach and member of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, has died. He was 92 years old.
The university announced Donoher's death Friday night. The cause of death has not been disclosed.
Donoher went 437-275 during his 25-year coaching career, all with the Flyers. He led Dayton to the NCAA Tournament nine times and the NIT seven times.
Under Coach Donoher, the Flyers reached the NCAA Championship in 1967, but lost to UCLA and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then known as Lou Alcindor. Donoher and Dayton have advanced to the Sweet 16 five times and reached the Elite Eight twice. The Flyers won him his NIT title in 1968.
As a player, Donoher was a three-year letterwinner with the Flyers and appeared in the postseason three times. He was a team captain as a senior and scored 388 of his career total of 578 points in 32 games in his final season.
Donoher began his career as a scout at his alma mater in 1957 and began his coaching career in 1961 as an assistant at Chaminade High School. He became an assistant with the Flyers in February 1963, and a little more than a year later was named Dayton's coach, replacing Tom Blackburn, whom Donoher had coached during his playing days.
Donoher became the first coach to lead his alma mater to the NCAA title game after competing in the tournament as a player.
He served as an assistant coach for the U.S. team that won the gold medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
He also served as Dayton's athletic director from 1976 to 1980.