| Lou Henson | ||
|---|---|---|
| Sport | Basketball | |
| Born | January 10, 1932 | |
| Place of birth |  Okay, Oklahoma |
|
| Career highlights | ||
| Overall | 779-422 (.649) | |
| Championships | ||
| America East Tournament Championship (2006, 2007) America East Regular Season Championship (2006) |
||
| Playing career | ||
| 1950-1954 | New Mexico State | |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | ||
| 1962-1966 1966-1975 1975-1996 2001–2005 |
Hardin-Simmons New Mexico State Illinois New Mexico State |
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Lou Henson (born January 10, 1932 in Okay, Oklahoma, U.S.) is a former collegiate basketball coach. He retired as the all time leader in victories at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with 423 victories and New Mexico State with 289 victories. Overall he had 779 victories, putting him in sixth place on the all-time list.
Henson began his coaching career at Las Cruces High School in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Henson was head coach of the varsity for four seasons, and won state championships in 1959, 1960, and 1961.
He started coaching at the college ranks in 1962 at Hardin-Simmons University. In 1966, he took over at his alma mater, New Mexico State University. In his first season at NMSU, the Aggies rebounded from a 4-22 record in the prior season to finish 15-11 and went to the NCAA Tournament. In 1970, Henson would help lead the Aggies to the Final Four for the only time in the school's history. Henson and future NBA players Jimmy Collins, Sam Lacey, and Charlie Criss lost in the tournament semifinal to eventual champion UCLA, the third time in three years the Aggies lost to UCLA in the tournament. Henson coached at New Mexico State for nine seasons, with six trips to the NCAA Tournament and four twenty-win seasons.
In 1975, Henson moved to the University of Illinois to replace Gene Bartow, after Bartow left Illinois to replace John Wooden at UCLA. He would lead the Fighting Illini to the 1989 Final Four. Henson retired in 1996, after 21 seasons at Illinois. Henson finished his tenure at Illinois with an overall record of 423 wins and 224 losses (.654 winning percentage), and with a record of 214 wins and 164 losses (.567) in Big Ten Conference games. The 214 wins in Big Ten games were the third highest total ever at the time of his retirement. At Illinois, Henson coached many future NBA players, including Eddie Johnson, Derek Harper, Ken Norman, Nick Anderson, Kendall Gill, Kenny Battle, Marcus Liberty, Steve Bardo, and Kiwane Garris and for his known for his trademark, Lou-Do.
In 1997, Henson returned to coaching at New Mexico State, after a scandal forced the removal of the school's head coach immediately prior to the start of the basketball season. Henson coached the first season as the interim head coach with a salary of $1 USD per month, but after a successful season agreed to stay as head coach. In 2005, he retired from coaching because of Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
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Health problems
In July 2007, Henson announced that he was again undergoing chemotherapy for the same strain of lymphoma that he had battled four years previously. He was undergoing treatment in Champaign, Illinois, where he lives in the summer.[1]
Head Coaching Record
| Season | Team | Overall
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hardin-Simmons Cowboys () (1962–1966) | |||||||||
| 1962 - 63 | Hardin-Simmons | 10 - 16 | |||||||
| 1963 - 64 | Hardin-Simmons | 20 - 6 | |||||||
| 1964 - 65 | Hardin-Simmons | 17 - 8 | |||||||
| 1965 - 66 | Lou Henson | 20 - 6 | |||||||
| Hardin-Simmons: | 67 - 36 | ||||||||
| New Mexico State Aggies (Independent/Missouri Valley Conference) (1966–1975) | |||||||||
| 1966 - 67 | New Mexico State | 15 - 11 | |||||||
| 1967 - 68 | New Mexico State | 23 - 6 | NCAA Far West Regional | ||||||
| 1968 - 69 | New Mexico State | 24 - 5 | NCAA Far West Regional | ||||||
| 1969 - 70 | New Mexico State | 27 - 3 | NCAA Final Four | ||||||
| 1970 - 71 | New Mexico State | 19 - 8 | 0-0‡ | NCAA First Round | |||||
| 1971 - 72 | New Mexico State | 19 - 6 | 0-0‡ | ||||||
| 1972 - 73 | New Mexico State | 12 - 14 | 6 - 7 | 4th (T) | |||||
| 1973 - 74 | New Mexico State | 14 - 11 | 7 - 6 | 3rd (T) | NCAA 1st Round | ||||
| 1974 - 75 | New Mexico State | 20 - 7 | 11 - 3 | 2nd | NCAA 1st Round | ||||
| New Mexico State: | 173 - 71 | 24 - 16 |
‡ NMSU ineligible for conference championship |
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| Illinois Fighting Illini (Big Ten Conference) (1975–1996) | |||||||||
| 1975 - 76 | Illinois | 14 - 13 | 7 - 11 | 7th (T) | |||||
| 1976 - 77 | Illinois | 16 - 14 | 8 - 10 | 6th | |||||
| 1977 - 78 | Illinois | 13 - 14 | 7 - 11 | 7th | |||||
| 1978 - 79 | Illinois | 19 - 11 | 7 - 11 | 7th | |||||
| 1979 - 80 | Illinois | 22 - 13 | 8 - 10 | 6th (T) | NIT 3rd Place | ||||
| 1980 - 81 | Illinois | 21 - 8 | 12 - 6 | 3rd | NCAA 2nd Round | ||||
| 1981 - 82 | Illinois | 18 - 11 | 10 - 8 | 6th | NIT 2nd Round | ||||
| 1982 - 83 | Illinois | 21 - 11 | 11 - 7 | 2nd (T) | NCAA 1st Round | ||||
| 1983 - 84 | Illinois | 26 - 5 | 15 - 3 | 1st(T) | NCAA Elite Eight | ||||
| 1984 - 85 | Illinois | 26 - 9 | 12 - 6 | 2nd | NCAA Sweet 16 | ||||
| 1985 - 86 | Illinois | 22 - 10 | 11 - 7 | 4th (T) | NCAA 2nd Round | ||||
| 1986 - 87 | Illinois | 23 - 8 | 13 - 5 | 4th | NCAA 1st Round | ||||
| 1987 - 88 | Illinois | 23 - 10 | 12 - 6 | 3rd (T) | NCAA 2nd Round | ||||
| 1988 - 89 | Illinois | 31 - 5 | 14 - 4 | 2nd | NCAA Final Four | ||||
| 1989 - 90 | Illinois | 21 - 8 | 11 - 7 | 4th (T) | NCAA 1st Round | ||||
| 1990 - 91 | Illinois | 21 - 10 | 11 - 7 | 3rd (T) | |||||
| 1991 - 92 | Illinois | 13 - 15 | 7 - 11 | 8th | |||||
| 1992 - 93 | Illinois | 19 - 13 | 11 - 7 | 3rd (T) | NCAA 2nd Round | ||||
| 1993 - 94 | Illinois | 17 - 11 | 10 - 8 | 4th (T) | NCAA 1st Round | ||||
| 1994 - 95 | Illinois | 19 - 12 | 10 - 8 | 5th (T) | NCAA 1st Round | ||||
| 1995 - 96 | Illinois | 18 - 13 | 7 - 11 | 9th | NIT 1st Round | ||||
| Illinois: | 423 - 224 | 214 - 164 | |||||||
| New Mexico State Aggies (Big West Conference/Sun Belt Conference) (1997–2005) | |||||||||
| 1997 - 98 | New Mexico State | 18 - 12 | 8 - 8* | 7th(T) | |||||
| 1998 - 99 | New Mexico State | 23 - 10 | 12 - 4 | 1st | NCAA 1st Round | ||||
| 1999 - 2000 | New Mexico State | 22 - 10 | 11 - 5 | 7th | NIT 1st Round | ||||
| 2000 - 01 | New Mexico State | 14 - 14 | 10 - 6 | 2nd West (T) | |||||
| 2001 - 02 | New Mexico State | 20 - 12 | 11 - 4 | 1st West (T) | NIT 3rd Place | ||||
| 2002 - 03 | New Mexico State | 20 - 9 | 9 - 6 | 2nd West | NCAA 2nd Round | ||||
| 2003 - 04 | New Mexico State | 13 - 14 | 6 - 9 | 4th West (T) | NIT 2nd Round | ||||
| 2004 - 05 | New Mexico State | 5 - 13† | 1 - 4 | 6th West | NCAA 1st Round | ||||
| New Mexico State: | 135 - 86 | 66 - 46 |
* Record vacated due to NCAA infractions. |
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| Total: | 779-422 | ||||||||
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National Champion Conference Regular Season Champion Conference Tournament Champion |
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See also
References
- ^ "Ex-NMSU, Illinois coach Henson back in chemotherapy". Associated Press. CBS Sportsline. 2007-07-25. http://cbs.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/story/10268977.
External links
| Preceded by Jim McGregor |
New Mexico State University Basketball Head Coaches 1966–1975 |
Succeeded by Ken Hayes |
| Preceded by Gene Bartow |
University of Illinois Basketball Head Coaches 1975–1996 |
Succeeded by Lon Kruger |
| Preceded by Neil McCarthy |
New Mexico State University Basketball Head Coaches 1997–2005 |
Succeeded by Reggie Theus |
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