Donoher, winningest hoops coach at Dayton, dies

Apr 13, 2024, 01:06 AM ET

DAYTON, Ohio– Don Donoher, the winningest basketball coach at Dayton and a member of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Popularity, has died. He was 92.

The university revealed Donoher’s death Friday night. No cause of death was given.Donoher went 437-275 in a 25-year coaching career, all with the Flyers. He led Dayton to the NCAA competition 9 times and to the NIT seven times.Under Donoher, the Flyers bet the NCAA champion in 1967, losing to UCLA and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was then known as Lew Alcindor. Donoher and Dayton advanced to the Sugary food 16 5 times and reached the Elite 8 2 times. The Flyers won the NIT title in 1968. Donoher was a three-year letter-winner with the Flyers as a player and took part in 3 postseasons. He was group captain as a senior and scored 388 of his 578 career points in 32 games in his final season.After beginning as a scout for his alma mater in 1957, Donoher started

his training career in 1961 as an assistant at Chaminade High School. He ended up being an assistant with the Flyers in February 1963 and, just over a year later, was called Dayton’s coach, prospering Tom Blackburn, who coached Donoher when he played.Donoher was the very first coach to lead his university to the NCAA title game after appearing in the competition as a player.He was an assistant coach on the U.S. gold-medal-winning group at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. He also worked as Dayton’s athletic director from 1976 to 1980.