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View Full Version : RIP Bill Foster (Clemson Coach, not Duke)



DU82
05-28-2015, 08:46 PM
Saw that the "other" Bill Foster died yesterday. He coached at Clemson, Charlotte, the Citadel, Miami and Virginia Tech.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/25198109/former-clemson-coach-bill-foster-dies-at-79

Reilly
05-28-2015, 09:57 PM
It seems Bill F. had a long, full, wonderful career and life. I had no knowledge of his Charlotte days till reading his obit, only knowing him from Clemson, Miami and VT. Neat to see the career arc of guys: h.s. to small Georgia college to college assistant to ....

I didn't look it up, but I think he was a Citadel assistant maybe around the same time that the novelist Pat Conroy was playing PG for them.

Stumbled on this article mentioning Foster which sheds some light on the inner workings of VT, GT athletic departments (and athletic departments in general):

http://virginiatech.sportswar.com/article/2012/07/19/interview-with-dave-braine-part-two/

Olympic Fan
05-29-2015, 01:22 AM
Foster coached at three ACC schools -- two of them when they were not in the ACC.

He coached Clemson to their single greatest season -- an Elite Eight trip in 1980 (when their loss to UCLA was later vacated).

He coached VPI to one of its two NIT championships and to the second round of the NCAA Tournament -- easily the greatest two-year run in that school's history.

He didn't have quite as much success at Miami, but he resurrected the program after a 13-year hiatus and had a winning record over his five years there.

He also built the program at UNC Charlotte from scratch. He assembled the team that that reached the 1977 Final Four (Cornbread Maxwell, Mel Watkins, etc.)

A shame that he should coach in the ACC at the same time as the slightly more successful Bill Foster at Duke. You can imaginer the confusion.

Still, "Clem" Foster was a first-rate coach.

Tom B.
05-29-2015, 10:57 AM
He didn't have quite as much success at Miami, but he resurrected the program after a 13-year hiatus and had a winning record over his five years there.




He was also the head coach at Miami when Danny Ferry dropped 58 on them.

Box score. (http://goduke.statsgeek.com/basketball-m/games/boxscore.php?gameid=19881210)

Video highlights. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvPvBTIwkAM)