Dave Strack

{{Short description|American college sports coach and administrator (1923–2014)}}

{{Infobox college coach

| name = Dave Strack

| image = Dave Strack.png

| alt =

| caption = Strack from 1967 Michiganensian

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1923|3|2}}

| birth_place = Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2014|1|25|1923|3|2}}

| death_place = Tucson, Arizona, U.S.

| alma_mater =

| player_years1 = 1943–1946

| player_team1 = Michigan

| player_years2 = 1946

| player_team2 = Indianapolis Kautskys

| coach_years1 = 1948–1959

| coach_team1 = Michigan (assistant)

| coach_years2 = 1959–1960

| coach_team2 = Idaho

| coach_years3 = 1960–1968

| coach_team3 = Michigan

| admin_years1 = 1970–1972

| admin_team1 = Michigan (associate AD)

| admin_years2 = 1972–1982

| admin_team2 = Arizona

| overall_record = 124–104

| bowl_record =

| tournament_record = 7–3 (NCAA University Division)

| championships = 3 Big Ten regular season (1964–1966)

| awards =

| coaching_records =

}}

David H. Strack (March 2, 1923 – January 25, 2014) was an American athletic director for the University of Arizona and head basketball coach at the University of Michigan. He was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.{{Cite web|url=http://vistosomemorialchapel.com/sitemaker/sites/vistos0/obit.cgi?user=1225046Strack|title=Google}}

Early life

Strack grew up in Indiana and graduated from Shortridge High School in Indianapolis, where he was the basketball team's captain and MVP in 1941 and was named to the Indiana All-Star team.{{cite web | title=Dave Strack | work=Indian Basketball Hall of Fame | publisher=hoopshall.com | url=http://www.hoopshall.com/hall-of-fame/dave-strack/?back=HallofFame | access-date=2011-10-21}} Strack played college basketball at the University of Michigan (UM), earning MVP honors in 1943 and 1946.

Basketball career

Strack briefly played professionally for the Indianapolis Kautskys of the NBL."Kautskys sign Strack". Kokomo Tribune. February 20, 1946. 10. He returned to UM and served as an assistant coach from 1948 to 1959, then left in June 1959 to become the head coach at the University of Idaho.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=XJlfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jTEMAAAAIBAJ&pg=6484%2C310856 |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=(Idaho) |agency=Associated Press |title=University studies 55 applications for basketball job |date=June 3, 1959 |page=11 }}{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZZlfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jTEMAAAAIBAJ&pg=6579%2C1889840 |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=(Idaho) |agency=Associated Press |title=Michigan aide studies Idaho hoop vacancy |date=June 12, 1959 |page=11 }}{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Ff1XAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PvcDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7067%2C3523493 |work=Spokane Daily Chronicle |location=(Washington) |agency=Associated Press |title=Michigan assistant Vandals' cage pick |date=June 16, 1959 |page=18}}

In May 1960, Strack was hired as the head coach back at the University of Michigan,{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fR5YAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MvcDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6996%2C5065000 |work=Spokane Daily Chronicle |location=(Washington) |agency=Associated Press |title=Idaho cage boss takes new post |date=May 20, 1960 |page=17}}{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ljRWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zecDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5093%2C1730708 |work=Spokesman-Review |location=(Spokane, Washington) |title=Strack's move to Michigan confirmed; Cipriano next? |date=May 21, 1960 |page=10}}{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zr1eAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EDEMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4977%2C3254831 |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=(Idaho) |title=Strack accepts position at Michigan |date=May 21, 1960 |page=2}} and served from 1960 to 1968. He led the Wolverines to three Big Ten Conference titles (1964, 1965, 1966) and the 1965 NCAA Tournament title game. Following his team's 24–4 record and runner-up finish in 1965, Strack was named the UPI College Basketball Coach of the Year.{{Cite web | title = United Press International Coach of the Year winners | work = NCAA Individual Awards | publisher = Association for Professional Basketball Research | url = http://www.apbr.org/ncaaawrd.html | access-date = 19 May 2010}}

Athletic director

In 1968, Strack became the University of Michigan's business manager, then the associate athletic director in 1970.

Strack resigned in January 1972 to become the athletic director of the University of Arizona.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SnYfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=lCgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4411,1246192&dq=dave-strack+arizona&hl=en|title=Michigan's Strack to go to Arizona|date=January 12, 1972|work=Milwaukee Journal|pages=8 (Section II)|access-date=21 October 2011|archive-date=26 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426084653/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SnYfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=lCgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4411,1246192&dq=dave-strack+arizona&hl=en|url-status=dead}} Strack's tenure at Arizona included the hiring of the first African-American head coach of a major university (basketball coach Fred Snowden){{cite news | last = Thomas | first = Robert McG. Jr. | title = Fred Snowden, Basketball Coach And Black Pioneer, Is Dead at 57 | pages = D20 | work = New York Times | date = January 19, 1994 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/19/obituaries/fred-snowden-basketball-coach-and-black-pioneer-is-dead-at-57.html }} and the school's transition into the Pac-10 athletic conference.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=i88vAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5_gDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6472,1929832&dq=dave-strack+arizona&hl=en|title=Arizona Seeks Schedule Help|date=December 22, 1976|work=Spokane Daily Chronicle|page=23|access-date=21 October 2011|location=Tucson, Arizona}} In 1980, Strack was criticized following a scandal involving the football program's use of an athletic slush fund for improper payments to coaches, alumni and recruits.{{cite book|last1=Patterson|first1=Margaret Jones|last2=Russell|first2=Robert H.|title=Behind the Lines: Case Studies in Investigative Reporting|date=October 15, 1986|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-06058-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/behindlinescases00patt/page/63 63 _ 93]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/behindlinescases00patt/page/63}} Strack resigned in July 1982 to become a professor of physical education.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hZZfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NzEMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3529,1888577&dq=dave-strack+arizona&hl=en|title=Dave Strack Leaves AD Post at Arizona|date=May 19, 1982|work=Lewiston Morning Tribune|page=2C|access-date=21 October 2011}}

In 1992, Strack was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.

Personal life

In 1947, while attending the University of Michigan, Strack met and married Ruth Ann Mayer. They briefly lived in East Lansing, Michigan before moving to Ann Arbor to raise their five children. When he took the Arizona athletic director job, they moved to Tucson for his tenure and then to Prescott upon his retirement. They later returned to Tucson, where she died in 2011.[http://www.vistosomemorialchapel.com/memsol.cgi?user_id=368178 RUTH ANN STRACK November 6, 1925 - April 20, 2011] Strack, aged 90, died of pneumonia in 2014.{{Cite web | url=http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2014/01/dave_strack.html | title=Dave Strack, early architect of Michigan basketball, dies at 90| date=2014-01-27}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/012514aab.html |title=Former Coach Dave Strack Passes Away |access-date=2014-01-26 |archive-date=2014-02-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201040059/http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/012514aab.html }}

Head coaching record

{{CBB Yearly Record Start | type = | conference = | postseason= | poll = }}

{{CBB Yearly Record Subhead

| name = Idaho Vandals

| conference = Independent

| startyear = 1959

| endyear = 1960

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season = 1959–60

| name = Idaho

| overall = 11–15

| conference =

| confstanding =

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Subtotal

| name = Idaho

| overall = 11–15

| confrecord =

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Subhead

| name = Michigan Wolverines

| conference = Big Ten Conference

| startyear = 1960

| endyear = 1968

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season = 1960–61

| name = Michigan

| overall = 6–18

| conference = 2–12

| confstanding = 10th

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season = 1961–62

| name = Michigan

| overall = 7–17

| conference = 5–9

| confstanding = 8th

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season = 1962–63

| name = Michigan

| overall = 16–8

| conference = 8–6

| confstanding = T–4th

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| championship = conference

| season = 1963–64

| name = Michigan

| overall = 23–5

| conference = 11–3

| confstanding = T–1st

| postseason = NCAA University Division Final Four

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| championship = conference

| season = 1964–65

| name = Michigan

| overall = 24–4

| conference = 13–1

| confstanding = 1st

| postseason = NCAA University Division Runner-up

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| championship = conference

| season = 1965–66

| name = Michigan

| overall = 18–8

| conference = 11–3

| confstanding = 1st

| postseason = NCAA University Division Elite Eight

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season = 1966–67

| name = Michigan

| overall = 8–16

| conference = 2–12

| confstanding = 10th

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season = 1967–68

| name = Michigan

| overall = 11–13

| conference = 6–8

| confstanding = T–7th

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Subtotal

| name = Michigan

| overall = 113–89

| confrecord = 58–54

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record End

| overall = 124–104

}}

References

External links

[https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/coaches/dave-strack-1.html Strack coaching stats]
[http://azstarnet.com/sports/greg-hansen-story-of-ex-ua-ad-strack-a-good/article_7c9311d4-1f40-5b84-b237-6e27e34f7e04.html Strack interview] with the Arizona Daily Star (March 2013)

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