Digger Phelps

{{Short description|American college basketball coach and broadcaster}}

{{About|the basketball coach|the baseball player also nicknamed "Digger"|Ken Phelps}}

{{Infobox college coach

| name = Digger Phelps

| image = Digger Phelps cropped.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Phelps on ESPN's College Gameday broadcast in 2008

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1941|7|4}}

| birth_place = Beacon, New York, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| alma_mater =

| player_years1 = 1960–1963

| player_team1 = Rider

| coach_years1 = 1963–1964

| coach_team1 = Rider (GA)

| coach_years2 = 1965–1966

| coach_team2 = St. Gabriel's HS (PA)

| coach_years3 = 1966–1969

| coach_team3 = Penn (assistant)

| coach_years4 = 1970–1971

| coach_team4 = Fordham

| coach_years5 = 1971–1991

| coach_team5 = Notre Dame

| overall_record = {{winpct|419|200|record=y}} (college)

| bowl_record =

| tournament_record = 17–17 (NCAA Division I)
7–3 (NIT)

| championships = NCAA Regional – Final Four (1978)

| awards = Sporting News Coach of the Year Award (1974)
UPI Coach of the Year (1974)

| coaching_records =

}}

Richard Frederick "Digger" Phelps (born July 4, 1941) is an American former college basketball coach, most notably of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish from 1971 to 1991. For 20 years, from 1993 to 2014, he served as an analyst on ESPN. He got the nickname "Digger" from his friends.

Early life

Phelps was born in Beacon, New York. His family ran a funeral home business in the city.{{cite news |last1=Markus |first1=Robert |title=DIGGER RISES TO THE TOP |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1987-03-08-8701180780-story.html |access-date=5 July 2021 |work=Chicago Tribune |date=8 March 1987 |language=en}} He worked at his father's business on weekends and during summer. He got the nickname "digger" from his friends.{{Cite book |last=Porter |first=David L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8tzEEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA374 |title=Basketball: A Biographical Dictionary |date=2005-07-30 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-0-313-06197-4 |language=en}}

Coaching career

=Early career=

Phelps began his coaching career in 1963 as a graduate assistant at Rider College (now Rider University), where he had played basketball. After a move to St. Gabriel's High School in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, he obtained his first full assistant job in 1966 at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

His first head coaching job came in 1970 at Fordham University in The Bronx, where he coached Charlie Yelverton and P. J. Carlesimo, the athletic director's son. Phelps led the Rams to a 24–2 record in the 1970–71 regular season and a #9 national ranking.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JDNWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=u-cDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3130%2C3174900 |agency=AP, UPI |title=Both wire service polls agree -- UCLA is best team in country |date=March 16, 1971 |page=2B}}

Fordham received an at-large bid to the 25-team NCAA tournament, where they advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, and won the consolation game for third place in the East regional.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KTNWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=u-cDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5203%2C4068882 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=(Oregon) |agency=Associated Press |title=UCLA squeaks by; Penn blitzed |date=March 21, 1971 |page=1B}}

In May 1971 at age 29, Phelps was named head coach at the University of Notre Dame.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=g7RVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=L-EDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3861%2C1154459 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=(Oregon) |agency=Associated Press |title=Notre Dame, Penn name new coaches |date=May 5, 1971 |page=3D}}

=Notre Dame=

During his 20 seasons (1971–91) tenure, Phelps' Notre Dame teams went {{winning percentage|393|197|record=y}}, with 14 seasons of 20 wins or more. In 1978, Notre Dame made its only Final Four appearance to date. His most-remembered game occurred in 1974, when the second-ranked Fighting Irish scored the last 12 points of the game on January 19 to upset top-ranked UCLA, coached by John Wooden, 71–70, ending the Bruins' record 88-game winning streak.{{cite magazine|url=https://vault.si.com/vault/1974/01/28/after-88-comes-zero |magazine=Sports Illustrated |last=McDermott |first=Barry |title=After 88 comes zero |date=January 28, 1974 |page=18}}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JK5VAAAAIBAJ&sjid=P-ADAAAAIBAJ&pg=6363%2C4252118 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=(Oregon) |agency=Associated Press |title=It's all over: Irish win by one |date=January 20, 1974 |page=!D}} He shares the NCAA record for most upsets over a #1 team at seven with Gary Williams:

class="wikitable"

! Date

! Opponent

! Score

align=right|January 19, 1974

|UCLA

|71–70

align=right|March 5, 1977

|San Francisco

|93–82

align=right|February 26, 1978

|Marquette

|65–59

align=right|February 27, 1980

|DePaul

|76–74 (2ot)

align=right|December 27, 1980

|Kentucky

|67–61

align=right|February 22, 1981

|Virginia

|57–56

align=right|February 1, 1987

|North Carolina

|60–58

Broadcasting career

Phelps began his broadcasting career when he served as a commentator for ABC Sports' basketball coverage at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. In 1992, he continued his broadcasting career when he provided color commentary for that year's NCAA tournament for CBS. He joined ESPN the next season and worked for them until 2014 as a college basketball studio and game analyst.{{cite web|url=http://espnmediazone.com/us/bios/phelps_digger/ |title=Digger Phelps |work=ESPN MediaZone |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140403013710/http://espnmediazone.com/us/bios/phelps_digger/ |archive-date=2014-04-03 }}

During the April 7, 2014 broadcast of College GameDay, Phelps announced that he was leaving ESPN. "I spent 20 years at Notre Dame as a coach and now 20 years here at ESPN doing a great job with all you people. And now it's time for me to move forward, and this will be my last time on TV," Phelps said. Phelps added: "It's been a great run. Twenty years is always my target for everything, and it's time to move forward."

Personal life

Phelps resides in South Bend with his wife Terry, and has three adult children. His eldest, Karen, was married to baseball pitcher Jamie Moyer.{{cite web|last=Bingham|first=Jacqueline W.|title=Alumni Association to honor Karen and Jamie Moyer|url=http://news.nd.edu/news/7293-alumni-association-to-honor-karen-and-jamie-moyer|publisher=Notre Dame|access-date=July 19, 2013}} He is a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity at Rider College.[http://www.tke.org/news/2009/01/13/frater_appointed_to_presidents_council_on_physical_fitness Frater Appointed to President's Council on Physical Fitness], tke.org; accessed January 1, 2015.

Phelps was instrumental in the restoration of various programs at John McDonogh High School in New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina. His gifts helped to restore the sports program and helped to launch a four-year Culinary Academy in partnership with the Louisiana Restaurant Association Education Foundation and the Recovery School District on December 15, 2010.[http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2010/12/1st_full-time_culinary_arts_pr.html Profile], nola.com; accessed January 1, 2015.

Cancer battle

In April 2013, Phelps was diagnosed with bladder cancer.{{cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/9213039/espn-analyst-digger-phelps-diagnosed-bladder-cancer?src=mobile|title=ESPN|work=ESPN.com}}{{cite web|last=Daley|first=Kaitee|title=Digger Phelps' biggest victory|url=https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/columns/story?id=5895188|work=ESPN.com|access-date=July 19, 2013}} On July 1, 2013, his doctor declared him in remission.{{cite web|title=Digger Phelps declared cancer free|url=https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/9449180/doctors-tell-espn-analyst-digger-phelps-cancer-free|work=ESPN.com|access-date=July 19, 2013}}

Head coaching record

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

{{CBB Yearly Record Subhead

| name = Fordham Rams

| conference = NCAA independent

| startyear = 1970

| endyear = 1971

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season = 1970–71

| name = Fordham

| overall = 26–3

| conference =

| confstanding =

| postseason = NCAA University Division Sweet 16

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Subhead

| name = Notre Dame Fighting Irish

| conference = NCAA independent

| startyear = 1971

| endyear = 1991

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season = 1971–72

| name = Notre Dame

| overall = 6–20

| conference =

| confstanding =

| postseason =

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season = 1972–73

| name = Notre Dame

| overall = 18–12

| conference =

| confstanding =

| postseason = NIT Runner-up

}}

{{CBB Yearly Record Entry

| season = 1973–74

Digger Phelps

Early life

Coaching career

=Early career=

=Notre Dame=

Broadcasting career

Personal life

Cancer battle

Head coaching record

See also

References

External links