I also remember talking to him after an early-round NCAA Tournament victory when I remarked I thought he got the better of the opposing coach. The next morning at the team hotel, Crum was holding court at breakfast, not just lauding the excitement of playing “craps” but explaining how you can win at the game. One night, Crum and a friend drove to a casino across the state line. I covered Louisville’s national title run in 1986, which began in Ogden, Utah. He didn’t just lobby, he raised the subject at every opportunity, needling the bigger school up the road.īehind the famous twinkle in Crum’s eye, the coach was a keen competitor in everything he did.
He lobbied for an annual Louisville-Kentucky basketball series. From the time he arrived in the commonwealth from California after serving as John Wooden’s assistant at UCLA, Crum was the brash, young coach unafraid to accept the apple cart. Phyllis George died in 2020.ĭenny Crum was a disrupter before disrupters became cool.īut then Denny Crum was always cool or “Cool Hand Luke” as they called the University of Louisville basketball coach, who died Tuesday at the age of 86. At right rear was Brown’s wife, Phyllis George Brown. Louisville won the first “Dream Game” between the two state schools, 80-68. Brown Jr., wearing a blue and red sport coat and cap representing both the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville greeted U of L Coach Denny Crum prior to the NCAA Tournament Mideast Regional finals in Knoxville, Tenn., on March 26, 1983.
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