Former N.C. State and Florida Basketball Coach Norm Sloan Dies

I sat through many a game in the O'Connell Center when Norm Sloan was coaching Florida. Most may think that he was succeeded by Billy Donavan after his second coaching stint at Florida ended in controversy, but it was Don Devoe who took his place.



What I remember most was the bright orange pants that he wore and his wife singing the National Anthem.



From AP Wire | 12/09/2003 | Former N.C. State Coach Norm Sloan Dies:



Norm Sloan, who coached North Carolina State to the 1974 NCAA basketball title, died Tuesday at 77.



He died of pulmonary fibrosis of the lungs at Duke Hospital, daughter Leslie Nicholls said. Sloan was living in Raleigh at the time of his death.



Sloan first came to N.C. State to play for Everett Case, then took over the Wolfpack for the 1966-67 season, posting a record of 7-19 overall and 2-12 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.



Within a few years, the Wolfpack had won the 1970 ACC championship with a 42-39 double-overtime victory over South Carolina in the finals. The Gamecocks routed N.C. State 85-69 in the final regular-season game of the season before the Wolfpack went on its tournament run.



Star forward David Thompson joined the team for the 1973 season and led N.C. State to a 27-0 record. The Wolfpack was not allowed to compete for the NCAA championship, won by UCLA, because of an NCAA probation relating to the recruiting of Thompson.