Geoff Grammer: SDSU's 'Dutch' and the coach that helped make him

Apr. 2—HOUSTON — If Brian Dutcher had his way, you may not even know he was at the Final Four or playing for a National Championship on Monday night in NRG Stadium.

Nary a microphone has been stuck in front of the 63-year-old basketball lifer this week that didn't get hit with a deflection of attention away from the job he has done to build the San Diego State Aztecs into one of the top teams on the West Coast, the standard of the Mountain West, and now playing for a national title.

After Saturday's etched-in-history buzzer-beating victory over Florida Atlantic in the Final Four, the coach said, "March is for players, not coaches. Lamont (Butler) made a play and made an old coach look good."

Every day since he arrived in Houston, and seemingly thousands of times since he took over has head coach at SDSU in 2017, he's graciously repeated the same stories of appreciation and loyalty to Steve Fisher, for whom "Dutch" was the top assistant for parts of four decades at Michigan and SDSU before sliding into the head coaching seat.

But at the start of his college basketball journey was another man who played an ever so small part — but a part, nonetheless — in helping form the coach, and man, Dutcher has become today.

"Lou Henson was a head coach at University of Illinois. My dad was head coach at Minnesota," Dutcher said Sunday. "They used to speak at each other's summer camps. I would pick Lou up when I was in college and drive him to Northfield, Minnesota, or wherever the camp was, and I got to know Lou."

The connection grew well beyond simple friendly banter in those drives between the young Dutcher and Henson, the College Basketball Hall of Famer who led the New Mexico State Aggies to the 1970 Final Four in the first of two coaching stints in Las Cruces with 21 years of success coaching Illinois in the Big Ten in between.

"When I graduated college and I was looking for a grad assistant position, Lou Henson hired me," said Dutcher, who was a part of the Illini's 1984 Elite Eight and 1985 Sweet 16 staffs. "It showed the quality of character he had that he's hiring the son of a rival Big Ten school's coach. He didn't worry about it. He didn't care about that.

"I learned so much from Lou Henson. He was just a master psychologist. He knew how to manage his team. Never uttered a curse word in the two years I worked for him. And that's amazing. He was just a class individual. Got his name on two floors — New Mexico State and the University of Illinois. What a great first coach to work for. What a great mentor he was to me. And (I) still think of Mary (Henson, Lou's widow) and obviously, saddened over Lou's passing in (2020)."

Forty years later, the reverence in which Dutcher still speaks of his mentors is now reciprocated by those around him.

Aztecs assistant David Velasquez enrolled as a student at San Diego State in 2002. He served as team manager for five seasons, and Fisher gave him a scholarship and a spot as a player in 2006-07, appearing in four games. Velasquez later was the director of player development and has been an assistant the past 10 seasons.

"Dutch is special. He's always been special and he's always said he's been around other special leaders," Velasquez said. "Dutch probably has the least amount of an ego of any head coach in college basketball. He calls himself a man of the people. He's never paid for a car wash. He still goes to Costco.

"With our guys, if we win, it's all the players. If we lose, he'll be the first to say it was his fault and he takes the blame."

Though the path has not been the same as the one Dutcher took, Velasquez's 21 years vested in the SDSU program now puts him in a similar spot as Dutcher was for years — having to weigh the love and loyalty he has to the program and his boss with the financial gains that could come if he were to branch out and coach elsewhere.

So far, staying has been an easy choice for Velasquez, thanks in no small part to a mentor for whom he has the utmost respect.

"Dutch is all about everyone else — the way he lives his life, how he is with his family, how he is with our players," Velasquez said. "It's why he was so patient with Coach Fisher. He was happy. And he just wants everyone around him to be happy."

IT'S BEEN A WHILE: SDSU will be the third team the UNM Lobos beat in the regular season to play in that season's national title game.

The list:

2023 — San Diego State, plays Connecticut on Monday night (UNM beat SDSU 76-67 on Jan. 14 in San Diego).

1998 — Utah Utes, lost to Kentucky in title game (UNM beat Utah 77-74 on Feb. 1, 1998, in the Pit).

1997 — Arizona Wildcats, beat Kentucky in title game (UNM beat Arizona 84-77 on Nov. 30, 1996, in the Pit).