‘No place else I wanted to be.’ Louisville Hall of Fame coach Denny Crum dies at 86.

Former University of Louisville men’s basketball coach Denny Crum, who guided the Cardinals to 675 victories and a pair of national titles in his 30-year Hall of Fame career with the school, died at his home Tuesday morning at the age of 86.

Crum, who retired from U of L in 2001, had reportedly struggled with health problems in recent weeks. Crum suffered a stroke in August 2017 while fishing in Alaska but recovered and attended Cardinals home games in recent years. He reportedly had a second stroke in May 2019.

Crum coached the Cardinals from 1971-72 through 2000-01, winning NCAA championships in 1980 and 1986 and leading U of L to six Final Fours. Unlike many coaches today, who lead multiple programs during the course of such a long career, Crum’s only Division I head coaching job was Louisville.

“It never entered my mind that I’d be anywhere for 30 years,” Crum said upon his retirement. “My original intention was to come here and prove I could be a successful Division I coach and then go back to UCLA if the opportunity ever presented itself — and it did on three different occasions.

“In the end, I just couldn’t leave Louisville. Professionally, it would have been a lot easier to go back because there’s eight times more kids to recruit out in California than there are in Kentucky. What I didn’t count on was the love I developed for this university and the people of this city. After a while, there was just no place else I wanted to be.”

Crum, who took the U of L job after serving as an assistant to the legendary John Wooden at UCLA, was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1994.

His career record at Louisville was 675-295. He was one of only 14 coaches in NCAA history to win two or more national titles. Only five coaches all-time coached more Final Four teams than Crum’s six.

In 1993, Crum became the second fastest coach to win 500 games at that time. During his career, Crum was named national coach of the year three times (1980, 1983, 1986) as well as Metro Conference coach of the year four times. Crum’s Cardinals won 12 regular season Metro Conference championships and 11 conference tournaments.

Crum’s “Doctors of Dunk” took college basketball by storm during the 1979-80 season, winning the coach’s first national title with a team led by high-flying national player of the year Darrell Griffith. Louisville defeated UCLA in the NCAA title game.

In 1985-86, Crum’s Cardinals, led by freshman sensation Pervis Ellison, beat Duke in the finals.

“Today is a sad day for me personally, as well as the basketball world,” current U of L head coach Kenny Payne, who played for Crum from 1985-89, said in a tweet. “My thoughts go through all the lessons that he taught, not just to me, but every player he ever came in contact with. Those lessons are still relevant today. We were so blessed to have him in our lives. He was a true treasure who gave so much to the university and the community.

“We must keep his memory alive. My prayers go out to his family and especially Susan. He is in a better place. Rest in peace, Coach. You touched so many. Well done.”

Upon retiring from coaching, Crum joined in an improbable partnership with former University of Kentucky head coach Joe B. Hall.

The two coaching rivals hosted a sports talk radio show — “The Joe B. and Denny Show” — in Kentucky for almost 11 years.

“I really loved this show,” Hall said on the morning of the show’s final day in 2014. “For 10 years and seven months, every morning I got up, I looked forward to it. It’s been this show that gets me out of my pajamas every morning.”

Said Crum at the time: “Doing this show, it’s really been a lot of fun. No negatives to it, just a treat to do.

“I think this show created a lot of goodwill between Kentucky and Louisville.”

People who remembered their coaching days, when Hall and Crum used to trade pointed barbs over UK’s then-long-standing policy of not playing other in-state programs, were confounded.

Yet not only were they co-hosts, it soon became apparent Hall and Crum were genuinely friends. They had long bonded over a mutual love of the outdoors, especially fishing.

“Denny was always a congenial coach who had no chip on his shoulder,” Hall said. “He’d take a (verbal) stab at Kentucky. And I’d take a stab at Louisville. But it didn’t affect our relationship because we both understood each other and we were both fighting for our programs.”

Crum finished his career 7-13 vs. Kentucky but one of his victories was the inaugural “Dream Game,” which pitted UK vs. U of L in the 1983 NCAA Tournament. The matchup paved the way for the schools to begin their annual rivalry.

Against Kentucky coaches, Crum went 2-2 vs. Hall, 1-3 vs. Eddie Sutton, 2-6 vs. Rick Pitino and 2-2 vs. Tubby Smith.

Current Kentucky head coach John Calipari tweeted his condolences for Crum Tuesday afternoon, a little more than a year after Hall died at age 93.

“Denny Crum was truly a Hall of Famer. He was kind, had a great sense of humor but make no mistake about it, he was a competitor who wanted to win every game,” Calipari said. “My heart goes out to Susan and his family and friends. We lost another legend in our state today. Rest in peace, my friend.”

Also after retiring from coaching, Crum continued to work as a special assistant to the U of L president for several years.

The KFC Yum! Center court has been named in Crum’s honor.

A new residence hall on the Louisville campus was also recently named in his honor. Denny Crum Hall opened in the fall 2022 semester and houses a mixture of student-athletes and non-student athletes.

Since 2001, The Denny Crum Scholarship Foundation and the Denny Crum Scholarship Fund at U of L have awarded more than a million dollars benefiting over 425 students.

Information about arrangements for Crum will be announced once finalized.

“RIP to the legendary Louisville coach Denny Crum,” tweeted ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas, who played on the Duke team that Louisville beat in the 1986 finals. “Coach Crum was a brilliant coach, teacher, and competitor, and one of the finest gentlemen and champions the game has ever known. Denny Crum will always be Louisville Basketball.”

Denny Crum by the numbers

2

Number of national titles Crum won (1980 and 1986). U of L also reached the Final Four in 1972, ‘75, ‘82 and ‘83.

5

Number of basketball coaches who led the University of Kentucky men during the Crum era at Louisville (Adolph Rupp, Joe B. Hall, Eddie Sutton, Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith).

7

Number of U.S. presidents during the Crum era (Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush). Also, the number of Louisville football coaches during the same span

11

The number of players to earn All-America honors under Crum.

23

NCAA Tournament appearances by Louisville under Crum, who 42 games in the tournament.

More about Denny Crum

Born: March 2, 1937, in San Fernando, Calif.

Alma mater: UCLA (1958 graduate); also attended Pierce Junior College in Los Angeles

Coaching experience

1959-61: Graduate assistant/freshman coach, UCLA

1961-64: Assistant coach, Pierce Junior College

1964-68: Head coach, Pierce Junior College (86-40 record)

1968-71: Assistant coach, UCLA (86-4 record, three NCAA titles)

1971-2001: Head coach, Louisville (675-295, two NCAA titles)

Herald-Leader sports columnist Mark Story contributed to this article.