Coach Bill Foster has passed away at age 86. He was a winner and took us to the national championship game against UK in 1978. A great recruiter as well as a coach he brought in such all-time greats as Mike Gminski, Jim Spanarkel, Gene Banks and Vince Taylor to name a few. When he left I was devastated because he brought Duke back to national prominence. He was well loved. Condolences to his family. know the majority of those on this board became Duke fans after he left but the man knew his basketball. OFC
Coach Bill Foster has passed away.
- Thread starter skysdad
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RIP Coach....every Duke fan needs to read up on these greats from Duke past. I believe there is a book called Forevers Team about that 78 squad.
Coach thx for all you did for Duke Basketball and bringing quality young men to represent our school like Jim Suddath. May you rest in peace, and can never forget the life you breathed back into our program after the Neil Mcgeachy year....
IMO you coached our best pure shooter ever in Tate Armstrong! God Bless You Coach Foster!!
IMO you coached our best pure shooter ever in Tate Armstrong! God Bless You Coach Foster!!
RIP coach Foster. Although I have always known Coach K to be the coach, I took a considerable amount of time to read up on the history of Duke Basketball before Coach K. Coach Foster made great strides to bring Duke basketball back into the national spotlight! He will truly be missed. Thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones.
Coach Foster did a lot for Duke Basketball in the 1970's in returning the program to National Prominence. Along with the 1978 NCAA Championship game, his Duke teams won ACC Championships in 1978 and 1980 and won a regular season title in 1979. Duke also won two of the old Big Four Tournaments that used to be held every year up until 1981. His 1979 and 1980 teams were ranked # 1 in the nation for many weeks and he took his last Duke team to the 1980 NCAA Tournament Elite 8 following a defeat of Kentucky in Rupp arena in the Round of 16. In fact that last season he was there (1979/80) Duke played UNC four times and Kentucky twice. Duke went 2-2 vs UNC and 2-0 vs Kentucky. (How many schools have played and beaten both UNC and Kentucky twice in the same season?)
Coach Foster brought in a number of great players and hit the lotto so to speak when he was able to convince Philadelphia's Gene Bank's to come to Duke when so many schools were all over him. He's gone on record as saying that of all the places he coached, his days at Duke were his fondest days but that he just didn't know how to enjoy it at the time. He always put a lot on himself.
RIP Coach...
Coach Foster brought in a number of great players and hit the lotto so to speak when he was able to convince Philadelphia's Gene Bank's to come to Duke when so many schools were all over him. He's gone on record as saying that of all the places he coached, his days at Duke were his fondest days but that he just didn't know how to enjoy it at the time. He always put a lot on himself.
RIP Coach...
Saddened to hear this. Had the pleasure of meeting him when I was young - went to many games when he was Coach.
This is in the foreword from Mike Krzyzewski from John Feinstein's 2006 book "The last dance" who was talking about sitting with Bill at the NABC gathering:
Mike Krzyzewski Excerpt:
"When I sat down, I found myself next to Bill Foster. I have been given a lot of credit through the years for the success of Duke basketball. What a lot of people don't realize is that the foundation our program is built on was put in place by Bill Foster. In 1974 he became Duke's coach after the worst season in school history. The program was in shambles and Bill had to rebuild in what was, without question, the toughest basketball conference in America. North Carolina State had just won the national championship, North Carolina was coached by Dean Smith, Maryland was strong under Lefty Driesell, and Terry Holland was just arriving to build Virginia into a power. Within four years, Bill turned the program completely around. He recruited players such as Jim Spanarkel, Mike Gminski, Gene Banks, and Kenny Dennard. In 1978 Duke won the ACC Tournament and, with no seniors in the starting lineup (back then, that actually meant something), went all the way to the national championship game before losing to Kentucky.
My first truly great recruiting class included Johnny Dawkins, Mark Alarie, Jay Bilas, and David Henderson. All of them have told me they have memories of that '78 team, that they admired guys like Spanarkel and Gminski and Banks and Dennard, and that those players and that team first put Duke on their radar. If I don't recruit those four players, I'm probably not the coach at Duke today. If Bill Foster hadn't built the team and the program he did, I probably would not have gotten those four players. At that brunch I had a chance to sit and really talk to Bill about what he had to overcome and to tell him how much I appreciated what he had built. I got to look him in the eye and tell him that I honestly believed he deserved at least some of the credit for all that Duke has accomplished in the past twenty years. I think — I hope — that meant something to him."
Statement released today from Mike Krzyzewski:
Mike Krzyzewski Excerpt:
"When I sat down, I found myself next to Bill Foster. I have been given a lot of credit through the years for the success of Duke basketball. What a lot of people don't realize is that the foundation our program is built on was put in place by Bill Foster. In 1974 he became Duke's coach after the worst season in school history. The program was in shambles and Bill had to rebuild in what was, without question, the toughest basketball conference in America. North Carolina State had just won the national championship, North Carolina was coached by Dean Smith, Maryland was strong under Lefty Driesell, and Terry Holland was just arriving to build Virginia into a power. Within four years, Bill turned the program completely around. He recruited players such as Jim Spanarkel, Mike Gminski, Gene Banks, and Kenny Dennard. In 1978 Duke won the ACC Tournament and, with no seniors in the starting lineup (back then, that actually meant something), went all the way to the national championship game before losing to Kentucky.
My first truly great recruiting class included Johnny Dawkins, Mark Alarie, Jay Bilas, and David Henderson. All of them have told me they have memories of that '78 team, that they admired guys like Spanarkel and Gminski and Banks and Dennard, and that those players and that team first put Duke on their radar. If I don't recruit those four players, I'm probably not the coach at Duke today. If Bill Foster hadn't built the team and the program he did, I probably would not have gotten those four players. At that brunch I had a chance to sit and really talk to Bill about what he had to overcome and to tell him how much I appreciated what he had built. I got to look him in the eye and tell him that I honestly believed he deserved at least some of the credit for all that Duke has accomplished in the past twenty years. I think — I hope — that meant something to him."
Statement released today from Mike Krzyzewski:
I wish I had stories like this.. I think part of being a younger fan you don't have the complete pleasure of being a fan as some of you "old guys" that remember all this stuff
RIP Coach Foster. I first took real notice of Duke with the Spanarkel/Gminski/Banks era. Really enjoyed those players, especially Spanarkel. I really liked Coach Fosters demeanor and you could tell he was a man of integrity. To me, he really put Duke on the BB map.
Go Duke!!
JC-OFC
Go Duke!!
JC-OFC
Didn't you see, I said I was YOUNG then.
Seriously, I got to see many games at Cameron and met lots of players/coaches growing up in Durham with a sports editor for a father.
Sad to hear this. So many non-Duke fans don't realize that we've had some excellent head coaches before Coach K came along...and Coach Foster was one of the best. The team he took the national championship is one of my all-time favorite teams. RIP Coach Foster.
OFC
OFC