Aggie Legends; Lou Henson

I'm Glenn Cerny and we welcome you to our Aggie Legends program and it gives me a great deal of pleasure to introduce and I'm not sure why I'm introducing this person. Lou Henson certainly a legend of basketball not only in Las Cruces but in Champaign or Banna as well first of all welcome to the studios of K. R. Delaney. Well thank you Glenn it's nice to be here William by the way you know when I was coaching everybody complained about the gains we lost but now that I'm retired they forget about those. Well I'm gonna ask you a question in just a little bit about one of your losses and and I'm sure you'll cringe and go yep it's the one they all ask for but can we start way way way way back and I know you just

turned 25 but Oklahoma how does an Oklahoma kid get to basketball status the way you did and and let's start out with high school you you start as a high school player and I understand your your Jersey's retired at okay high school that is correct by the way okay all high school and okay Oklahoma okay high school just North of Muscoge a small place and we didn't have football so the kids had to play all sports they ran I ran track played baseball and basketball and so we had good ball clubs and when I graduated I could have gone to some of the smaller schools smaller universities in the state but my high school coach wanted me to go to JC because he thought maybe it'd be good enough to go to Oklahoma state and back then Henry I was a coach a tremendous coach and I always wanted to go to Oklahoma state well it didn't work out so I went to Conor State and then after that I was playing I was playing with a guy the name Jim Miller so we both

wanted to go to Oklahoma state we got the scholarship I didn't so then I came here came to New Mexico state well even though you didn't get to play under coach I bet it appears that you learned something along the way to make your career successful with the coaches you had and that brings us to matriculating to Las Cruces and and again as someone that's moved here recently I have my own impressions of the first times I laid my eyes on Las Cruces New Mexico but for you coming out of Oklahoma do you remember that first day walking into town I certainly do Glenn as a matter of fact there were four of us and we drove up on where we're coming over the Oregon Mountains and we saw Las Cruces and worked down the desert and we came in and we came to the first service station we asked where New Mexico state was well back then we had a little too lean highway coming out and I think we only had maybe three thousand students at the time so it was quite a change because when I grew up in our where I grew up in Oklahoma we have a lot of vegetation it's up in the northeastern part and

it's quite a change arriving here and seeing the city you know and we should mention this is we're talking what 1954 1955 so the town very very different than what it is now as a matter of fact Glenn at that time I think the population was about 10,000 now we're probably up around a hundred thousand can you and can we use coach speak here if you were recruiting Lou Henson why would you describe him as a player that you're recruiting well of course I couldn't play with the players today because it's unbelievable how much better the players are today because of weights and coaching and we just have better athletes so back then I was okay player but not in today's game but you didn't answer my question what kind of player were you on that level I was okay defensive sharpshooter well I'll tell you what I shot all the time but the coach said now look I want each player to do what he can to help the ball club so Keith Colson who is the point guard from me he'd say why do you shoot so much I said

well a coach want you do what you do best and I shot it that doesn't mean it was your best attribute is what you thought you could do best at that point right I'm sure I didn't do many things right well and we talk about Aggie Legends you you played for one of truly the great great Aggies of all time and Presley ask you your relationship with him I can only assume after you graduate you become a graduate assistant and normally coaches don't ask players to be graduate assistants if they did not see something in them if they do not get along can you talk a little bit about the old coach in your relationship well Glenn of course I played one year for coach ask you at New Mexico State and then I came out with him and New Mexico State we played in Williams Jam about 1800 I think they advertised 2200 but concrete bleachers and so but we had a great relationship coach ask you is one of the finest man I've ever been with anytime you talked with him when you left you had a

better feeling about yourself than you did before just a gentleman and a tremendous basketball coach and he also followed the IBA system you had to play good defense to play for him and I just treasure those years that I spent with coach ask you now I'm gonna jump ahead here I don't want to get too far ahead but you you mentioned defense and in my memory especially of that great Illinois team you had with Gil and that crew wasn't a whole lot of defense it was a very high potent offense team it was that just a change of the time for you or well we played defense however we were so good offensively and we ran it looked like we weren't playing defense but the years I said Illinois those 21 years at least half of the time we would lead the league in defense because we had good defensive players and I came up on good defense we won the championship in high school at okay high school the championship game was 16 to

14 so you see we didn't shoot a lot we played defense and you were a shooter I was a shooter did play great defense but I stayed on the team I was astounded one of the fun things about preparing for this was was looking at some of your records and and what you did and you truly and I think of all the coaches that have tried to be successful have done things but from day one you achieve some levels of success that are positively astounding is there anything directly you can relate to coming into a high school coaching position in Las Cruces New Mexico and putting together the teams that you did to win three straight championships well first of all and now football coaches are good coaches rooted communists was the ADN head coach for a while and then a genera was the coach and of course they coach football and baseball and I'm sure they didn't have the program that we did when I came in I was given the the authority and the power to go ahead and set up what I need to do we had

all of our great schools were playing junior highs and we were developing teams however I coached the B team for a couple of years and then Vernon Yates who is a head coach went into business and I became the head coach and size a young guy I didn't apply for the job and Tom Mayfield a superintendent called and said blue aren't you interested in this job and I said of course he said we better come down talked to me so I talked to him of course I became the head coach at Las Cruces High School and our first game we played Esleta out of El Paso they beat us 25 points and until up through December we were about 500 and then we caught fire and started playing really well we had Jim Singland 6-3 fielder about 6-1 Mullins and Joe Lopez who lives here in town it was my assistant at Harden Simmons and also here he is the point guard Don Ryerson well anyway we on the state tournament and the press and Albuquerque and all of the state thought that we shouldn't even be there well we played to

Albuquerque High the first game and Albuquerque High is a tremendous ball club we won that by one point and then Carl's bad was one of the teams is supposed to win it along with Clovis well excuse me along with Ross will and so we had a great game that in a semifinals we beat them 48 to 47 they had three division one players Tom Paddy-Woof and another kid and so what happened to Ross will Clayton High School upset them in the semifinals so here we going into championship game against Clayton we won that one by eight points so that was first state championship we had a great team not very big but they were tremendous defensively and Glenn in that state tournament we held the teams to 27% from the field which hasn't been done since but there were just a great defensive team and could score and goes back to that IB defense right all right let's go to 6061 and you know I'm gonna ask this 28 and one who in the heck was the one well we got beat somewhere along with it kind of would you

believe Clayton you Clayton had a heck of a ball club and we'd beat him but they beat us and so we just we had great size we had great guards and just a tremendous team so I've got to ask the question and obviously this is being said facetiously but you only made it to the quarter finals your final year at high school coaching at Las Cruces did you get run out of town to Arden Simmons well what happened we we thought we could win it because Hobbes was favored to win it along with us and Hobbes upset in the morning and we'd already beaten Valley High School about 15 points three weeks before well they upset us we couldn't make the outside shot and they ran his own and so after that I was offered the assistance job at the University of New Mexico Bob King had come in from Iowa and so he wanted me to come and at the same time I was offered the job at Arden Simmons University at that time Glenn they were majoring football

and basketball all sports part of that old border conference that is correct and so well anyway Bob King called me several times while I was on the way down there and so I got down to Arden Simmons at only one eight games and they had a terrible team for three or four years there and so they are at the job and I told the board I would take the job if you would integrate the team they never had a black player well later on that day they met and decided to do it so I chose Arden Simmons University over the University of New Mexico because they were major and I wanted to coach be a head coach do you remember and I mean we're we're only talking about what 779 wins so I'm remembering them all I'm sure would be difficult but that first one you remember the first Collegiate win you had at Arden Simmons I certainly do would want it would lost about eight straight games now when I went in we had 12 junior college players everybody was new and I was a new coach at that time I thought I knew everything I'd won

those state championships and I found out early there's a little bit about the game I didn't know and one thing I did find out you have to have players and experience players so we'd lost eight straight and finally we beat Midwestern University and Wichita Falls Texas for the first victory and you're feeling at that point I mean you had no premonition that 778 were on the horizon but you remember your impression of finally reaching that milestone well as nice to win one because after all you have to win some to retain your job you know one thing I was surprised to learn a great deal of experiences in athletic director and trying to balance those hats can be an incredible challenge but both at Arden Simmons and here at New Mexico State University you served as athletic director as well that is correct my first year here I just coach basketball but Warren Woodson was the AD and head football coach and so he retired so they gave me the AD job well great years I did that and believe it or

not at that time now back then we had to do everything that you do now now I know it's more difficult but I had Keith Colson my assistant Joe Lopez both of them live here in town and he has their business manager there was three of us and we had a sports information director and we were doing everything administratively and coaching the basketball team I again wanted to dress for just a moment do you ever watch teams now in college basketball on my goodness the pros is even even more so and you have more guys wearing suits than you do in uniforms on the benches at this time and compare it to what what you were doing at that juncture well of course I always wore suit or sport coat now some coaches they still doing some don't it just depends things have changed over the years you know Thomas Wolf said you can't go home again yet let's again go to you returning to Las Cruces to coach New Mexico State University can you kind of tell us how that unfolded because the year before they

had just hired a new coach so you were a pretty quick turnover coming to NMSU with that juncture Warren Woodson the AD call me and ask me if I'd beat him in El Paso he won't talk to me about the New Mexico State job so I'm met with him and he offered me the job well when when Harden Simmons found out as interested in the New Mexico State job this guy with money took me out to lunch well before I lived in the dorm because I wasn't paid much money and we had an old screen door that's coming apart and fellow the name of Joe I know it was last time I won't mention it now he was a superintendent of the facilities and all and so we kept calling him and asking him to fix the screen door he'd never do it he'd never do it and then when the man with money took me out to lunch he said look Lou we want you to stay here while it would take immediately Glenn I thought about that screen door I said no thank you I've already made up my mind but again you think about your success because just

down the road from Las Cruces New Mexico there was a gentleman that had just shocked the college basketball world by winning the NCAA championship and I'm obviously referring to Don Haskins and what was going on it was now UTEP West Texas at that point yet you meet him very very early in the season as defending NCAA championships in upend them well they had won it the year before as you stated Glenn and they had everybody back but Bobby Joe Hill they had six nine six a big day that big daddy Latin and Shed and all those guys Wesley and Cajure and so Mary and I were going down in the car of my wife and I said if we stayed within 30-35 I'll be happy because they were a great team and we had a small ball club Westmore head six five Wade Gamble six one Turner six one two little guards Evanson Landis and so with three minutes to go in that back game we had them down 18 and beat them 13 and so people in El Paso they

said hey it's a flute game well we thought it was to beating them but what happened they were big we had a small ball club we got a lead we pulled them out if they could not defend our passing game because we were quick and could go in there and score so it's quite a victory for us you you mentioned small players and in 68 69 you you had one of my all-time being five eight you can understand why I couldn't could relate to Charlie Chris but for all of the college players you dealt with inch for inch the best talent you've ever coached probably the best player I've ever had when we recruited him we called John Vope the coach out of Yonkers New York and we said we're interested in recruiting Charlotte Chris he said now look if you're going to come up here and measure him don't even come but if you want to talk about a great player come on up well we didn't measure him it's a good thing see essentially about that because a lot of coaches had come in and when he saw how short he was they wouldn't take him and and so we put him in junior college brought him here he is a tremendous player let us that championship game

final four and so it was he's just a fantastic player now he went on well let me tell you the story on him when in the after 1970 he tried out in the pros tried out they tried for five years to finally said Charlie you need to go on with your life you're not going to play pro ball would you believe in the next couple of years he caught on with Atlanta and was played five or six years on the pros and on the pro level and just did a great job so he's remarkable a great individual as well as a super player 6970 team you know we look back and and again I think we need to put it in context that juncture the NCAA tournament was not 64 teams it was not the huge TV event it is today and I don't mean to diminish the fact that it was the NCAA tournament but it was a very different realm and I think I know myself when I looked at New Mexico state and looked at 70 and how the heck did that team get there but in

reality you would have two seasons before that set you up for the kind of success that you had in that 6970 season is that that is correct when we first went to NCAA I think they had 12 teams so you had to be pretty good to get invited then went up to 16 24 and 32 but our best ball club was probably in 19 and 68 we had the the Miracle Midges we had them back plus these good freshmen who were sophomores and is a good blend of talent and we played UCLA in the second round up in Albuquerque and lost a close game as the three or four point ball game they finally beat us nine we had two people foul out and we're trying to foul to win the game but that was a better ball club than the 1970 final four team that was a great team had it not been for UCLA those three years we had a pretty good chance to win the championship you do realize that you are not the only person in that era who said if it hadn't been for UCLA

because there was some guy with a rolled up program sitting calmly on the sidelines coaching there that had some fair success at UCLA wasn't there well out hey John Wooden was a tremendous coach and a super individual but he had the ability to also get talent he had great talent you put great talent coaching together you've got something a couple players I'd like to point out because at this juncture New Mexico state starts getting some national recognition with all Americans and I know one player that that you were very fond of is Jimmy Collins could you talk a little bit about Jimmy Collins it's quite interesting on Jimmy Collins when I was at Hardin Simmons my assistant down there lived in Syracuse and and his dad wanted us to recruit Jimmy Collins well I took a guard out of Texas well we came to New Mexico state and his my assistant's dad got involved I said well Ed why don't you go up in the summer and see say how good the kid who I saw him play he came they said he didn't come back he called me

I said coach Jimmy Collins is six two skinny kitty can't jump and I said well we got scholarships let's thank you well he didn't even visit the campus it took him four days on a bus to get from Syracuse New York to Los Cruisers New Mexico and it turned out being all American he's coaching decision another player on that team Sam Lacey another it's quite interesting how he was recruited I went in when I used to go into Mississippi and recruit when I was at Hardin Simmons Ole Miss and Mississippi State would not recruit black players as a matter of fact Mississippi State won the SE conference three years and at least one or two of those years they wouldn't even go to playoffs because they'd have to play against black people and they didn't want to do that and so I was going in and recruited junior college player and this junior college coach said hey you better go down to any know the Mississippi there's a six eight skinny kid down there who might make a player so I went down to Andrew Brown was the coach down there and back then that was the time that you had to be careful going in the

Mississippi going at the black school so when I'd go and recruit him I'd stay with Andrew Brown I didn't want to be saying going in and out I was driving and I had a lot out of state license plate and so anyway we signed him he didn't visit didn't visit he came out and he grew another answer to and got to be two forty two fifty and then all American I mean again putting it in context today we've got scout dot com we've got the ABC we've got how many different recruiting sources to come from and to think about players of that caliber sitting out there is remarkable that is correct of course back in the south a lot of people wouldn't go in and recruit them and so that was a fertile area for us and we recruited several out of Mississippi can we spend a little bit of time because the season ends you're going to the NCAA and you go to Fort Worth and play rice and honestly when at least on the scoreboard very easily a hundred one to seventy seven at that point did the team did you realize what

you were writing at that juncture well we knew we had a good ball club because we had been good for the for three years before that and so we had to go up against Kansas State in the first game of the regionals and and you've got to go to Lawrence can you essentially you are really the outsider here as much as the case state fans and the Kansas fans don't get along you still are going to be the outsider in there sure so it's going to be a tough game cotton fist him is with coach at Kansas State at the time he later went on to coach pro ball and we had a is tremendous game we won about five or six points Jimmy Collins helped us there at the end to win that ball game and then the next game we want to get straight and more john was coached Drake he had great ball clubs he even went to final four that not that year but the year before right after just tremendous teams and we played great we had them down eighteen beat him ten or twelve and road runner horn was her backup point guy Charlie Chris got in foul trouble he played great it was one of the great

games that I have been associated with and that put us in the final four and you go and play it yet another I mean iconic college basketball site in college park Maryland and again we can use that old line that if it hadn't been for UCLA you you might have lose 93 to 77 but can you take us back and talk to us a little bit about that game again against john wooden and that would have been Lueless Indoor's years also now that we play against him two years before that year they had paterson at the post fix them they had wicks and badly at the forwards and badly in bibbith the guards and we played well but they were tremendous all five of those guys I think two or three of the guys on the bench went to pro level but Jimmy Collins was outstanding that ball game I think he scored twenty eight I guess wouldn't and but we just couldn't contain them on the other hand something again they no longer do but there was a consolation game

and saint bonna venture at that point was writing an incredible streak with some very very good talent and you end up beating them 79 73 to essentially take third place in the nation right and right after that they decided to do a way with third place game because after you lose and the semifinals most kids and coaches don't want to play for third place but we played well as good victory for us your feelings on the third place were you sad to see that go did you think it was a good move well I understand the feelings of the coach but I was glad to have it at that time because it enabled us to have a chance to play another game and win it and so worked out well for us but most coaches would prefer not to have the third place game before you depart and and we start thinking and talking about going to that place up north to other all Americans that you had here at New Mexico State University and let's start with John Williamson John Williamson was a tremendous player we had two of his friends from junior college playing for us and that enabled us to recruit him

but he's one of the finest offensive players I've ever coached and one night we played U-Tap and U-Tap had great ball clubs at that time U-Tap had 21 points and John had 29 he was that type of score just is almost impossible to stop him the other one James Moore James Moore was of course one of our all Americans a fan about six nine had a tremendous jump shot and an outstanding player all he is also a good rebounder and a good team player you enjoyed an incredible streak at Las Cruces High School come back achieve some incredible things here as the head coach at New Mexico State University and then the decision to go to Illinois I have to believe that was an excruciating decision when you took everything into consideration Glenn through my years the first year when I graduated from New Mexico State with a bachelor's I applied for several jobs after that I never applied for another job so I'd coached here and

I'd plan to be here for a long time I say D and I was enjoying it and having good teams and so one morning Cecil Coleman the idiot Illinois call said Lou I'd like you to come up and interview for this job and I said sure because Mary my wife grew up in the state not too far from Chicago in about three hours from the University of Illinois and I said it'd be very happy to do that would you believe the AD at Oklahoma call me and said would you come in for an interview and of course I grew up in the state and I said well I don't think so I'm going to Illinois so I probably shouldn't do it he said look here's what I'd like for you to do the night before you go to Illinois the day before you come in I'll have the board meet you in Tulsa and we'll talk and of course my folks live there I said well sure I'll do it so I went in with the board and I walked out and and so I never will forget the AD said look Lou we'll pay you exactly what we're paying bear sweatshirt and I got excited we'll kind of find out that we're

paying bear sweatshirt thirty thousand but I wanted Wade Walker to tell me Wade what are you paying him under the table or the extras the TV and all that so anyway I pretty well knew when he said I don't accept it all on till you talk to him well I did talk to him but I was I was going to go to Illinois I thought at that time it was a better job you realize that if there are any young coaches that are listening to this the envy they have that you're making a decision between a big ten school in Illinois and at that time it would have been the big eight with Oklahoma that is correct what a difficult decision and to have both of those sitting on the table just had to make you feel incredibly successful well like I said two calls on the same day for two super institutions and of course I liked Oklahoma I grew up but I and when I was growing up Oklahoma State was a school that I really liked but Illinois had been down for several years and I thought it was a good place to coach they have a

great facility there to see sixteen thousand and in the state of Illinois you have tremendous talent so I think I made the right decision is that little town just north of Champaign or Banna that has quite a bit of basketball activity going on most of the time called Chicago if I recall there's no question about that but when I went into coach at Illinois and I'd coach there a year to and then three years before that Illinois hadn't recruited a black player out of Chicago so I told my assistants Tony Yates who played since an accident they won three NCAAs when he was there and so and wiki I told my assistant now we we we need recruit Illinois so our goal is to get into 400 high schools and so that at that time Glenn you could go day and night it didn't make any difference that you weren't limited in a number of days and the number of times in high school we did that and our final four team in 1989 every player was from the state you replaced someone who went on and had great great success in

college basketball at Illinois and Gene Barton Gene had great success now his last year at Memphis we played in New Mexico state because we're in the same league and we were down one point with about 40 seconds to go and I've never done this I'd never done it before I have done a sense we're on point down so we stole a ball and we had John Williamson on our team and I said we're gonna run it down about eight six eight seconds and John you're gonna score the point or the points to win it and we got the ball to him he shot the ball it went in the basket and came out and it was a great game of course they went on to play UCLA in a championship game and that's when Walton had about 21 of 22 and it was correct you know your sports but yeah that was that was a great game that we played but we just couldn't quite the great luck of covering that for United Press International or any Dekuagorio was there and Barnes it

was just a wonderful NCAA you know we talk about and when I was looking this my original thought was well you know it was really strange that you would have two incredible legends such as yourself here in El Paso but you go to Illinois and there was a certain coach by the name of Meyer Ruppet DePaul who also has a nice legacy to his name as well so in both places you paired up with some incredible incredible coaching legends in the game of college basketball you're right Glenn Ray Mars tremendous coach and he had been in it for years and and he did a good job recruiting in the state and then see El Noah is located in the heart of the big 10 so all of the other big 10 schools have come in and rate our state for talent and so that's why it took us three or four five years to get it going because we weren't getting the good players in the state 83 84 co big 10 champions but I want to ask you about one game in particular you play the Wolverines of Michigan four over times and you have a

player that played all 60 minutes in Bruce Douglas that is a herculean effort I remember that game very well four over times I don't think I could have lasted another over time but Bruce played all of the minutes and just did a super job we had a good ball go is a great ball game at some point didn't one of your assistants say hey coach we really need to get him a breather well I'm sure they did several times but you know he has a great point guard and tremendous defensive player and he was strong so we left him in there we probably should have rested in but we didn't do it you end up with a number one ranking in 89 end up going 31 and and five and we talked about the team in the high scoring and you defended their defense but again they will always be knowing no one has had incredible offensive jug or not that you had there for a period of about three four years at Illinois Kendall Gill again is one of them a host of others what was it like trying to coach that that chaos that you were creating for the other

teams you were playing you know I've never coached team like that and I don't think I've seen a team exactly like the flying a line I there were all about six five didn't have a big man on there and and when we we won our 17th consecutive game that year in Kendallville broke his ankle okay then we lost some games he came back that year we didn't lose the game when Kendall Gill was in there until the championship game against Michigan now we had beaten Michigan twice had him down 25 at Michigan and beat him about 16 or 17 but then three weeks later we met him in the final four and of course Fisher became the coach and we had injuries in the regionals we had a battle whose engine he slipped on water and Minnesota and and hurt his leg and then Lowell Helmson sprained his ankle so we weren't at full strength when we played Michigan and the semifinals Lowell Helmson her 6667 postman we list him 670 is about 666 but he had worked

out at all and he missed his first seven shots and so anyway to win the to get the final four to win key games you got to have some breaks you got to have a good ball club and that team could have wanted as a matter of fact the three ball clubs in New Mexico state had a chance I had another ball club that had a chance the 1984 team we had to play Kentucky Kentucky would beat in the ACC champion Marilyn we played Kentucky I can talk you they had Bowie and the other seven footer and they'd be the three towers that year yeah beat us three points and that team could have wanted also so we had chances to win it but just couldn't quite get it done I had the opportunity to be in that region at the time and had the chance to talk to some incredible coaches you you as well we were talking earlier that I worked at Tournament that Illinois played in but I think the coaches that I got to talk to and that you coached against and I'm

thinking about Jud Heath co-ed up at Michigan State or at Michigan later at Iowa State Bob Knight at Indiana Gene Katie at Purdue at some point all crossing paths it just seemed to me to be such a wonderful time to be a coach in the Big Ten the competition was fierce but I always got the feeling that you as a group were willing to take the time to teach and talk to people well I tell you one thing the Big Ten at that time with all the veteran coaches it was it was just a great league and at one we'd have six or seven in the NCAA and one year with the NIT we had nine nine out of the ten so we had tremendous players and excellent coaches and the attendance is super and it's been down a little bit here lately the second division we've had two or three good ball clubs but this year they're better the second division ball clubs are much better but it's a great league okay things are going great you've been to the

rank number one you've been to the final four you've got a wonderful legacy going on at the University of Illinois and decide to I guess retire in 1996 in 1996 we got off to a good start we were ranked about eleventh in the country went to the beat to broke their 90s some game winning streak against non-conference people went into one into why I came out to be Syracuse because came out eleven and one and the very first game against Minnesota a great guard for us tore up his shoulder gears tore up his shoulder and and so he is out for quite a while we lost five games that that while he was out and then we had a six seven kid Hester we had another injury there and another one and we're playing great we lost the last five games all but one or two points after those injuries I'd been in a long time and had some time left on the contract and my wife and I talked about it and I sixty-fourth the time so I met with the

idea and I said look we have four starters coming back for the next two years we're gonna be good but you're not gonna have anything after that because people they were recruiting against me in my age and so I said but I'm not I'd like to be compensated we all would he said well let me talk to the administration we talked and they said yes we will do whatever you want to do on it and so that's how it happened now to show you with the four starters coming back they moved up Turner my sixth man they won 22 the next year went the NCAA in advance the next year they tied for the championship did the same thing the next year when they lost my guys they lost they lost 19 games and so long career was coach and he did a great job but I mean he just ran out of talent when we lost those guys who had been good for me you weren't done coaching though well I thought I was but then somebody called and once again I'm sure you were

telling us of no you can't go but go home again but you did and again some very trying circumstances my recollection is just before the start of the season coach McCarthy is let go here in New Mexico state and they went to you and you were complaining about how little you were paid and you came here for what a dollar a month well what happened on that Jim Paul the idea at that time he called and he told me they they felt they had to make a change and I told Jim I said well Jim hey season is starting this I think this September and I said Jim you need to try to get through the year work this thing out well he called me about oh another week or two and we talked about it and then two days before practice started I decided to come but Mary and I decided I was drawing my retirement at Illinois we certainly weren't wealthy and we aren't today but I told Jim I said well I will take the job with one stipulation that

you don't pay me because I won't help out for a year and so we came down I came down two days before practice and and and then the next day I had to go to Texas to a banquet and then I came back on Saturday and we had been not badness and that's how I got acquainted with the team well and and again I'm gonna jump because not to diminish the first two seasons here but the 80 80 98 99 team again one of the highlights of New Mexico state basketball you go 12 and four in the big west and again go to the NCAAs but you also start to hit some of those milestones that most coaches only dream of you hit your 200th win at New Mexico State University against University California revised 60 56 on January 9th can you talk about that game well that's like a lot of the other games when you have good talent and they play well you're gonna win ball games and we played pretty well that night then back here end up

beating Utah State 55 52 for your 700th win that was a struggle because Utah State had a tremendous ball club and we happened to pull that one out at the end it was a good victory for us did did the impact hit you right away did you understand what 700 wins meant as a college coach I felt it I didn't ask if you felt it I as if you realized it well I you know when you're coaching you don't think that much about it but hey if you stay in the long enough length you're gonna win a few games you quite literally own the Pan-American Center you opened it up in 1968 I believe it was can you go back to the opening of the arena and and what it was like being there and winning that first came Glenn I came here in 1966 and they had the money for the Pan Am but they hired Rim Ali an architect who went to University of Illinois and lived in Roswell he

was the architect we had one usually I had three or four in big projects like that but we had one and then I helped him in Fred Day who was who was in charge of the physical plant the three of us did most of the work on that and I didn't do a thing other than make suggestions to Rim Ali and so it's hard to believe that that building was built for 300 three for three million now actually we had three and a half but they had to build a tunnel from down on campus up through there and and different things and we wound up a three million but the building was a great structure for that kind of money and of course in 2002 something that I know was very special to you to walk on to a court and have your name on it permanently affixed and that dedication came in in 2002 what was that night like well it really felt good because I always enjoyed lost Christmas this community and the people and to come back home and to have

success I felt good for myself and for the people in this community you have mentioned her several times and and we just haven't spent a whole lot of time about it but we need to go way way back because you met someone when you came to New Mexico State University it has been a very very important part of your life and obviously I'm referring to your wife Mary right as a matter of fact when I was a junior college is hard to get work and so three or four of the college guys we went up to Illinois and we got a job in a canning factory didn't make a lot of money 95 cents an hour both put in a lot of hours and met Mary up there and later on we as a matter of fact I met her one summer and we got married six months later and she's she's been quite an addition she's been a great wife and she does a great job with the children and and she even tries to assist me some when I was coaching well and this isn't a real complement to

the coaching ranks I might add but having talked to a lot of coaches wives through my career you guys may be the only ones who are more nomadic than broadcasters and have to listen to their wife's question why we're making this move now so that's is a great deal about her just there with all the moves and all the games and I know the frustrations of coaching well it really is when we got called from Oklahoma and Illinois we sat down with the kids and and so because we don't see what they were thinking and they said dad do what you want to do and would like to see you do it and so Mary and I we always talk about each and everything and we're very close and she is tremendous at PR and in the coaching business in particular you better be a public relation minded you can't survive if you're not I think it's hard to survive in any business if you're not decent at PR coming up on 54 years and never had an argument right let's see maybe a couple go along the way January 22nd 2005 19 NCAA appearances four NITs and I've got to read this

off because the list is way too long for me to remember it a total of 779 wins and we should mention 432 losses in a lesser tone and health caught up here was time to leave well it really was as a matter of fact six years ago I came down with non-Hutchkins lymphoma and and so I coached that year and we were about 500 as a matter of fact we'd done better but we had a player get in trouble and we kicked him off the team and then we had a problem with another point guard we won 22 the year before we should have won 22 had we not had a problem with a point guard with it and better than 500 but I coached that year and got through it pretty well you are still very very much connected with New Mexico State University and I know one of the things that both you and Marriare are extremely proud of is the Hanson Foundation can you talk a little bit about what what it's been like to work with the university and in that kind

of regard and what the foundation has been able to accomplish well the universe in in the state of New Mexico in this area they'd been great to us and our family and we wanted to try to help out someone of course our son was a basketball coach in 1990 to his coaching at Parkland Junior College and he played a game on Tuesday night and my wife and his daughters went out there and so and I couldn't go because it's illegal for me to go and watch him play well after game became by and I said why don't you leave the film we'll look at it and so he said well dad I'll look at it and then I'll then I'll come over this weekend we'll look at well that Friday night he with Friday afternoon he had a practice and he was going home he lived right outside of champagne and it was Wendy and Gustin and first day of deer season and and so he was driving home and he we thank his word to me to do another pasture and another car indicated that and he went off hit Colbert and turned over and did have a seat belt on and of course

it killed him and so we wanted to get involved with with Lewin contribute some money and his name can you talk a little bit about your career what what you consider highlights in and I asked this question because in having talked to some coaches there's a lot of times you talk about that 28 and one season you talk about that but when you start talking to coaches and you pose the question a little differently there's some of those teams that maybe weren't quite as successful that they carry perhaps proudest in their heart is there one of those teams what as you look back what what do you think is some of your finest moments some of the moments that you will carry with you forever first of all in high school the 1959 team that one state that wasn't supposed to do anything a small ball club I mentioned their size is we weren't even supposed to be in the state tournament I'll always remember that team they showed great

courage and tremendous ability to get it done and of course the the miracle midgets that's the most surprising team I've ever coached because we were four in 22 the year before and we're going up against a great schedule and they go to the NCAA and beat the national champ split with New Mexico that's a team I'll remember and of course I'll remember the final four team here the 84 team at Illinois that should have been the final four and of course the 89 team that did get there any personal moments players individuals that again maybe maybe weren't the the candle gills that we were talking about the William Sins the the moors the Chris's but that player that that you just had that special appreciation for what they were able to do there were a lot of them but there's a young man who played for me when I was out in New Mexico state he was in great school junior high saw him playing he made all his shots Joe Lopez Joe Lopez followed me and he led us to the state title he lives here in town and he was with me here administratively and Joe is a great guy and I've

had a lot of good ones but none better than Joe to show you how much ability is is very intelligent he is a very intelligent young man he ran for the school board against six or seven other people didn't even have a runoff he wanted so he's one of the few he's one of several special people in my life it's always easy for older coaches and I do the same thing I watch and well you know they don't do this anymore they don't the games not the same biggest change you've seen in the in the game from the 1950s to the 2000 late 2009 tens well first of all back when I played and coached in those few years I thought the postman was the most difficult to cover our defend that is not true today the fellow who take the ball put it on the floor it and create they are the toughest because if you try to get defensive help they get a layup we get a three-point shot so the game has changed and I'll tell you what it really revolutionized

the game the three-point shot and the arc the arc three-point shot and the shot clock that that did everything it's completely different game today the speed is what always comes to mind when I watch and look at the the differences speed and quickness is the name of the game you cannot be slow and and play the game of basketball you need a certain amount of speed and quickness to do it ever get that itch to come back and and say well maybe for just one or two more years well you know I think about that then I get a complete out of a mind in about ten seconds coach and so first of all thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us here really appreciate it and and I have to say just not a personal note to be able to sit in and chat with one of the true legends of New Mexico State University is something very very special and we appreciate all that you've done not only for NMSU but for Las Cruces in the state of New Mexico as well Glance really nice to visit with you and I look forward to working with you in the future and by the way I want to thank you for not mentioning the game that we lost and the tournament well

we've talked about it and there were a couple of them but yes and I try to be nice sometimes you know again thank you very much for taking it I'm talking about the game against to lead yes I'm aware of which one and we should mention that you and I worked together to tournament the Glass City Classic in Toledo right and I was working with bowling green at that point beat bowling green on the first night and then the second night bowling greens arch arch arch arch arch rival is Toledo and I ended up going and broadcasting for Toledo and then you lost it Toledo how could have you let us down after beating the side of the person Bob Nichols had a great ball club Bob Nichols is a great great coach wasn't he he was a great coach by the way and I mentioned this to you earlier Craig Tucker was a tremendous guard he missed 18 straight shots in that tournament so coaches we have to blame somebody I blame the players when we get beat and it was defense right so right again thank you so much for taking the time and we thank you for joining us as we chat with truly an eggy legend coach Lou Hanson from New

Mexico State University thank you again for watching and somehow the the restitution amount was put in the judges orders and I should get reimbursed some day when the through the dealt probation and parole and and so I what is your question my question is do police well actually it's it's a suggestion that the police do go back and tell the victim that they can ask for for restitution for property damage because this is something that you think they don't realize is available to them all right yeah you could handle that during an investigation if there is property damage we we do the

best we can do to document that and bring that to the district attorney's office and it's not really passing the buck but we have we investigate it we'll turn it over to district attorney's office and sometimes the victims are if they're married it's not going to be property damage if they're not married it could be property damage so there's a lot of factors that come into play during property damage during crimes of domestic violence or any violent crime and I think you have to speak up on it too because a lot of times we're trying to get that information to put that judge that restitution amount in the judgment sentence on a person's sentence and we get the information the day before sentencing and some of that we have to be able to verify it we have to be able to basically prove to the court that that is the amount of restitution that's owing and we get a lot of victims unfortunately the wait until the very last minute to give that to us and then the court is wanting the verification that

that is the amount that's due so we need just people to speak up and let us know in a timely manner so we can address that and maybe just say one thing the victim advocates at the district attorney's office send out a victim packet right after the grand jury indict so and it'll advise you of the arrangement and there's papers in there that you need to fill out and send back right away and that will ensure that you'll be notified of all the court hearings and there is a restitution sheet in that paperwork that you can fill out and send back and then they can verify the amounts with you at a later date Mr. Lambert I can give you maybe 10 seconds great well I just want to clarify that crime victims operation covers everything that's not property damage but that that property damage does not need to be in the police report it just needs to get to the DA's office so they can the victim themselves can provide that information at sentencing also the new law that came into effect in 2005 says that a victim can collect if it's in the judgment and sentence so if this

caller has the dollar about in her judgment and sentence already she doesn't have to wait until it goes to probation and parole that can actually be collected while the offender is in corrections and then with that I'm going to have to say good night because we've run out of time I want to thank all of our panelists for joining in the discussion tonight been very informative thank you both very much for for being here and of course we here at KRWGTV would like to thank everyone who spent time with us tonight with your questions and also to the district attorney's office for helping to organize this live televised event we'd like to end tonight's program with a special tribute to people in Donia and a county who have lost their lives as victims of crime I'm Gary Worth we thank you for watching good night