Trouble Bruin

Or
Shot Down in a Blaze of Glory
Gene Bartow, who showed how hard it is to replace a legend, has died of stomach cancer at the age of 81. Bartow had the unenviable task of following the greatest coach in the history of sport, UCLA’s John Wooden, and kept up the program, going 52-9 in two seasons, the second best winning percentage among Bruin coaches, surpassing even Wooden. He made the Final Four and the Sweet 16, but for a program that had won 10 championships in 12 seasons, that wasn’t going to get it done, and the school and alumni never really warmed to Bartow. Bartow was well versed in how hard Wooden was to contend with, having lost to him in the 1973 Finals as the head coach of Memphis State, the year he was named NCAA Coach of the Year. Deciding it would be much easier to run a program where he had no predecessors to measure up to, he started his own athletics program as athletic director at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, launching a basketball program at a school that had only a 400-seat gym. Within 4 years, he had UAB in the Elite Eight and the team now plays in a 9,300-seat arena that bears Bartow’s name. For his efforts, he was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009. Following his retirement from UAB, he became a consultant, and eventually president of the Memphis Grizzlies.