Richard Frederick "Digger" Phelps (born July 4, 1941) is an American former

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach, most notably of the

Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 26 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...

from 1971 to 1991. For 20 years, from 1993 to 2014, he served as an analyst on

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. He got the nickname "Digger" from his friends.

Early life

Phelps was born in

Beacon, New York Beacon is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city located on the Hudson River in Dutchess County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city's population was 13,769. Beacon is part of the Kiryas ...

. His family ran a funeral home business in the city. He worked at his father's business on weekends and during summer. He got the nickname "digger" from his friends.

Coaching career

Early career

Phelps began his coaching career in 1963 as a graduate assistant at Rider College (now Rider University), where he had played basketball. After a move to St. Gabriel's High School in

Hazleton, Pennsylvania Hazleton is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 29,963 at the 2020 census. Hazleton is the second-most populous city in Luzerne County. It was incorporated as a borough on January 5, 1857, and as a city on ...

, he obtained his first full assistant job in 1966 at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. His first head coaching job came in 1970 at

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

, where he coached Charlie Yelverton and

P. J. Carlesimo Peter John Carlesimo (born May 30, 1949) is an American former basketball coach who coached in both the National Basketball Association (NBA) and college basketball for nearly 40 years. He is also a television broadcaster and has worked with ESP ...

, the athletic director's son. Phelps led the Rams to a 24–2 record in the 1970–71 regular season and a #9 national ranking. Fordham received an at-large bid to the 25-team NCAA tournament, where they advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, and won the consolation game for third place in the East regional. In May 1971 at age 29, Phelps was named head coach at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

Notre Dame

During his 20 seasons (1971–91) tenure, Phelps' Notre Dame teams went , with 14 seasons of 20 wins or more. In

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

, Notre Dame made its only

Final Four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

appearance to date. His most-remembered game occurred in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

, when the second-ranked Fighting Irish scored the last 12 points of the game on January 19 to upset top-ranked

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, coached by

John Wooden John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed "the Wizard of Westwood", he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, nati ...

, 71–70, ending the Bruins' record 88-game winning streak. He shares the NCAA record for most upsets over a #1 team at seven with

Gary Williams Gary Bruce Williams (born March 4, 1945) is an American university administrator and former college basketball coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Maryland, the Ohio State University, Boston College, and American University. ...

Broadcasting career

Phelps began his broadcasting career when he served as a commentator for

ABC Sports ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial America ...

' basketball coverage at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

in Los Angeles. In 1992, he continued his broadcasting career when he provided

color commentary A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The person may also be referred to as a summariser (outside North America) ...

for that year's NCAA tournament for

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

. He joined

the next season and worked for them until 2014 as a college basketball studio and game analyst. During the April 7, 2014 broadcast of '' College GameDay'', Phelps announced that he was leaving ESPN. "I spent 20 years at Notre Dame as a coach and now 20 years here at ESPN doing a great job with all you people. And now it's time for me to move forward, and this will be my last time on TV," Phelps said. Phelps added: "It's been a great run. Twenty years is always my target for everything, and it's time to move forward."

Personal life

Phelps resides in South Bend with his wife

Terry Terry is a unisex diminutive nickname for the given names Teresa or Theresa (feminine) or Terence (given name), Terence, Terrance (masculine). People Male * Terry A. Canales, American politician * Terry A. Doughty (born 1959), American district ...

, and has three adult children. His eldest, Karen, was married to

baseball pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws (" pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

Jamie Moyer Jamie Moyer (born November 18, 1962) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Over his 25-year career in Major League Baseball (MLB), Moyer pitched for the Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers, St. Louis Cardinals, Ba ...

. He is a member of the

Tau Kappa Epsilon Tau Kappa Epsilon (), commonly known as or Teke, is a social college fraternities and sororities, fraternity founded on January 10, 1899, at Illinois Wesleyan University. The organization has chapters throughout the United States and Canada, maki ...

fraternity at Rider College. Phelps was instrumental in the restoration of various programs at John McDonogh High School in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

post-

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

. His gifts helped to restore the sports program and helped to launch a four-year Culinary Academy in partnership with the Louisiana Restaurant Association Education Foundation and the Recovery School District on December 15, 2010.

Cancer battle

In April 2013, Phelps was diagnosed with

bladder cancer Bladder cancer is the abnormal growth of cells in the bladder. These cells can grow to form a tumor, which eventually spreads, damaging the bladder and other organs. Most people with bladder cancer are diagnosed after noticing blood in thei ...

. On July 1, 2013, his doctor declared him in remission.

Head coaching record

References

External links

*
ESPN profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phelps, Digger 1941 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from New York (state) Basketball players from New York (state) College basketball announcers in the United States College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Fordham Rams men's basketball coaches High school basketball coaches in Pennsylvania Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball coaches Penn Quakers men's basketball coaches People from Beacon, New York Rider Broncs men's basketball coaches Rider Broncs men's basketball players 20th-century American sportsmen