Nelson D. Haggerty (September 16, 1973 – April 16, 2021) was an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

coach and

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player. He had been serving as an assistant coach for the

North Texas Mean Green North Texas Mean Green (formerly North Texas Eagles) represents the University of North Texas (UNT) in intercollegiate athletics. The teams compete in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). North Tex ...

at the time of his death. He played for the

Baylor Bears The Baylor Bears are the athletic teams that represent Baylor University. The teams participate in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as one of only three private school members of the Big 12 Conference. Prior t ...

, staying four years; in 1994–95 he led the NCAA Division I in assists, averaging 10.1 per game. He is the all-time leader for career assists for Baylor with 699.

College career

Haggerty was born in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, where he attended Willowridge High School. In 1991 he signed to play for Baylor, and in his freshman season he started 15 of 22 games, playing 23.3 minutes per game and averaging 2.8 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists: he ranked second on his team in assists per game behind

David Wesley David Barakau Wesley (born November 14, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Early life David graduated from Longview High School in Longview, Texas. He was classma ...

. After Wesley's graduation, Haggerty became the starting point guard for the Bears, and in his sophomore year he started 25 of 26 games, and improved his averages to 6.3 points, 3.2 rebounds and a team and

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference also included schools from Oklaho ...

-leading 7.3 assists per game. On February 27, 1993, in a game against

Oral Roberts Granville Oral Roberts (January 24, 1918 – December 15, 2009) was an American Charismatic Christianity, Charismatic Christianity, Christian televangelist, who was one of the first to propagate Prosperity theology, Prosperity Gospel Theo ...

, Haggerty recorded 19 assists, a career high and the Baylor all-time record for most assists in a single game. Haggerty's junior season saw him playing 22 games (19 starts) averaging 6.1 points, 2.1 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game, which ranked him second in the SWC behind David Edwards of

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

. On December 20, 1993, he posted 18 assists against Southwestern Louisiana, the second best mark in his career; this performance was tied for most assists in a single game in the 1993–94 NCAA Division I season. Haggerty also led his team in free throw percentage with a career-best 78.8%. In Haggerty's senior season he played a career-high 36.2 minutes per game, starting all of his 28 games, and recorded career highs in points per game (7.3), rebounds per game (3.9) and steals per game (1.2). His 10.1 assists per game (284 in 28 games) led the nation in the 1994–95 season, and were a Baylor all-time record for most assists in a season. Throughout the season he had several games with 13 or more assists, including 14 against Southwestern Louisiana on December 22, 1994, 16 against UMKC on February 1, 1995, and 18 against

TCU TCU may stand for: Education * Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania * Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas ** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school * Tok ...

on February 14. That year he was a second-team All-SWC selection by the

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, the ''

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'' and the ''

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''. His 699 career assists are a Baylor record as of 2019.

College statistics

, - , align="left" , 1991–92 , align="left" , Baylor , 22 , , 15 , , 23.2 , , .261 , , .286 , , .667 , , 2.0 , , 3.0 , , 0.5 , , 0.0 , , 2.8 , - , align="left" , 1992–93 , align="left" , Baylor , 26 , , 25 , , 35.3 , , .315 , , .349 , , .741 , , 3.2 , , 7.3 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 6.3 , - , align="left" , 1993–94 , align="left" , Baylor , 22 , , 19 , , 31.1 , , .319 , , .327 , , .788 , , 2.1 , , 7.3 , , 0.9 , , 0.1 , , 6.1 , - , align="left" , 1994–95 , align="left" , Baylor , 28 , , 28 , , 36.2 , , .302 , , .225 , , .757 , , 3.9 , , style="background:#cfecec;" , 10.1 , , 1.2 , , 0.0 , , 7.3 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , , 98 , , 87 , , 31.9 , , .304 , , .294 , , .750 , , 2.9 , , 7.1 , , 0.9 , , 0.0 , , 5.8 , -

Coaching career

After finishing his 4-year career at Baylor, Haggerty took up the assistant coach position at

Hutchinson Community College Hutchinson Community College (HutchCC or HCC) is a Public college, public community college in Hutchinson, Kansas. It serves nearly 5,000 credit students every semester. History The college was established in the spring of 1928 as Hutchinson Ju ...

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, where he stayed two seasons from 1997 to 1999 under

Tim Jankovich Timothy Robert Jankovich (born June 4, 1959) is an American former college basketball coach and former head coach at Southern Methodist University. During his first year (2007–08) at Illinois State, Jankovich led the Redbirds to a 13–5 secon ...

, obtaining a 50–14 record. He then served two years as an assistant coach at

North Shore Senior High School North Shore Senior High School is a secondary school located in unincorporated Harris County, Texas, United States in Greater Houston.Pittsburg, Kansas Pittsburg is a city in Crawford County, Kansas, Crawford County, Kansas, United States, located in southeast Kansas near the Missouri state border. It is the most populous city in Crawford County and southeast Kansas. As of the 2020 United S ...

where he was hired as a graduate assistant for the

Pittsburg State Gorillas The Pittsburg State Gorillas, commonly referred to as Pitt State, are the athletic teams that represent Pittsburg State University. They are in the NCAA Division II as a member of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA). The G ...

, joining head coach

Gene Iba Clarence Eugene Iba (born November 5, 1940) is a former American college basketball coach. He was previously the Pittsburg State Gorillas men's basketball coach until 2010. He was head coach at Houston Baptist from 1977 to 1985, Baylor from 198 ...

. In 2007 he joined Kim Anderson at

Central Missouri The University of Central Missouri (UCM) is a public university in Warrensburg, Missouri, United States. In 2024, enrollment was 13,734 students from 48 states and 52 countries on its 1,561-acre campus. UCM offers 150 programs of study, inclu ...

, spending three seasons as an assistant coach. In 2009 Haggerty entered the Midwestern State staff as an assistant to head coach

Grant McCasland Grant McCasland (born October 14, 1976) is an American college basketball coach who is currently the head men's basketball coach at Texas Tech University. McCasland previously coached at North Texas from 2017 to 2023, where he guided the Mean Gre ...

. After two years in the position, Haggerty was named head coach after McCasland took up an assistant coach job at Baylor. In his first season as a head coach, Haggerty had a 29–4 record (15–3 in conference play), won the conference tournament, and advanced to the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...

national quarterfinals. This performance earned him the

Lone Star Conference The Lone Star Conference (LSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the South Central states, with schools in Texas ...

Coach of the Year award. The following season he had a 22–9 record, reaching the conference tournament finals and advancing to the South Central regional semifinals. In 2013–14 his team advanced to the South Central Regional finals. In 2015–16 Haggerty again won the Lone Star Conference tournament after a 24–6 overall record (10–4 in conference play), and was named the Lone Star Conference Coach of the Year for the second time in his career. In 2019 Haggerty left the head coach position at Midwestern State after eight seasons, and joined Grant McCasland's staff at

North Texas North Texas is a term used primarily by residents of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex to refer to a geographic area of Texas, generally considered to include the area south of Oklahoma, east of Abilene, Texas, Abilene, west of Paris, Texas, Par ...

as an assistant.

Personal life

Haggerty died in a car accident on April 16, 2021, less than a month after the Mean Green played in the NCAA tournament. He had a wife, Krissie, and four children (one son and three daughters).

References

External links

Profile at RealGM.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haggerty, Nelson 1973 births 2021 deaths African-American basketball coaches American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Texas Basketball players from Houston Baylor Bears men's basketball players Central Missouri Mules basketball coaches High school basketball coaches in Texas Hutchinson Blue Dragons men's basketball coaches Midwestern State Mustangs men's basketball coaches North Texas Mean Green men's basketball coaches Pittsburg State Gorillas men's basketball coaches Point guards 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen Road incident deaths in Texas