Cameron Dollar (born December 9, 1975) is an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach who was most recently an assistant coach for the

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac-1 ...

. He was previously an assistant coach at Washington before serving as the head coach for the

Seattle Redhawks The Seattle Redhawks are the intercollegiate varsity athletic teams of Seattle University of Seattle, Washington. They compete in the NCAA's Division I as a member institution of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). History Between 1950 and ...

. Dollar played college basketball for the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) ...

, and was a member of their 1995 national championship team. In the championship game against

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the ...

, he replaced injured starter Tyus Edney.

Early life

Dollar was born in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

. His father Donald was a longtime high school basketball coach in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to t ...

who won three state championships and more than 600 games. Dollar's mother was murdered in Atlanta when Cameron was four years old. Her killer has never been identified. Dollar played at Douglass High School in Atlanta as a sophomore under his father. After his father briefly stopped coaching to become a school administrator, Dollar attended a pair of

prep school Preparatory school or prep school may refer to: Schools *Preparatory school (United Kingdom), an independent school preparing children aged 8–13 for entry into fee-charging independent schools, usually public schools *College-preparatory school, ...

s in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...

College career

While in Maryland, Dollar was recruited to the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

(UCLA) by Bruins assistant coach Mark Gottfried. Dollar attended UCLA in the fall of 1993. Leading up to the final game against

in the 1995 NCAA tournament, the team was uncertain of the status of Tyus Edney, their starting point guard, who had injured his wrist in the semifinals against Oklahoma State. After Edney did not return after leaving less than three minutes into the Arkansas game, Dollar played 36 minutes and contributed eight assists and four steals as UCLA won the championship game, 89–78. Asked if UCLA would have won without Dollar's performance, then-UCLA coach

Jim Harrick James Richard Harrick (born July 25, 1938) is a former American basketball coach. He has been the head coach at UCLA, Pepperdine University, the University of Rhode Island and the University of Georgia over a combined total of 23 seasons. During ...

said, "Absolutely not." Earlier in the tournament against

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, Dollar inbounded the ball with 4.8 seconds left in the game to Edney, who drove the length of the court and hit a bank shot as time expired to win 75–74 in the second round. Dollar would repeat the feat himself 2 years later in the 1997 NCAA tournament, going coast to coast and hitting the game winner against Iowa State to advance to the Elite 8. Dollar started in his last two seasons, and the Bruins won three

Pacific-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Divis ...

championships. During his four-year career, Dollar averaged 5.0

points Point or points may refer to: Places * Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Point ...

, 3.7 assists and 2.3

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

. "His leadership qualities were off the charts," Harrick said. "He was always an extension of the coach on the floor."

Coaching career

At age 22, Dollar was the country's youngest college coach when he was first hired as a head coach at Southern California College, a

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stud ...

(NAIA) school (now known as Vanguard University). He served ten years (1999–2009) as an assistant with Saint Louis and Washington under head coach Lorenzo Romar, who was an assistant at UCLA during Dollar's playing career. At Washington, Dollar received a one-month suspension in 2002 for a recruiting violation. Dollar was hired in the spring of 2009 as the head coach of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, which was transitioning to compete in Division I after dropping out in 1980. He hired his father as an assistant. Dollar was fired after eight seasons. He was re-hired as an assistant at Washington under new coach Mike Hopkins.

Head coaching record

Personal

Dollar has three children. His brother Chad served as an assistant coach at

Arkansas State Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

. Dollar is a Christian.

References

External links

Seattle profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dollar, Cameron 1975 births Living people Basketball coaches from Georgia (U.S. state) Basketball players from Atlanta College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Georgia Bulldogs basketball coaches Harlem Globetrotters players Point guards Saint Louis Billikens men's basketball coaches Seattle Redhawks men's basketball coaches UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball coaches UCLA Bruins men's basketball players Washington Huskies men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players