Darrell Hedric (born June 9, 1933) is 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 ...

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

and scout, most noted as the coach of the

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public university, public research university in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the second-oldest List of colleges and universities in Ohio, university in Ohi ...

(Ohio) basketball team from 1970 to 1984.

Early history

Hedric was born and raised in

Franklin, Ohio Franklin is a city in Warren County, Ohio, United States, along the Great Miami River. The population was 11,690 at the 2020 census. The city lies about southwest of Dayton and northeast of Cincinnati. Ohio State Routes 73, 123 and 741 pas ...

. He was a standout on the Franklin Wildcats basketball team. During his senior year, he was recruited to play college basketball at Miami University the following year. Hedric went on to gain his

varsity letter A varsity letter (or monogram) is an award earned in the United States for excellence in school activities. A varsity letter signifies that its recipient was a qualified varsity team member, awarded after a certain standard was met. A person who ...

in all four years at Miami. After graduation, Hedric played professional basketball for the Akron Goodyear Wingfoots of the

National Industrial Basketball League The National Industrial Basketball League was founded in 1947 to enable U.S. mill workers a chance to compete in basketball. The league was founded by the industrial teams (teams sponsored by the large companies and made up of their employees) bel ...

. He was drafted into the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

and served on a destroyer in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

. After serving his country, Hedric once again turned to basketball, taking the head coaching job at Taft High School in

Hamilton, Ohio Hamilton is a city in Butler County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Located north of Cincinnati along the Great Miami River, Hamilton is the second-most populous city in the Cincinnati metropolitan area and the List of municipaliti ...

Miami University coaching history

Subsequently, Hedric returned to Miami University to serve as an assistant coach. In 1970 Hedric took the reins of the school's basketball program as the head coach, a position he held until 1984. By the end of his coaching career, he amassed several notable achievements including defeating defending national champion Marquette in the NCAA tournament, and regular season wins over coaching legends

Bobby Knight Robert Montgomery Knight (October 25, 1940 – November 1, 2023) was an American men's college basketball coach. Nicknamed "the General", he won 902 NCAA Division I men's basketball games, a record at the time of his retirement and sixth all- ...

and

Dean Smith Dean Edwards Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American men's college basketball Coach (basketball), head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North C ...

. Hedric remains the only coach to have defeated both Knight and Smith on their home courts. Hedric compiled a record of 216–157 at Miami, and along the way recruited several excellent players, most notably

Ron Harper Ronald Harper Sr. (born January 20, 1964) is an American former professional basketball player. He played for four teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA) between 1986 and 2001 and is a five-time NBA champion. Early life Ronald Har ...

, who went on to win multiple

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

championships. He was inducted into the Miami Athletic Hall of Fame in 1978, and in 1986 Miami retired his jersey #86. He is an inductee of the Franklin and Butler County Halls of Fame. He was inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hedric, Darrell 1933 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Ohio College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Miami RedHawks men's basketball coaches Miami RedHawks men's basketball players People from Franklin, Ohio Sportspeople from Warren County, Ohio Sportspeople from Hamilton, Ohio Basketball players from Butler County, Ohio 20th-century American sportsmen