Donald W. Suman (January 19, 1920 – February 5, 2015) was a

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. He was the head coach of

Rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

from 1949 to 1959. He coached Rice to a 132–105 record, winning one

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 ...

championship and making one NCAA tournament appearance. He also played college basketball and football as a student at Rice. After leaving his coaching position, he took a front office position under

Bud Adams Kenneth Stanley "Bud" Adams Jr. (January 3, 1923 – October 21, 2013) was an American businessman who was the founder and owner of the Houston Oilers of the American Football League (AFL), of which he was also a co-founder. The franchise eve ...

for the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston, Texas, from its founding in 1960 Houston Oilers season, 1960 to 1996 Houston Oilers season, 1996. The Houston Oilers began play as a charter member of the Ame ...

. He was inducted into the Rice athletics Hall of Fame in 1987. He left Rice to become General Manager of the new Houston Oilers. In his first three seasons as GM the Oilers won the first two AFL championships. In his two seasons as GM the Oilers combined record was 20–7–1. Suman died on February 5, 2015, in

Houston 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 ...

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suman, Don 1920 births 2015 deaths American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Texas Basketball players from San Antonio Houston Oilers executives Rice Owls football players Rice Owls men's basketball coaches Rice Owls men's basketball players Sportspeople from San Antonio 20th-century American sportsmen