Wendell Gale Catlett Article refers to Catlett as "W. Gale Catlett". (born October 31, 1940) is a retired American basketball coach who was head coach at the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...

and

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Ins ...

Playing career

Born in Hedgesville, West Virginia, Catlett played for West Virginia from 1958 to 1963. He played on the freshman team in 1958–59, but missed the 1959–60 season with a broken wrist. During his three varsity seasons (1960–61 through 1962–63), he helped the Mountaineers to two

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

tournament berths. West Virginia went 24–4, 24–6 and 23–8 during Catlett's varsity seasons and won the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

title every season. The 6-foot-5 forward totaled 407 points and 275 rebounds on Coach George King's guard-oriented teams.

Assistant coach

After completing his senior season in 1963, Catlett immediately turned to coaching. He got a job as an assistant coach at the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia, United States. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approxim ...

under head coach Lew Mills, then at

Davidson College Davidson College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina, United States. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after American Revolutiona ...

in 1965 under Lefty Driesell,

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

from 1967 to 1971 under Ted Owens, and finally

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

under

Adolph Rupp Adolph Frederick Rupp (September 2, 1901 – December 10, 1977) was an American college basketball coach. Nicknamed the "Baron of the Bluegrass", he coached the University of Kentucky Wildcats to four NCAA Division I men's basketball tournam ...

in the 1971–72 season.

Head coach

In 1972, Gale Catlett was named head coach of

, succeeding

Tay Baker Taylor "Tay" Baker is a retired American basketball coach. He played basketball at Hamilton High School in Hamilton, Ohio, graduating in 1945. He played college basketball at the University of Cincinnati beginning as a freshman in 1947; howeve ...

, whose team had gone 17–9 the year before. In Catlett's first season, 1972–73, the Bearcats were also 17–9, and they improved to 19–8 the following year. It was the 1974–75 season that Catlett and the Bearcats reached national prominence. Led by a crop of highly touted recruits including

Pat Cummings Pat Cummings (July 11, 1956 – June 26, 2012F ...

, Brian Williams, Robert Miller, Mike Jones, Gary Yoder and Steve Collier, the Bearcats were 23–6 and advanced to the NCAA Midwest Regional semifinals. By 1975–76, the team won the

Metro Conference The Metropolitan Collegiate Athletic Conference, popularly known as the Metro Conference, was an NCAA Division I athletics conference, so named because its six charter members were all in urban metropolitan areas, though its later members di ...

, posted a 25–6 record and were expected to make a deep run into the tournament, but the Bearcats were upset in the first round on a last-second tip-in by Notre Dame. During the three seasons from 1974–75 through 1976–77, the Bearcats were consistently ranked in the AP Poll, reaching as high as #2 in January 1977. That season, the Bearcats were 25–5 and again won the Metro Conference, but they were again ousted in the first round of the NCAA tournament. In six seasons at Cincinnati, Catlett posted a record of 126–44 (a .741 winning percentage). He left Cincinnati after a 17–10 season and under a cloud after the basketball program was penalized by the NCAA for numerous recruiting violations during his tenure. In 1978, he took over the head coaching job at West Virginia. During the decade before his arrival, the Mountaineers were 116–121. Over the next 24 seasons, he posted a 439–276 record. Catlett's West Virginia teams won an average of 19 games a season and made eight trips to the NCAA tournament, including a 1998 Sweet 16 appearance, where they upset a highly touted Cincinnati team. In 1997, he was nominated as the Big East Coach of the Year, but failed to win as John MacLeod took that honor. On February 13, 2002, at age 61, he announced his retirement. He had a career college coaching record of 565–320. In late 2005 Catlett publicly stated that he was considering running in the 2006 Republican primary in order to challenge incumbent Democratic Senator

Robert Byrd Robert Carlyle Byrd (born Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr.; November 20, 1917 – June 28, 2010) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from West Virginia for over 51 years, from 1959 until his death in 2010. A Democratic Pa ...

. He later declined to run.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Catlett, Gale 1940 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from West Virginia Basketball players from West Virginia Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball coaches College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Davidson Wildcats men's basketball coaches Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball coaches Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball coaches People from Hedgesville, West Virginia Richmond Spiders men's basketball coaches West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball coaches West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball players Forwards (basketball) Sportspeople from Berkeley County, West Virginia 20th-century American sportsmen