John Bryan Friel (August 26, 1898 – December 12, 1995) was an American

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, the

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 ...

of the

Washington State Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

Cougars for 30 seasons, from

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly demonstrating that DNA is the genetic material. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris B ...

He holds the school record for victories by a men's basketball coach with 495, and led Washington State to the NCAA tournament championship game in

1941 The Correlates of War project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 3.49 million. However, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program estimates that the subsequent year, 1942, wa ...

. He was later the first commissioner of the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference, affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I with college football, football competing in the Football Cha ...

. Friel played college basketball at Washington State before becoming a high school coach. In 1928, he was named the head coach of Washington State. His teams won one

Pacific Coast Conference The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was a collegiate athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pac-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, with eight of the ten PCC members (includin ...

championship and three divisional titles. Friel officiated college football games and was head coach of the Cougars baseball team from 1943 to 1945.

Early years

Born in

Waterville, Washington Waterville is a town in and the county seat of Douglas County, Washington, United States which is known for its wheat industry. As a part of Douglas County, it is part of the Wenatchee-East Wenatchee metropolitan area. The population was 1,134 ...

, Friel enrolled at Washington State College in 1916, then served in Europe during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. He returned to Pullman after the war and was the captain of the basketball team, playing at forward and earning all-conference honors in 1922. He claimed six varsity letters, and in 18 starts as a baseball

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

had a win–loss record of 15–1.

High school coach

Following graduation in 1923, Friel coached high school basketball, first at Colville, then at North Central in

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south ...

, winning the state title in his third and final season at North Central.

Washington State

He became the head basketball coach at his

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

in 1928, and his team posted a 9–14 record in his first season. Washington State increased its victory total each of the next three seasons, winning 22 games in 1931–32. The Cougars won at least 20 games in 10 of Friel's 30 seasons as head coach, and had 21 winning seasons. The 1940–41 team was Friel's only one to make the NCAA Tournament. One of three Washington State teams to win a

divisional championship under Friel, the 1940–41 Cougars won the conference title, and won two games in the NCAA Tournament to advance to the final, where they lost 39–34 to

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

. Friel has been credited as helping to change

free throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the restricted area. Free throws ...

rules in college basketball. In addition to his duties as basketball coach, Friel was Washington State's baseball head coach from 1943 to 1945 and a

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

official; he was originally selected to officiate the 1942 Rose Bowl, but his basketball schedule prevented him from serving as referee. After the early 1950s, his Cougar teams struggled, failing to post a winning record following a 19–16 mark in 1951–52; in November 1957, Friel announced that he would retire at the end of the season. Friel had the eighth-most wins among Division I men's college basketball coaches when he retired. He remained with the school into the 1960s, continuing as golf coach and in the physical education program. The court inside Beasley Coliseum, the Cougars' home arena, was named after Friel in April 1977, as announced by university President Glenn Terrell at a meeting of the board of regents; the dedication ceremony was at halftime on The following year, Friel was among the first to be inducted into Washington State's Athletic Hall of Fame.

Conference work

Friel was a supervisor for the

Pacific-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level for all sports, and its Co ...

's basketball officiating bureau and spent eight years as the first commissioner of the

, beginning in 1963. Into the 1980s, Friel continued working for the Pac-10, evaluating officials.

Death

Friel died at the age of 97 in Pullman on December 12, 1995, due to

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

. In 2003, he was inducted into the Pac-10 Basketball Hall of Honor. That summer, his widow Catherine died at age 101.

Head coaching record

College

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Friel, Jack 1898 births 1995 deaths American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Washington (state) Basketball players from Washington (state) Big Sky Conference commissioners Forwards (basketball) High school basketball coaches in the United States People from Waterville, Washington Washington State Cougars baseball coaches Washington State Cougars baseball players Washington State Cougars men's basketball coaches Washington State Cougars men's basketball players