Lynn Sanford Nance (born September 3, 1942) is an American former

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. He also served as head coach at

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

, Central Missouri State, Saint Mary's,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, and Southwest Baptist.

Early life and education

Nance was born in

Granby, Missouri Granby is a city in Newton County, Missouri, United States. The population was 2,134 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Joplin, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area. History A post office called Granby has been in operation since 1856. The ...

, where he graduated from Granby High School. At Southwest Baptist Junior College (now University), Nance was a junior college All-American player before transferring to the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seat ...

, where he became an honorable mention all-American. Nance went on to be selected in the fourth round of the

1965 NBA draft The 1965 NBA draft was the 19th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 6, 1965, before the 1965–66 season. In this draft, nine NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players ...

by the St. Louis Hawks. Unfortunately, a knee injury ended his professional career before he ever played a game for St. Louis.

Coaching career

Nance began his coaching career as head basketball coach at Versailles High School in Versailles, Missouri. He was freshman team coach at Washington in 1967–68. From 1968 to 1970, Nance was assistant varsity coach at Washington under Tex Winter before leaving to join the FBI. In 1974, Nance returned to coaching basketball, as an assistant on

Joe B. Hall Joe Beasman Hall (November 30, 1928 – January 15, 2022) was an American college basketball coach. He was the head coach at the University of Kentucky from 1972 to 1985, leading the Wildcats to a national championship in 1978. Biography Hall p ...

's staff at

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virgini ...

for two seasons. From 1976 to 1980, Nance was head coach at

, during which Nance went 41–59. Following an 8–10 start to the season, Nance resigned from Iowa State on January 29, 1980. Iowa State reached a settlement to buy out the remaining two years on his contract, worth around $36,000. Nance's next job was at Central Missouri State (now Central Missouri), an Division II where he was head coach from 1980 to 1985. Nance led Central Missouri State to a 29–3 record and

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

in the 1983–84 season. Returning to the Division I level, Nance was an assistant coach at

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

in 1985–86. Nance again worked as a head coach from 1986 to 1989 at Saint Mary's College, going 61–27 with a school record 25 wins, West Coast Athletic Conference title, and NCAA tournament appearance in 1988–89. Nance's final two head coaching jobs were at schools where he played college basketball. From 1989 to 1993, Nance was head coach at Washington, going 50–62. From 1996 to 1999, Nance was head coach at Southwest Baptist, going 36–42. In 2010, Nance returned to coaching to serve as an assistant under

Trent Johnson Trent Aubrey Johnson (born September 12, 1956) is an American college basketball coach who is currently head coach at Cal State Northridge. Johnson had previously been the head coach at Texas Christian University, Louisiana State University, Stanf ...

at LSU.

Outside of coaching

Aside from his career as a coach, Nance also served as a special agent for the FBI from 1970 to 1973. From 1973 to 1974, Nance was an investigator for the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

. Nance drew upon his experience as an FBI agent to write a novel titled ''Bridger: Deadly Peril''. In 1989, Nance spoke negatively about his former job as an NCAA investigator and said that NCAA rules "don’t take into consideration that some players’ parents don’t have money."

Head coaching record

(*) ISU finished the season 7–20, but was later awarded a win vacated by

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

.
(**) Indicates record/standing at time of resignation from Iowa State.

References