Rolland Douglas Todd (born April 26, 1934) is a former player and coach in the

National Basketball Association 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 ...

, and a former player in the American Basketball League, who also coached basketball at

University of Nevada, Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the ...

(UNLV). He was the first coach of the then-expansion

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (N ...

, leading the team to a 29–53 record in its inaugural season (best of the three expansion clubs who entered the NBA that year); though was let go the next season when the team failed to improve. According to ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'' his nickname while coaching the Blazers was "Mod Todd".

Early life

Todd grew up in Strathmore, California, the oldest of four children. He attended

Fresno State College California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers 60 ba ...

where he “was a star 6-4 guard at Fresno State in the mid-1950s, leading the Bulldogs to a 19-8 record and the California Collegiate Athletic Association championship as a senior in 1957-58.” His roommate and teammate for three years was

Jerry Tarkanian Jerry Tarkanian (August 8, 1930 – February 11, 2015) was an American basketball coach. He coached college basketball for 31 seasons over five decades at three schools. He spent the majority of his career coaching with the UNLV Runnin' Reb ...

. He attended graduate school at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

. After graduating from Fresno State, Todd played for the

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

based Buchan Bakers 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 ...

(NIBL) from 1958 to 1960. He briefly joined the

Akron Goodyear Wingfoots The Akron Goodyear Wingfoots are one of the oldest basketball teams in the United States. They were founded in 1918, by the workers at the Goodyear Tire Company, in Akron, Ohio. The teams, while giving workers recreation, also helped to promote ...

in 1960 during their unsuccessful attempt to qualify as the team to represent the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

during the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...

. Todd signed with the

St. Louis Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games at S ...

of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in June 1960, but was placed on waivers before the start of the regular season. Todd reportedly signed with the

Washington Tapers Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A m ...

of the American Basketball League (ABL) in October 1961, but never joined the team and took a teaching job in Seattle, Washington. In December 1961, Todd signed with the

San Francisco Saints The San Francisco Saints were a traveling amateur basketball team composed of Chinese Americans that was formed in the 1950s and entered in the Amateur Athletic Union. The team was founded by Father Donal F. Forrester, who was serving as pastor a ...

of the ABL. On October 26, 1962, Todd signed with the Oakland Oaks of the ABL.

Career statistics

, - , align="left" , 1960–61 , align="left" ,

, , 53 , , — , , 25.1 , , .380 , , .256 , , .752 , , 4.1 , , 3.7 , , — , , — , , 8.2 , - , align="left" , 1961–62 , align="left" , Oakland Oaks , , 24 , , — , , 30.5 , , .409 , , .292 , , .837 , , 5.6 , , 3.1 , , — , , — , , 14.4 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 77 , , — , , 26.8 , , .392 , , .270 , , .787 , , 4.5 , , 3.5 , , — , , — , , 10.1 Source:

References

External links

Todd Coaching, LLC website
1934 births Living people Akron Goodyear Wingfoots players American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from California Cal State Los Angeles Golden Eagles men's basketball coaches College of the Sequoias alumni Fresno State Bulldogs men's basketball players Junior college men's basketball coaches in the United States Junior college men's basketball players in the United States Portland Trail Blazers head coaches San Francisco Saints players Sportspeople from Tulare County, California UC Riverside Highlanders men's basketball coaches UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball coaches University of Washington alumni 20th-century American sportsmen {{1930s-US-basketball-bio-stub