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Fred Schaus
Fred Schaus.jpg
Schaus from The Monticola, 1955
Personal information
Born (1925-06-30)June 30, 1925
Newark, Ohio, U.S.
Died February 10, 2010(2010-02-10) (aged 84)
Morgantown, West Virginia, U.S.
High school Newark (Newark, Ohio)
Listed height 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Listed weight 205 lb (93 kg)
Career information
College West Virginia (1946–1949)
NBA Draft 1949 / Round: 3
Selected by the Fort Wayne Pistons
Pro career 1949–1954
Career history
As player:
1949–1953 Fort Wayne Pistons
1953–1954 New York Knicks
As coach:
1954–1960 West Virginia
1960–1967 Los Angeles Lakers
1972–1978 Purdue
Career highlights and awards
As player:
  • NBA All-Star (1951)
  • All-NBA Second Team (1950)

As coach:

  • 5× NBA All-Star Game head coach (1962–1964, 1966, 1967)
  • NIT championship (1974)
  • 4× SoCon Coach of the Year (1955, 1958–1960)

As executive:

Career NBA statistics
Points 4,070 (12.2 ppg)
Rebounds 1,609 (6.0 rpg)
Assists 961 (2.9 apg)
Medals
Men's basketball
Representing  United States
Pan American Games
Gold 1959 Chicago Team competition

Frederick Appleton Schaus (June 30, 1925 – February 10, 2010) was an American basketball player, head coach and athletic director for the West Virginia University Mountaineers, player for the National Basketball Association's Fort Wayne Pistons and New York Knicks, general manager and head coach for the Los Angeles Lakers, head coach of Purdue University basketball, and a member of the NCAA Basketball Committee. He was born in Newark, Ohio.

College career

Schaus played basketball at West Virginia, where he earned the record of first to score 1,000 career points (1,009). He was also selected to the All-American team in 1949.

Professional career

Schaus left West Virginia to join the Fort Wayne Pistons in the 1949–1950 season. He scored 14.3 points a game and a year later scored a career-best 15.3 points a game. He was selected to play in the first NBA All-Star Game and scored eight points for the West. However, he only averaged 14.1 points per game in 1952, and then in 1953 it dropped to 10.1 points per game.

He was traded to the New York Knicks halfway through the 1954 season and ended his NBA career that season with 7.1 points per game average.

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season

Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
1949–50 Fort Wayne 68 .352 .818 2.6 14.3
1950–51 Fort Wayne 68 .340 .835 7.3 2.7 15.1
1951–52 Fort Wayne 62 41.6 .361 .833 7.0 4.0 14.1
1952–53 Fort Wayne 69 36.8 .334 .821 6.0 3.6 10.5
1953–54 Fort Wayne 23 11.8 .397 .760 2.2 .9 3.8
1953–54 New York 44 28.3 .386 .793 4.9 2.0 8.8
Career 334 33.5 .352 .823 6.0 2.9 12.2

Playoffs

Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
1950 Fort Wayne 4 .364 .839 2.8 18.5
1951 Fort Wayne 3 .386 .818 5.3 3.3 14.3
1952 Fort Wayne 2 45.0 .343 .875 7.5 7.0 15.5
1953 Fort Wayne 8 30.5 .300 .761 5.3 5.3 8.9
1954 New York 4 29.8 .280 .933 3.0 3.0 7.0
Career 21 32.4 .339 .820 5.0 2.6 11.8

College coaching career

West Virginia

After his retirement from the NBA, Schaus returned to his alma mater to coach the Mountaineers. In his first season, he led the Mountaineers to a 19–11 mark and an NCAA tournament appearance. In the next five seasons, he posted an amazing 127–26 (.831) record, which included five consecutive NCAA tournament berths. The recruitment of Schaus for Jerry West (a native of Chelyan, West Virginia) to play for the Mountaineers was a key factor, with West calling Schaus his "mentor"; West played on the freshmen team in 1957 before playing with Schaus and the varsity team from 1958 to 1960. He led WVU to the NCAA finals in 1959, but lost to Pete Newell's California team, 71–70.

Purdue

After leaving NBA coaching and management in 1972, he returned to the college ranks to coach at Purdue University, taking over for George King. He held a 104–60 overall record as the Boilermaker's head coach, while leading them to the 1974 NIT Championship and a berth in the 1977 NCAA tournament. He then owned the distinction of being the only coach to reach the NIT finals, NCAA finals, and the NBA Finals.

At Purdue, Schaus was the successor to George King, who was Schaus' successor at West Virginia.

After 1981, Schaus returned to WVU to serve as the athletic director.

Professional coaching/management career

Los Angeles Lakers

After the 1960 season, he left college coaching for the Los Angeles Lakers and reunited with his former WVU star, Jerry West. Schaus guided the Lakers to seven consecutive playoff appearances, including 4 Western Conference Championships in 5 years (1962, 1963, 1965 and 1966). He labeled the loss in 1966 (a Game 7 loss in Boston) as the “worst disappointment of my pro coaching career....If you don’t win it all, you’re nothing.” In 1967, he moved to the front office to become the Lakers general manager. He rebuilt the Lakers, eventually winning the 1972 NBA title. Not long after, Schaus was contacted by his friend George King (who had succeeded Schaus at West Virginia in 1960) about joining him at Purdue, as King wanted to focus on being the athletic director rather than being director and coach. Schaus accepted.

Head coaching record

College

Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
West Virginia Mountaineers (Southern Conference) (1954–1960)
1954–55 West Virginia 19–11 9–1 1st NCAA first round
1955–56 West Virginia 21–9 10–2 T–1st NCAA first round
1956–57 West Virginia 25–5 12–0 1st NCAA University Division First Round
1957–58 West Virginia 26–2 12–0 1st NCAA University Division First Round
1958–59 West Virginia 29–5 11–0 1st NCAA University Division Runner-up
1959–60 West Virginia 26–5 9–2 2nd NCAA University Division Regional Third Place
West Virginia: 146–37 (.798) 63–5 (.926)
Purdue Boilermakers (Big Ten Conference) (1972–1978)
1972–73 Purdue 15–9 8–6 T–3rd
1973–74 Purdue 21–9 10–4 3rd NIT Champion
1974–75 Purdue 17–11 11–7 T–3rd NCIT Semifinals
1975–76 Purdue 16–11 11–7 3rd
1976–77 Purdue 20–8 14–4 2nd NCAA Division I First Round
1977–78 Purdue 16–11 11–7 T–4th
Purdue: 104–60 (.634) 65–35 (.650)
Total: 250 – 97 (.720)

      National champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference tournament champion
      Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference division champion

Professional

Legend
Regular season G Games coached W Games won L Games lost W–L % Win–loss %
Playoffs PG Playoff games PW Playoff wins PL Playoff losses PW–L % Playoff win–loss %
Team Year G W L W–L% Finish PG PW PL PW–L% Result
LAL 1960–61 79 36 43 .456 2nd in Western 12 6 6 .500 Lost in Western Div. Finals
LAL 1961–62 80 54 26 .675 1st in Western 13 7 6 .538 Lost in NBA Finals
LAL 1962–63 80 53 27 .663 1st in Western 13 6 7 .462 Lost in NBA Finals
LAL 1963–64 80 42 38 .525 3rd in Western 5 2 3 .400 Lost in Western Div. Semifinals
LAL 1964–65 80 49 31 .613 1st in Western 11 5 6 .455 Lost in NBA Finals
LAL 1965–66 80 45 35 .563 1st in Western 14 7 7 .500 Lost in NBA Finals
LAL 1966–67 81 36 45 .444 3rd in Western 3 0 3 .000 Lost in Western Div. Semifinals
Career 560 315 245 .563 71 33 38 .465

Personal life

He is the father of Southern Conference Commissioner and former Ohio University and Wichita State University athletic director Jim Schaus.

Schaus died in Morgantown, West Virginia, on February 10, 2010. He was 84.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Fred Schaus para niños

  • List of NCAA Division I Men's Final Four appearances by coach
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