Arizona Athletics: Top 5 Arizona Wildcat greatest impact coaches

No.5 Fred Snowden 1972-1982

The fox, Fred Snowden. One of the top 3 Arizona basketball coaches of all time, Snowden’s teams knew how to score and knew how to win. In his 10 year tenure at Arizona, Snowden had an overall record of 167-108. He took the Wildcats to the NCAA tournament twice, in 1976 and 1978, advancing as far as the Elite 8 in 1976, earning the program their first tournament wins before Lute Olson took over. That year he had the great Bob Elliot, Al Fleming and also Gilbert Myles on his roster.

Similar to how college and especially in the NBA where teams are consistently scoring over 100 points per game, under Snowden the Wildcats topped 100 points in 27 games! This style of offense had an immediate impact to Arizona Athletics. It brought excitement to Tucson, which resulted in an increase of attendance. For his efforts, in his first season with Arizona he was named WAC Coach of the Year.

He was also part of several transitions that Arizona basketball went through. In 1973, they went from playing inside Bear Down Gymnasium to McKale Center. Also, in his last 4 seasons as head coach, the Wildcats went from playing in the WAC to the Pac-10 (now know as the Pac-12). This was an hard adjustment to make as they did not make the post season during this time.

Snowden’s style of offense and producing the first NCAA Tournament win set the stage perfectly for the next era of Wildcat basketball under coach Lute Olson.