PROVO, Utah, June 8, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — Former BYU men’s basketball coach Frank Arnold died Saturday at age 89, university officials announced.
Arnold coached the Cougars from 1975 to 1983, winning three Western Athletic Conference titles and making three trips to the NCAA Tournament — including an Elite Eight appearance in 1981.
That ’81 BYU team featured future NBA players Danny Ainge, Greg Kite and Fred Roberts, and earned a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The Cougars defeated No. 11 seed Princeton and No. 3 seed UCLA in the opening two rounds to set up a matchup with second-seeded Notre Dame in the Sweet 16.
After trailing by 10 at halftime, the Cougars completed an improbable comeback capped by one of the more memorable moments in BYU basketball history: Ainge driving the length of the court in the final seconds to score the game-winning basket in a 51-50 victory over the Fighting Irish.
BYU was ousted in the Elite Eight by top-seeded Virginia, led by another future pro, Ralph Sampson.
Arnold led the Cougars to a 137–94 overall record (.593) in his eight seasons with the team, including a 71–45 mark in WAC play.
The Ogden native was an assistant coach at Oregon (1966-71) and UCLA (1971-75) before joining BYU as head coach. Arnold served under legendary coach John Wooden at UCLA, helping the Bruins to three NCAA titles in four seasons.
After BYU, he spent two seasons as head coach at Hawaii (1985-87) and later served as assistant coach at Arizona State (1987-89).
Arnold played college basketball at Idaho State from 1954-56.
