Eddie Fogler

Background

“I was a pretty good high school player growing up and did pretty well,” said Fogler. “North Carolina always had a tradition of looking in New York for players from Coach (Frank) McGuire who passed that down to Coach Smith. “I went to a summer camp in North Carolina before my senior year. I loved it and they felt I might be good enough to help their program. It worked out for me to become a student-athlete at Chapel Hill in 1966-1970. We played freshman ball and my freshman coach was Larry Brown.” As a junior, Fogler was a solid starter at guard and the Tar Heels reached the Final Four again as ACC Champions and ACC Tournament champions finishing with a 27–5 record. North Carolina lost in a semifinals game to Purdue (92–65) who was led by All-American Rick Mount.

After graduating from UNC with a degree in Mathematics, Fogler spent the next year teaching and coaching at DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Maryland, under prep legend Morgan Wooten. After one year in Hyattsville, Fogler would return to Chapel Hill as a graduate assistant for two seasons under Smith. He would spend 15 years as a Tar Heel assistant where the university won eight ACC Championships, five ACC Tournament Titles and made the Final Four four times with a national title in 1982 over Georgetown. Coaching for his mentor Smith was an experience of a lifetime for a young college coach.

Fogler served as an assistant college basketball coach at UNC and then served as the head basketball coach at Wichita State University, Vanderbilt University, and University of South Carolina.

From 1986 to 1989, he served as head coach at Wichita State University where he compiled a 61–32 (.656) record which included two NCAA Tournament appearances and one NIT berth for the Shockers.

From 1989 to 1994, Fogler served as the head coach at Vanderbilt where his Commodores compiled an 81–48 record. His 1989–90 team captured the NIT Championship with a 74–72 victory over St. Louis University. His 1992–93 team was ranked as high as #5 in the country and finished 28-6, including a 14–2 record in the SEC, a trip to the NCAA Tournament's "Sweet Sixteen", and he was named National Coach of the Year after winning the SEC championship. In the four years that he coached Vanderbilt, the Commodores achieved two NIT berths and two NCAA Tournament bids. Fogler's move from Vanderbilt to South Carolina, following the success of the team's 1992–93 season, left many Vanderbilt fans embittered toward the school's Athletic Director, Paul Hoolahan, and his handling of the matter.

From 1994 to 2001, Fogler coached at South Carolina. He coached the Gamecocks to two NCAA Tournament appearances. His best team was the 1996-97 unit, which won the school's only outright Southeastern Conference title and finished sixth in the final AP Poll—the highest final ranking in school history. That team, however, was upset by Coppin State in the first round. The Gamecocks were seeded second in the East Regional, their highest-ever seeding in an NCAA Tournament; their defeat at the hands of Coppin State was only the third time a #2 seed had lost in the first round. He compiled a 123–117 (.513) record at South Carolina. Commenting after his final game as a head coach, Fogler stated "It is very difficult with college athletics being the way it is today and the pressures. You are darned if you do, darned if you don't," Fogler said. "I'm leaving college basketball with my dignity, my integrity and my sanity."

Fogler now serves as an analyst for Fox Sports Network, guest hosts a one-hour, weekly, NCAA Basketball show on WGFX "104.5 FM The Zone" (sports talk) in Nashville, Tennessee, serves as an advisor to schools seeking new basketball coaches, and resides in Elgin, South Carolina with his wife, Robin, daughter, Emma, and son, Ben.