Frank Arnold, the BYU Cougars men’s basketball head coach who led the program to its only Elite Eight appearance in 1981, died Saturday at the age of 89, the school announced.
A native of Ogden, Utah, who grew up in Idaho, Arnold was an assistant coach at Oregon and then at UCLA under the legendary John Wooden before becoming the 13th head coach of the Cougars in 1975.
BYU won just 12 games in each of Arnold’s first three seasons at the helm, but the arrival of Danny Ainge and others who went on to play in the NBA changed the Cougars’ fortunes, and they won 69 games over the next three seasons, making the NCAA Tournament in all three.
After two second-round exits, BYU made it all the way to the Elite Eight in 1981 as Ainge (the national player of the year that season) made one of the most iconic shots in college basketball history when he took an inbounds pass coast-to-coast to beat Notre Dame by a point in the Sweet Sixteen.
The Cougars fell to the Virginia Cavaliers in the Elite Eight.
Arnold stayed at BYU for two more seasons, winning 28 games. In his eight seasons leading the Cougars, Arnold compiled a record of 137-94.
In 1985, Arnold became the head coach at Hawaii, where he stayed for two seasons. He finished his coaching career as an assistant at Arizona State for two seasons.