Lou Henson

Lou Henson
Sport(s)	Basketball
Biographical details
Born	January 10, 1932 (1932-01-10)
Place of birth	Okay, Oklahoma
Playing career
1950-1954	New Mexico State
Position(s)	Guard
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1962-1966 1966-1975 1975-1996 1997–2005	Hardin-Simmons New Mexico State Illinois New Mexico State
Head coaching record
Overall	779-422 (.649)

Lou Henson (born January 10, 1932) is a former college basketball coach. He retired as the all time leader in victories at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with 423 victories and New Mexico State with 289 victories. Overall he had 779 victories, putting him in sixth place on the all-time list.

Henson began his coaching career at Las Cruces High School in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Henson was head coach of the varsity for four seasons, and won state championships in 1959, 1960, and 1961.

He started coaching at the college ranks in 1962 at Hardin-Simmons University. In 1966, he took over at his alma mater, New Mexico State University. In his first season at NMSU, the Aggies rebounded from a 4-22 record in the prior season to finish 15-11 and went to the NCAA Tournament. In 1970, Henson would help lead the Aggies to the Final Four for the only time in the school's history. Henson and future NBA players Jimmy Collins, Sam Lacey, and Charlie Criss lost in the tournament semifinal to eventual champion UCLA, the third time in three years the Aggies lost to UCLA in the tournament. Henson coached at New Mexico State for nine seasons, with six trips to the NCAA Tournament and four twenty-win seasons.

In 1975, Henson moved to the University of Illinois to replace Gene Bartow, after Bartow left Illinois to replace John Wooden at UCLA. He would lead the Fighting Illini to the 1989 Final Four. Henson retired in 1996, after 21 seasons at Illinois. Henson finished his tenure at Illinois with an overall record of 423 wins and 224 losses (.654 winning percentage), and with a record of 214 wins and 164 losses (.567) in Big Ten Conference games. The 214 wins in Big Ten games were the third highest total ever at the time of his retirement. At Illinois, Henson coached many future NBA players, including Eddie Johnson, Derek Harper, Ken Norman, Nick Anderson, Kendall Gill, Kenny Battle, Marcus Liberty, Steve Bardo, and Kiwane Garris and was known for his trademark, Lou-Do.

In 1997, Henson returned to coaching at New Mexico State, after a scandal forced the removal of the school's head coach immediately prior to the start of the basketball season. Henson coached the first season as the interim head coach with a salary of $1 USD per month, but after a successful season agreed to stay as head coach. In 2005, he retired from coaching because of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Health problems

In July 2007, Henson announced that he was again undergoing chemotherapy for the same strain of lymphoma that he had battled four years previously. He was undergoing treatment in Champaign, Illinois, where he lives in the summer.

Head coaching record

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Hardin-Simmons Cowboys () (1962–1966)
1962-63	Hardin-Simmons	10-16
1963-64	Hardin-Simmons	20-6
1964-65	Hardin-Simmons	17-8
1965-66	Hardin-Simmons	20-6
Hardin-Simmons:		67-36 (.650)
New Mexico State Aggies (Independent/Missouri Valley Conference) (1966–1975)
1966-67	New Mexico State	15-11
1967-68	New Mexico State	23-6			NCAA Far West Regional
1968-69	New Mexico State	24-5			NCAA Far West Regional
1969-70	New Mexico State	27-3			NCAA Final Four
1970-71	New Mexico State	19-8	0-0‡		NCAA First Round
1971-72	New Mexico State	19-6	0-0‡
1972-73	New Mexico State	12-14	6-7	4th (T)
1973-74	New Mexico State	14-11	7-6	3rd (T)	NCAA 1st Round
1974-75	New Mexico State	20-7	11-3	2nd	NCAA 1st Round
New Mexico State:		173-71	24-16	‡ NMSU ineligible for conference championship
Illinois Fighting Illini (Big Ten Conference) (1975–1996)
1975 - 76	Illinois	14 - 13	7 - 11	7th (T)
1976 - 77	Illinois	16 - 14	8 - 10	6th
1977 - 78	Illinois	13 - 14	7 - 11	7th
1978 - 79	Illinois	19 - 11	7 - 11	7th
1979 - 80	Illinois	22 - 13	8 - 10	6th (T)	NIT 3rd Place
1980 - 81	Illinois	21 - 8	12 - 6	3rd	NCAA 2nd Round
1981 - 82	Illinois	18 - 11	10 - 8	6th	NIT 2nd Round
1982 - 83	Illinois	21 - 11	11 - 7	2nd (T)	NCAA 1st Round
1983 - 84	Illinois	26 - 5	15 - 3	1st(T)	NCAA Elite Eight
1984 - 85	Illinois	26 - 9	12 - 6	2nd	NCAA Sweet 16
1985 - 86	Illinois	22 - 10	11 - 7	4th (T)	NCAA 2nd Round
1986 - 87	Illinois	23 - 8	13 - 5	4th	NCAA 1st Round
1987 - 88	Illinois	23 - 10	12 - 6	3rd (T)	NCAA 2nd Round
1988 - 89	Illinois	31 - 5	14 - 4	2nd	NCAA Final Four
1989 - 90	Illinois	21 - 8	11 - 7	4th (T)	NCAA 1st Round
1990 - 91	Illinois	21 - 10	11 - 7	3rd (T)
1991 - 92	Illinois	13 - 15	7 - 11	8th
1992 - 93	Illinois	19 - 13	11 - 7	3rd (T)	NCAA 2nd Round
1993 - 94	Illinois	17 - 11	10 - 8	4th (T)	NCAA 1st Round
1994 - 95	Illinois	19 - 12	10 - 8	5th (T)	NCAA 1st Round
1995 - 96	Illinois	18 - 13	7 - 11	9th	NIT 1st Round
Illinois:		423 - 224	214 - 164
New Mexico State Aggies (Big West Conference/Sun Belt Conference) (1997–2005)
1997 - 98	New Mexico State	18 - 12	8 - 8*	7th(T)
1998 - 99	New Mexico State	23 - 10	12 - 4	1st	NCAA 1st Round
1999 - 2000	New Mexico State	22 - 10	11 - 5	7th	NIT 1st Round
2000 - 01	New Mexico State	14 - 14	10 - 6	2nd West (T)
2001 - 02	New Mexico State	20 - 12	11 - 4	1st West (T)	NIT 3rd Place
2002 - 03	New Mexico State	20 - 9	9 - 6	2nd West	NCAA 2nd Round
2003 - 04	New Mexico State	13 - 14	6 - 9	4th West (T)	NIT 2nd Round
2004 - 05	New Mexico State	5 - 13†	1 - 4	6th West	NCAA 1st Round
New Mexico State:		135-86	66-46	* Record vacated due to NCAA infractions. † Henson replaced by Tony Stubblefield 1/22/05.
Total:		779-422
National champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference tournament champion       Conference regular season & conference tournament champion       Conference division champion

See also

• List of college men's basketball coaches with 600 wins
• List of NCAA Men's Division I Final Four appearances by coach

External links

• Lou Henson Retires as New Mexico State Head Coach