Gary Colson, who brought UNM basketball back from Lobogate, dies at 89

Nov. 4—Gary Colson, the courtly, fatherly coach who brought University of New Mexico men's basketball back to respectability after the Lobogate scandal of 1979-80, died on Friday in Santa Barbara, California. He was 89.

In reality, it seems fair to state that Colson brought the UNM program well beyond respectability. His 1983-84 Lobos won 24 games; his 1986-87 edition won 25. And, during his eight years at New Mexico, there were no echoes of Lobogate.

Larry Shyatt, who worked for Colson as a UNM assistant from 1982-88, said his former boss was unlike any coach he met before or since in his own 46-year career.

"He'll be thought of by many as a great coach who won a ton everywhere, won a lot of games," Shyatt said. "(But) he had a positive spirit about him that was just likable, if you were around him. ... He just enjoyed life. He loved ball, but I have a feeling he loved life even more."

Yet, behind Colson's generally relaxed demeanor was an intense desire to win and at times a high level of stress; nothing he'd experienced at Valdosta (Ga.) State or Pepperdine earlier in his coaching career had prepared him for the UNM "fishbowl."

Western Athletic Conference Tournament losses to Wyoming in 1987 and to UTEP the following year, both dashing hopes for the NCAA Tournament bid that eluded him while at New Mexico, left him with his head in his hands.

Though the Lobos never won a conference regular-season or tournament title during Colson's years on the bench, they made five National Invitation Tournament appearances in a row (1984-88).

And the best was yet to come, it was believed by many — had Colson not been fired/forced out after the 1987-88 season.

Expectations were sky-high for '87-88 after Colson's Lobos had gone 25-10 the previous season — snubbed by the NCAA Tournament selection committee because of a nonconference scheduled deemed too weak.

Joining holdovers Hunter Greene (21.1 points per game in '86-87) and 7-foot center Rob Loeffel (9.7 ppg, 5.5 rebounds per game) were power forward Charlie Thomas, a transfer from Wake Forest; 7-2 Australian freshman Luc Longley; and junior-college transfer point guard Jimmy Rogers.

Rogers and sophomore Darrell McGee looked ready to step in for departed star Kelvin Scarborough at point guard. Farmington guard Rob Robbins, who'd redshirted in 1986-87, was a deadly shooter.

Losses to Seton Hall and Iowa State in the preseason NIT, and to Washington in Seattle, created some doubts. But after the Lobos beat top-ranked Arizona, followed by a victory over fifth-ranked Wyoming a week later, the '87-88 Lobos appeared as good as advertised.

But then ...

Colson's Lobos lost to San Diego State and Hawaii — two of the Western Athletic Conference's weaker teams — on the road. The Lobos would go 8-9 the rest of the way, bow out of the WAC Tournament with a first-round loss to UTEP and end the season with an NIT loss to Ohio State in the Pit.

Even so, Lobo fans seemed to have a lot to look forward to.

Greene would be gone in '88-89, but Thomas, Loeffel, Robbins, McGee and Longley — just beginning to blossom into the dominant player he'd become — were returning.

Matt Othick, a talented guard from Las Vegas, Nevada with Albuquerque roots, had signed a UNM letter of intent; after Colson's firing, Othick found a loophole and signed with Arizona.

Tracy Murray, a sharpshooting small forward from Southern California, reportedly was leaning in UNM's direction. It was rumored that power forward Brian Williams, a close friend of Othick's, might transfer to UNM from Maryland. Williams ended up at Arizona with Othick.

None of this mattered to John Koenig, UNM's athletic director, hired in March of 1987. Colson's departure 14 months later was described at the time as a mutual agreement, a characterization belied by Colson's tears at his farewell news conference.

It was said that Koenig doubted Colson's ability to get the Lobos to the NCAA Tournament.

When the Lobos did finally make the tournament in 1991 under Dave Bliss, Colson's successor, Colson recruits Longley, Robbins and Albuquerque High's Willie Banks were the team's leading scorers.

Colson left UNM with a record of 146-106, this on the heels of a scandal that shook the program to its foundation.

The Lobogate scandal involved forged academic transcripts and bogus junior-college credits, this done on the watch of popular coach Norm Ellenberger.

Ellenberger was fired in December 1979. Interim coach Charlie Harrison, left with a skeleton of a team after ineligible players were removed from the roster, managed to go 7-21 in 1979-80.

Colson was hired in December 1979 but didn't coach the Lobos that season.

"To have a winning percentage like that after coming back from perhaps (among) the top three decimating scandals, probably in the history of basketball or football," Shyatt said of Colson's dismissal, "it didn't make sense."

Born in Logansport, Indiana, Colson moved to Georgia with his family at age 13. He excelled in basketball and as a baseball pitcher for Dasher Bible School, now Georgia Christian, in Valdosta.

After starring in both sports at Lipscomb College in Tennessee, beginning his coaching career there as an assistant, he returned to Georgia and became Valdosta State's head coach in 1958. He went 174-69 there, winning seven conference titles in 10 years, and took the Rebels (now the Blazers) to two NAIA national tournaments before leaving for Pepperdine in Malibu, California.

In 11 years at Pepperdine, Colson won a West Coast Athletic Conference title, took the Waves to two NCAA Tournaments and coached future NBA players Dennis Johnson and William "Bird" Averitt.

After UNM, Colson was the head coach at Fresno State from 1990-95. He worked as an assistant at California and UCSB, and as a special assistant to Jerry West with the Memphis Grizzlies before retiring with a head-coaching record of 563-385.

Colson was an offensive-minded coach with an admittedly laissez-faire approach to defense. "I just try to outscore people," he once said.

He was a father figure to many of his players — and to some of his assistant coaches as well — and practiced an open-door policy. Whenever one of his players would call his office, he would immediately drop whatever he was doing and take the call.

A heart attack Colson had suffered while coaching at Pepperdine, Shyatt said, might have accounted in part for his basketball-isn't-life attitude.

"Perhaps that had given him a different type of balance than many and most coaches embodied," he said.

Colson is survived by his wife, Mary Katherine, sons Rick and Wade and daughter Garianne.