Denny Crum, who won two N.C.A.A. men’s basketball championships and built the University of Louisville into one of the dominant programs of the 1980s during a long Hall of Fame coaching career, died on Tuesday at his home in Louisville, Ky. He was 86.
The university announced his death after being informed by his wife, Susan. No cause was given. Crum had a mild stroke in August 2017 while fishing in Alaska and another two years two ago.
Nicknamed Cool Hand Luke because of his unflinching sideline demeanor, Crum retired in March 2001 after 30 seasons at Louisville with a record of 675-295 and championships in 1980 and 1986.
A former assistant under the renowned U.C.L.A. coach John Wooden, Crum often wore a red blazer and waved a rolled-up stat sheet like a bandleader’s baton as he directed Louisville to 23 N.C.A.A. tournaments and six Final Fours. He was voted college coach of the year three times.
He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., in May 1994, with Wooden, his college coach at U.C.L.A. and longtime mentor, at his side. Crum finished with 11 more wins than Wooden had amassed at U.C.L.A. and was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, in Kansas City, Mo., in 2006.
Denzel Edwin Crum was born on March…
