Bruce Drake

Bruce Drake

Biographical details
Born	(1905-12-05)December 5, 1905
Died	December 4, 1983(1983-12-04) (aged 77)
Playing career
1926–1929	Oklahoma
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1938–1955	Oklahoma
Head coaching record
Overall	200–182(.524)
Tournaments	4–3(.571)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
5 Big Six Championship (1939, 1940, 1942, 1944, 1947) Big Seven Championship (1949) NCAA Runner-up (1947) NCAA Final Four (1939)
Awards
1929 Helms Foundation All-American
Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 1973 (profile)
College Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 2006

Bruce Drake (December 5, 1905 – December 4, 1983) was a college men's basketball coach. The Gentry, Texas native was head coach at the University of Oklahoma between 1938 and 1955, compiling a 200–181 record. He also coached the Air Force team to a 34–14 record in 1956.

Prior to coaching, he was also a star for Hugh McDermott's Oklahoma team. He was a 1928–29 Helms Foundation All-American.

As a coach, Drake led the Sooners to two Final Fours–the first one in 1939, here they lost to Oregon 55–37; the second in 1947, where he lost in the Championship Game to Holy Cross 58–47. He made only one additional NCAA tournament appearance, in 1943. However, he coached at a time when only eight teams made the tournament. He won or shared six (Big Six/Big Seven conference titles. At the time of his retirement, he was the winningest coach in OU history, but is now third behind Billy Tubbs and Kelvin Sampson.

He coached 5 Olympic (Wayne Glasgow and Marcus Freiberger of University of Oklahoma, 1952; Bill Evans, Ron Tomsic and Gib Ford of Air Force team, 1956) and three All-Americans (Jimmy McNatt, 1940; Gerald Tucker, 1943, 1947; Allie Paine, 1944)

Drake was selected as the assistant coach for the 1956 USA Men's Basketball Gold Medal Olympic Team

In 1958 he coached the Wichita Vickers in the National Industrial Basketball League getting 30–21 record tying him for first with his old player Gerald Tucker who was coaching the Bartlesville Phillips 66ers.

One of the lasting contributions Drake developed is the shuffle offense. He helped make goaltending illegal.

Drake was the Chairman of the NCAA Rules Committee from 1951–55. He made the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach in 1973.

Head coaching record

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Oklahoma Sooners (Big Six Conference) (1938–1947)
1938–39	Oklahoma	12–9	7–3	T-1st	NCAA Final Four
1939–40	Oklahoma	12–7	8–2	T-1st
1940–41	Oklahoma	6–12	5–5	4th
1941–42	Oklahoma	11–7	8–2	T-1st
1942–43	Oklahoma	18–9	7–3	2nd	NCAA Elite Eight
1943–44	Oklahoma	15–8	9–1	T-1st
1944–45	Oklahoma	12–13	5–5	T-3rd
1945–46	Oklahoma	11–10	7–3	2nd
1946–47	Oklahoma	24–7	8–2	1st	NCAA Runner-up
Oklahoma Sooners (Big Seven Conference) (1947–1955)
1947–48	Oklahoma	13–9	7–5	T-2nd
1948–49	Oklahoma	14–10	9–3	T–1st
1949–50	Oklahoma	12–10	6–6	T-4th
1950–51	Oklahoma	14–10	6–6	4th
1951–52	Oklahoma	7–17	4–8	T-4th
1952–53	Oklahoma	8–13	5–7	T–4th
1953–54	Oklahoma	8–13	4–8	6th
1954–55	Oklahoma	3–18	1–11	7th
Oklahoma:		200–182 (.524)	106–80(.570)
Total:		200–182(.524)
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

See also

• List of NCAA Division I Men's Final Four appearances by coach

External links

• Bruce Drake at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame