LaDell Andersen

LaDell Andersen (born October 25, 1929) is a former professional and collegiate basketball coach.

Career

Born in Malad City, Idaho, Andersen attended Utah State University, where he became a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. He was an All-Skyline Conference and an honorable mention All-American basketball player in 1951. He was also invited and competed in the 1952 United States Men’s Olympic Basketball team tryouts at New York City.

Andersen was hired in 1956 as an assistant coach for legendary University of Utah coach Jack Gardner. Andersen left the Utes in 1961 to become head coach of his alma mater.

During his tenure as the Aggies head coach, Utah State made four appearances in the NCAA Basketball Tournament including a trip to the NCAA Final 8 in 1970 losing to eventual champion UCLA. Andersen also led them to two appearances in the National Invitation Tournament. He complied a record of 176-96 (.647) at the school from 1961-1971. Former LSU coaching great Dale Brown served as an assistant coach during Andersen’s tenure. Andersen recommended Brown as his successor, but when USU officials rejected the idea, Brown went to Washington State for one season as an assistant before succeeding Press Maravich as LSU's coach.

Andersen was also the head coach of the American Basketball Association’s Utah Stars for two seasons (1971–72 and 1972–73). Andersen had success with the team and led them to two Western Division regular season titles but both seasons were ended by the Indiana Pacers in the Western Division playoff finals. Andersen compiled a 115-43 (.684) regular season coaching record with the Stars. Despite his success with the Stars, Andersen resigned after his second season with the team.

He returned to Utah State University and was appointed as the school's athletic director in 1973. Andersen held the post for ten years until he was lured back into coaching again in 1983 for Brigham Young University.

Andersen coached the Cougars for six years and compiled a 114-71 (.616) record. BYU made four post season appearances including three in the NCAA Basketball Tournament and one in the National Invitation Tournament. He resigned as BYU head coach in 1989 and was replaced by Roger Reid.

Andersen continued to be involved in basketball acting as a scout and consultant for the NBA’s Utah Jazz organization, partly because of his connections with former Utah State player and longtime Jazz assistant Phil Johnson. It is believed that he was the person who scouted John Stockton and encouraged the Jazz to draft him when they did.

Head coaching record

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Utah State Aggies (1961-1962 Skyline 8,1962-1971 Independent) (1961–1971)
1961–62	Utah St	22-7	12-2	2nd	NCAA 2nd Round
1962–63	Utah St	20-7		Ind.	NCAA 1st Round
1963–64	Utah St	21-8		Ind.	NCAA 2nd Round
1964–65	Utah St	13-12		Ind.
1965–66	Utah St	12-14		Ind.
1966–67	Utah St	20-6		Ind.	NIT 1st Round
1967–68	Utah St	14-11		Ind.
1968–69	Utah St	9-17		Ind.
1969–70	Utah St	22-7		Ind.	NCAA Elite Eight
1970–71	Utah St	20-7		Ind.	NCAA 1st Round
Utah St:		173-96	12-2
Brigham Young Cougars (WAC) (1983–1989)
1983–84	BYU	20-11	12-4	2nd	NCAA 2nd Round
1984–85	BYU	15-14	9-7	T-3rd
1985–86	BYU	18-14	11-5	4th	NIT 2nd Round
1986–87	BYU	21-11	12-4	2nd	NCAA 1st Round
1987–88	BYU	26-6	13-3	1st	NCAA 2nd Round
1988–89	BYU	14-15	7-9	5th
BYU:		114-71	64-32
Total:		287-167
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

Honors

• Member of the Utah Sports Hall of Fame
• Named one of the Top 100 Most Accomplished People in the State of Utah, 1888-1998.

External links

• Basketball Reference.com page