Bill Foster (basketball, born 1929)

William Edwin Foster (August 19, 1929 – January 7, 2016) was the head men's basketball coach at Rutgers University, University of Utah, Duke University, University of South Carolina, and Northwestern University.

Foster was born in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, in 1929 and grew up in Norwood, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia.

Foster began his coaching career at Philadelphia-area high schools in the 1950s.

One of his students in a typing class at Abington Senior High School was the daughter of Harry Litwack, the longtime basketball coach at Temple University.

Foster and Litwack became friends and business partners, and for about 25 years they operated a popular summer basketball camp in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains.

After serving in the U.S. Air Force, he graduated from Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, in 1954 with a bachelor of science degree.

In 1960, Foster was hired as the head coach at Bloomsburg State College (now Bloomsburg University), an NCAA Division II school in eastern Pennsylvania, where he compiled a 45–11 record over three years.

Foster's Division I career began in 1963 at Rutgers where he led the Scarlet Knights to an overall record of 120–75 (.615) in eight seasons.

In the 1966–67 season, the Scarlet Knights finished with a record of 22–7 and was invited to the National Invitation Tournament, the first time the school had qualified for postseason play.

Duke would win 15 of their final 19 games, en route to a 27–7 season, a final ranking of seventh, their first ACC Tournament title since 1966, and a trip to the NCAA Final Four.

It looked like the ride would end in the national semifinals, as Duke would be facing a 6th-ranked Notre Dame team in the semi-final that fielded eight future NBA players.

But Duke scored the upset 90–86, setting up a title matchup with powerhouse Kentucky.

Duke fought admirably, but Kentucky was too experienced and had the weight of the world on their shoulders from fans back in the bluegrass who wanted that long-awaited title.

Still, despite the loss the future looked tremendous for Duke.

In the 1970s, the four North Carolina member schools of the Atlantic Coast Conference participated in a tournament called "The Big Four Tournament".

Duke, taking on eighth-ranked rival North Carolina pulled off a Shocker in upsetting the Tar Heels 99–96 in overtime.

Foster began to slowly rebuild the program, bringing in one future great player a year.

After the 1971 season, Foster took the head coaching job at the University of Utah, replacing legendary Utah basketball coach Jack Gardner.

Though his stay with the Utes was short, just three seasons (1971–1974), he led the Utes to a 43–39 (.524) record.

He also guided the Utes to the 1974 NIT Championship game, where they finished as runner-up to Purdue.

Finishing with a 22–8 record, Foster accepted the head coach position at Duke.

Bill Foster's greatest success as a head coach would come at Duke, taking over a struggling program with a proud history that was searching for stability and strong leadership.

Duke was one of only eight schools at that time to have hit the 1,000-victory plateau and had once seen Final Fours and conference championships.

"I knew Duke from the [Vic] Bubas years when they were great, and I thought they could be great again, should be great again. I was a little shocked when they offered me the job, it just seemed like a great place to coach."

Foster once said.

Foster's first season of 1974–75 saw few highlights, but there was one.

First, it was future All-American Jim Spanarkel in 1975, then future Duke great Mike Gminski in 1976.

Those two joined senior prolific scorer Tate Armstrong for the 1976–77 season.

In addition to talented returnees Spanarkel and Gminski, Foster added Indiana transfer Bob Bender who was on the Hoosiers' legendary undefeated 1976 NCAA championship team and stunned everyone by getting a verbal commitment from one of the top players in America, Gene Banks.

Joining Banks were two good players in Kenny Dennard and John Harrell from nearby North Carolina Central.

The 1977–78 Duke Blue Devils begin to gain steam after a mid-January 92–84 win over second-ranked North Carolina.

The 1977–78 Blue Devils are the subject of John Feinstein's 1989 book Forever's Team.

He is best known for guiding Duke to the NCAA championship game in 1978, and that year he was named national Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

Foster was inducted into the Rutgers Basketball Hall of Fame and was the first NCAA coach to guide four teams to 20-win seasons (Rutgers, Utah, Duke, and South Carolina).

Foster was a graduate of Elizabethtown College.

The 1978–79 season saw Duke start the season as the No. 1-ranked team in the nation.

The Devils started out 12–3 that year with wins over 15th-ranked NC State and later at 15th ranked Tennessee.

But, it would not last.

In a game at Virginia, Tate Armstrong suffered a broken wrist and was lost for the season.

The young Blue Devils, full of potential but still a fragile unit, would never recover but the next year would produce a season that would nearly stun the college basketball world.