Charismatic coach Hugh Watson, who led NIC to 1997 NJCAA final four, dies at 84
Anyone fortunate enough to have crossed paths with Hugh Watson has a collection of stories they could tell about the affable basketball coach, who died Thursday at the age of 84.
Mark White, an assistant coach for Watson on North Idaho College’s 1997 team that made the Final Four at the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Tournament, shared one that had nothing to do with basketball and everything to do with Watson’s humanity.
“We were walking in the Boise Airport before flying back home and there was an elderly couple ahead of us and all of a sudden coach Watson starts speeding up,” White said. “He catches up and asks the lady, ‘What gate are you going to? Let me get your luggage for you.’ ”
“I always tell that story and it’s always shaped me throughout my life. There isn’t a better human being on this earth than Hugh Watson. I learned so much from him.”
So did Watson’s players. The Tennessee native fueled his players with confidence and freedom more so than Xs and Os and was rewarded with successful results at virtually every stop in four-plus decades of coaching.
“He wanted us to play freely and enjoy ourselves and make sure you make the right pass,” said Andre McKanstry, a key contributor on NIC’s 1997 squad. “He wanted to play fast and that’s what we liked to do. We came together as one unit and we pushed all the individual things out the window. That’s what he always preached: You have to be a team to win. Individuals only get you so far.”
Watson began his coaching career at Loudon (Tenn.) High before moving on to his alma mater Hiwassee College in Madisonville. He joined Larry Eustachy’s staff as an assistant at the University of Idaho, helping the Vandals win the 1993 Big Sky Conference regular-season championship.
Watson was hired at NIC in 1996 and immediately delivered one of the program’s most memorable seasons despite not having a player taller than 6-feet-4. The Cardinals, picked to finish fifth in the Scenic West Athletic Conference, won the Region 18 Tournament title and their first two games at the NJCAA Tournament before finishing fourth with a 30-5 record. They put up 97, 92, 103 and 116 points in four tournament games.
All five starters – McKanstry (Colorado State), the late Chris Harrison (Iona), Shawn Myrick (Cincinnati), Todd Myles (Mississippi State) and Cameron Banks (Idaho) – went on to play at Division I programs.
“That was almost 30 years ago and back then most coaches were not like him,” White recalled. “You had the tough, hard-nosed coaches. Coach Watson was ahead of his time in being a true players’ coach, just the way he treated them. He never said a curse word to a single kid. He gave you so much confidence, that’s the thing that let him be so successful in his career. Guys loved playing for him.”
Watson’s outgoing nature was the same on the court – he occasionally chatted with folks at the scorer’s table while the game was going on – and off the court. He dropped by NIC’s student union building nearly every morning for a pastry and coffee and visited with students, staff and instructors.
“I would watch him around people and he would be with the guy who was a millionaire or the mayor of the city and the next thing you know he was talking to the janitor and he treated them all the same way,” said Watson’s son, Gabe, a redshirt on the 1997 team. “He sprinkled fairy dust everywhere he went and it was a trail of smiles from everybody everywhere he went.”
“Never cussed or yelled,” McKanstry added, “but he would put his hand on your shoulder and whisper something in your ear and you knew you had to listen. He talked to you as a man.”
Watson coached eight seasons at NIC before returning to his home state as head coach at Division II Lincoln Memorial University. He stepped down after four years.
Watson was diagnosed with cancer in 2012 and told he had six months to live. He opted for aggressive treatments, including chemotherapy and stem cell therapy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He endured a lengthy hospital stay and lost his hair but regained his health and returned to running four miles a day. He also took another run at coaching in 2013 at Hiwassee before retiring for good after one year.
“We all thought he was going to die, but he comes out of it and all of sudden he tells us, “I’m going to coach again,’ ” Gabe Watson said.
Watson was inducted into NIC’s Hall of Fame in 2017 and Hiwassee’s Hall of Fame in 2008.
He is survived by wife Anna Sue, sons Gabe and Ty and daughter Leigh Ann, five grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Funeral services will be Monday in Sweetwater, Tennessee.
“He was like a father to a lot of us because he always preached about family,” McKanstry said. “He always said your family will always be there and it helped bring us together.”