TOWSON, Md. – Terry Truax, Towson University men's basketball coach whose tenure spanned 14 years and included the Tigers' only two appearances in the NCAA Division I Tournament, died Monday night at Inova Fairfax Hospital following a stroke. Coach Truax was 70-years-old.

"Coach Truax was a true gentleman and obviously a great coach," said Towson Head Coach Pat Skerry. "I'll forever miss my phone conversations with him and his words of wisdom. If you spend time with any of his former players and listen to their stories about him, you get a tremendous sense of how much they enjoyed playing for Coach Truax."

Hired in 1983 as Towson's eighth men's basketball coach, Truax was credited with helping launch the Tigers' move to the Division I level of NCAA basketball.

"During the interview process I recall Terry was the only candidate to present a plan to move us forward in Division I," says Sally Vansant Souris, the university's vice-president of institutional advancement at the time who has remained a loyal friend to the Truax family throughout the years. "He was clearly the best choice."

Truax's vast experience had an immediate impact on the fledgling program, most especially in recruiting. His first incoming class included Billy Leonard (McKeesport, Pa.), Roddy Kirk (Jacksonville, Fla.), Eliezar Gordon (Houston, Tex.), Chris Comeaux (Terrance, Calif.) and Gary Brown (Williamsburg, Va.).

In just their fifth Division I season, Truax began taking advantage of his vast array of contacts to book a formidable non-conference schedule. In his first game as the Tigers' head coach, Towson was beaten soundly, 93-53, at Virginia Tech. But the new coach had sent a message. Towson would face teams from bigger programs whenever it could schedule them. Over his 14 years the Tigers met the likes of Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Colorado, Dayton, Florida, Georgetown, Louisville, Maryland, Miami, New Mexico, North Carolina, N.C. State, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Pepperdine, Purdue, St. John's, South Carolina, SMU, Syracuse, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. Nine of those schools have won at least one national championship.

The Tigers took their licks but they managed to deliver some blows of their own too.

Towson opened the 1993-94 season by stunning host St. John's 66-65 in the Pre-Season NIT. Several weeks later the Tigers held on to beat Dayton 72-70 in Ohio. The Tigers finished the year 21-9 for their best Division I record to date (based on win percentage) and that win total was only surpassed by Pat Skerry's 2013-14 Towson team that went 25-11.

One of the biggest wins under Truax was an 81-69 thumping of Denny Crum's Louisville Cardinals before a packed Towson Center as Ralph Blalock scored a game-high 26 points. Truax's Tigers also spoiled the day for Gale Catlett when Blalock's buzzer beating three pointer beat West Virginia 81-78 in a game played at Shepherd College to commemorate the Mountaineer coach's homecoming.

The highlight of Truax's career was a six-year stretch (112-65) where the Tigers dominated the now defunct East Coast Conference, winning three consecutive tournament titles that earned Towson its only trips to the NCAA Division I Tournament. In 1990 with Kurk Lee, Kennell Jones Kelly Williamson and Mike Morin leading the way the Tigers downed Lehigh 73-60 to win the tournament. They went on to face top seeded Oklahoma. The Sooners prevailed 77-68.

The following year the Tigers beat Rider 69-63 for the ECC title behind the play of Devin Boyd, Lewis Waller, John James, Chuck Lightening, Terrance Jacobs, Larry Brown and Matt Campbell. Ohio State ended the season for Towson with a 97-86 NCAA Tournament win.

A native of Hancock, Md., Truax was an All-State player at Hancock High School where he earned 12 varsity letters. From Hancock he made his way to the University of Maryland where he played basketball for Bud Millikan. He was a Terrapin teammate of Gary Williams, Joe Harrington and Billy Jones, all of whom went on to enjoy college coaching careers of their own.

Truax embarked on his coaching career at DeMatha High School under the celebrated Morgan Wootten. In two years he helped the Stag varsity to a 63-4 record. His jayvee team won 50 consecutive games. One of his former Stag players, Adrian Dantley, went on to become a consensus All-American at Notre Dame who would score 23,177 points over an illustrious 15-year NBA career. From 1993-96 Dantley served as a Towson assistant coach under Truax.

In 1970 Truax began his collegiate coaching career working on Dean Smith's staff at North Carolina when the Tar Heels went 26-5 and captured the NIT title.

"The call I received from Coach Smith endorsing Terry was very flattering," recalls Terry Wanless, who was the interim director of athletics at the time of Truax's interview and who recently retired as the AD at Sacramento State. "I passed it on to the committee and it weighed heavily on the decision."

After a year at UNC Truax was off to the University of Virginia as an assistant. Next he served as an associate head coach under John Lotz at Florida. From 1976-81 he was the top assistant to Bill Blair at Colorado. His last two years as an assistant were spent at Mississippi State under Bob Boyd.

Known and respected for his candor and humor, when asked just before the start of his first season with the Tigers where he would like to see the Towson State program in five years, he answered, "I have three long range goals for the TSU program …. First I would like to read in our media guide where every senior earned his degree …. Second we would like to improve the quality of play in order to consistently be an ECC contender and earn the right to play in the NCAA post season tournament. Third, we would like to see the Towson Center with capacity crowds …. If we can accomplish these three goals, then I'm going to ask for my own parking space at the Towson Center before 1988."

Truax is survived by sons Scott of North Carolina and Brad of New York and a daughter, Annie of Baltimore. Terry was predeceased by his wife, Pam. A memorial for Truax will be held on Sunday, Feb. 22 at 12 noon in the Potomac Lounge in the University Union.


-TowsonTigers.com-