Copyright The Philadelphia Inquirer
Add another accomplishment to the ever-growing legend of college basketball coaching great Herb Magee. On Friday, the former Philadelphia University (now Jefferson) men’s head coach was inducted into the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame. This honor joined a decorated list of achievements for Magee, 84, who has been inducted into the Philadelphia University Athletics Hall of Fame, the Philadelphia Area Small College Basketball Hall of Fame, the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame, the Middle Atlantic Conferences Hall of Fame, the National College Basketball Hall of Fame, and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. After playing for the school, then known as Philadelphia Textile, from 1959-63, Magee turned down an offer to play for the Boston Celtics to return to the university as an assistant head coach under Walter “Bucky” Harris, a position he held for four years. He then became the head coach in 1967 and held that title through 2022, becoming the fourth men’s basketball coach all-time to coach for 50 years, and the third to have his entire tenure at one school. Throughout that time, Magee helped turn the university’s basketball program into an Eastern Region powerhouse. He ended his coaching career as the winningest NCAA Division II men’s basketball coach of all time, as well as the winningest coach in all of small college basketball history with 1,144 wins. » READ MORE: Steve Donahue is ‘committed to winning’ in Year 1 at St. Joe’s and might have the pieces to do it He’s just one of three coaches in NCAA men’s basketball history to reach the 1,000-win mark and one of only two coaches in NCAA history to reach 1,100 wins. Magee helped lead the Rams to 31 NCAA tournament appearances, with one national championship in 1970, and 13 conference championships. During the national title run in 1969-70, Magee’s Textile team started off 1-2 before rattling off 20 straight wins, winning 26 of those contests by an average margin of over 23 points. Additionally, the Rams recorded 20-win seasons in 38 out of his 54 years in charge, along with 12 25-win seasons. From 1991-1995, his teams won 80 consecutive home games, which stood as the longest home winning streak in NCAA Division II men’s basketball history for 30 years. Under Magee, Jefferson’s program saw the birth of 13 All-Americans, 49 1,000-point scorers, and three 2,000-point scorers, most notably former guard Christian Burns, who Magee coached to become the NCAA Division II Player of the Year in 2007.
