Remembering Billy Hahn

Back in early April I lost one the most amazing, loyal and caring friends I’ve ever known. It’s taken me a few months to write about him because every time I started it became too difficult to continue. After a few starts and stops I finally found my footing and finished my story of the incredible Billy Hahn . . .

I first met Billy Hahn back in the summer of 1985. I was an assistant coach at Greenfield McClain in southern Ohio and was working a basketball camp at Ohio University. Billy was an assistant coach under Danny Nee there. It seems hard to believe now but Billy was 32 and I was 29. We hit it off immediately and it was the beginning of a life-long friendship.

The next season Coach Nee left for Nebraska and Billy was named the new Ohio University Head Coach. Over Billy’s 3-years at OU I began going to games and practices all the time, and of course myself and my teams never missed his legendary summer camps. Southern Ohio coaches still talk about Billy’s camps and all the fun we had there. I still recall all the great coaches I met there, including Jay Rees, Carl Wolf, Rick Scarberry, Joe Pangrazio, Geno Ford, Fran Fraschilla, Jay Wolfe and many many more. Trust me, there were no other camps like them anywhere and Billy is still loved in Athens by many people to this day.

About the time Billy was let go at OU I was named Head Coach at Paint Valley High School. I recall sitting in The Pub in Athens with Billy having lunch and I asked him what his next step would be. He said he’d been offered something but it wasn’t official yet. Then it hit me – Gary Williams had just left Ohio State to take the job at his alma mater, the University of Maryland. I asked him if he was going to Maryland (Billy’s alma mater too) with Gary and he just turned, tapped his beer to the bottle in my hand and smiled.

This was all happening in early May, and Maryland’s summer camps were just around the corner, in late June. A week or so after that meeting in The Pub Billy called and asked if I’d help get that first Maryland camp off the ground. Long story short that first camp had probably 50 kids from several southern Ohio schools as well as 12 coaches that I’d recruited to go to College Park with me to help.

All this led a long relationship with the University of Maryland, Coach Gary Williams, and of course my friendship with Billy only grew stronger. Those Maryland Camps were incredible, just like OU’s had been.

While at Maryland Billy Hahn became one of the greatest college recruiters of all-time. During his coaching career he recruited Tony Massenburg, Jerrod Mustaf, Keith Booth, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Laron Profit, Terence Morris, Obinna Ekezie, Steve Francis, Chris Wilcox, Lonny Baxter, Steve Blake, and Juan Dixon from Maryland alone. At OU he’d recruited legends Paul “Snoopy” Graham and Dave Jamerson. At LaSalle he’d future NBA players Steven Smith and Rasual Butler. All told Billy recruited 27 NBA players in an amazing career.

From 1989 to 2002 I worked camps in College Park. I respect Gary Williams more than just about anybody, putting him right up there with Bob Huggins and Billy. After all, the man took a program at Maryland that was in shambles after the death of Len Bias in the late 1980s and led them to a National Title in 2002. It’s one of the most incredible rebuilding jobs in the history of college basketball. He retired with a 33-year record of 668-380 and was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2014.

Legend.

Of course, I coached at all those Maryland Camps solely because of my friendship with Billy. None of it would have ever happened without him. I was the Camp Commissioner, which basically meant I didn’t do much but sort of oversee everything that went on during the week and make sure everyone showed up and taught what Gary wanted taught. Why was a high school coach from a small southern Ohio high school given the cushiest job at camp, a job that was handed to me over around 60 other high school, college and international coaches from all over the Eastern Seaboard and beyond?

You guessed it. Billy Hahn.

And man, I fostered some long-term relationships there, meeting many amazing coaches who have gone on to success since then. Guys like Jimmy Patsos who assisted Gary and also coached at Loyola (MD) and Siena College, Dave Dickerson (went on to assist at Ohio State, HC at Tulane, HC at Upstate South Carolina and now Associate HC back at Ohio State), Mike Lonergan, (coached at the University of Vermont and George Washington University), and successful high school and college coaches such as Mike Glick (now at Meade HS in Maryland), Josh Pratt (Archbishop Spaulding in Maryland), Andy Sachs (Salisbury University and Chesapeake College), Louis Twigg (LaSalle, Bowling Green and others – now with the NBA Academy in China) among many others.

I also met Coach Paul Coughter, who was the National Coach of Greece at the time. Coach Coughter was instrumental in getting me involved with basketball on the Caribbean island of Montserrat, and for that I’ll always be grateful.

Who recommended me to Coach Coughter as his replacement to train players on the gorgeous island nation of Montserrat?

Billy Hahn.

In addition, I was lucky enough to meet amazing players like Joe Smith, Steve Francis, Lonnie Baxter, Steve Blake, Walt “The Wizard” Williams, and many many more. Guys like Manute Bol and Chris Webber used to show up for evening workouts back then too.

Some of my greatest experiences involved meeting former Terp legends like Mo Howard and Len Elmore. Those two gentlemen in particular couldn’t have been nicer to me.

Billy used to give me seats in Row 1 right behind the Maryland bench during those times, and since College Park was near Washington DC (and Maryland was really good) a lot of celebrities would be at the games. People like Carl Bernstein, Robert Novak, Tony Kornheiser, Scott Van Pelt (a UM alum), and Michael Wilbon, all sat near me. I once sat by Steve Bisciotti, the owner of the Baltimore Ravens and founder of Under Armor, for an entire half before somebody told me who he was. I also distinctly remember a guy sitting beside me once that I thought looked familiar, like a distant uncle or something. I said hello and as we chatted it hit me . . . I was talking to Johnny Unitas.

I saw some amazing games there, including several contests against Duke, North Carolina, and Kentucky. Incredible memories for sure.

I met some of the greats through Billy – Jay Wright, Mike Krzyzewski, Bob Knight, Roy Williams, Bobby Cremins, Larry Shyatt, Rick Pitino, John Calipari, Dean Smith, Terry Holland, Jim Calhoun, Bill Self, Rick Barnes, John Chaney, Jerry Tarkanian and countless others. I sat in their coach’s offices and watched their private practices and game day walk throughs. One call from Billy and their doors would open. The one thing all these coaches had in common was that they treated me with respect, simply because of this fact – if Billy liked me I was good enough for them.

In an incredibly lucky twist of fate for me, Billy was hired to coach with my friend Bob Huggins in 2007 at West Virginia after a 3-year stint at LaSalle. Not only did this change my 6 1/2 -hour trip to camp in College Park to a 3 1/2 hour trip to Morgantown, it changed my summer plans from working at the University of Cincinnati and the University of Maryland to one all inclusive camp in Morgantown.

It was perfect.

During Billy’s years in Morgantown I was lucky enough to meet players like Da’Sean Butler, Jevon Carter, Kevin Jones, Joe Alexander, Juwan Staten, Devin Ebanks, and Alex Ruoff. I also met people like current Interim coach Josh Eilers, Coach Ron Everhart and Coach Erik Martin. And yes, I had the pleasure of meeting WVU legends Fred Schaus, Hot Rod Hundley and the logo himself, my childhood hero Jerry West.

I could tell many stories from camp but I won’t, mainly because what happened in College Park and Morgantown needs to stay in College Park and Morgantown. Trust me on that one. Let’s just say I’m pretty sure Jimmy Patsos saved my life once, and local guys like Craig Kerns, Joe Holbert, Joe Wills, Daron Myers, Thad Haines, Dave Tallman, Roman Diekan, Eric Snyder, Jason Smith, Shayne Combs and John Snyder would probably pay me to keep my mouth shut. Just kidding. Maybe it wasn’t that bad.

Maybe.

Bottom line, absolutely none of this would have happened without my friend Billy Hahn. I wouldn’t have met all those amazing college, international and high school coaches, I’d never have met all those NBA players, and I’d never have gone to the Caribbean where I still have relationships with people to this day that I cherish.

It was all because of Billy. He believed in me as a coach and as a human being. Billy was a man that was woven deeply into the fabric of my life, and my life will never be the same without him.

If I had to name the one most important thing I learned from Billy Hahn, it’s that life is all about relationships. No matter what occupation you’re in, relationships always matter most in each and every one of them. Billy was also the epitome of a straight shooter who would, without fail, tell me exactly what he was thinking even if he thought I might not like it. You simply cannot put a price on that kind of honesty.

Now he’s gone, and a huge part of a lot of people’s hearts are too. His wife Kathi, his son Matty and his daughter Ashley lost their hero, and I lost mine too. But trust me, nobody will ever forget Billy Hahn. His impact was so strong and lasting that he’ll be remembered forever. Just try mentioning his name to anyone who knew him without getting a smile in return.

You can’t.

Anyone who knew Billy has heard him talk about the Basketball Gods. I’m guessing he’s with them now, and I can see them sitting around him in the bleachers in a gym somewhere, listening and laughing to his jokes and stories.

Rest in peace my brother, and say hello to everyone for me.

We’ll all be along soon.