Digger Phelps

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Richard "Digger" Phelps (born July 4, 1941) was the coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish basketball team in the 1970s, 1980s, and part of the 1990s. The nickname "Digger" derives from his birthplace of Beacon, New York, where his father owned a funeral service. Professional baseball player Jamie Moyer is his son-in-law. He is an analyst on College GameNight

1 Career
- 1.1 After Notre Dame
2 Personal
3 Interesting Facts

[edit] Career

Phelps began his coaching career in 1963 as a graduate assistant at Rider College (now Rider University), where he had played basketball. After a move to St. Gabriel's High School in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, he obtained his first full assistant job in 1966 at the University of Pennsylvania. His first head coaching job came in 1970 at Fordham University. After leading the Fordham Rams to a 26-3 record in the 1970-71 season, he was named head coach at the University of Notre Dame.

During his 20 seasons at Notre Dame (1971-91), his teams went 393-197, with 14 seasons of 20 wins or more. In 1978, Notre Dame made its only Final Four to date. His most-remembered game was on January 19, 1974, when the Fighting Irish scored the last 12 points of the game to defeat top-ranked UCLA 71-70, ending the Bruins' record 88-game winning streak. He shares the NCAA record for most upsets over a #1 team at seven (Gary Williams also has 7).

Date	Opponent	Score
January 19, 1974	UCLA	71-70
March 5, 1977	San Francisco	93-82
February 26, 1978	Marquette	65-59
February 27, 1980	DePaul	76-74 (2ot)
December 27, 1980	Kentucky	67-61
February 22, 1981	Virginia (UVA)	57-56
February 1, 1987	North Carolina (UNC)	60-58

[edit] After Notre Dame

After retiring from coaching, he briefly worked for the Office of National Drug Control Policy and also served as an observer in the 1993 elections in Cambodia. Also in 1993, he began a broadcasting career. Starting in that year, he announced color commentary for that year's NCAA tournament for CBS. He joined ESPN the next season.

Phelps also is a great fan of opera. The well-rounded former coach made a cameo appearance in the Notre Dame student opera performance of Offenbach's "Orpheus in the Underworld". Phelps played the part of Baccus, the God of Wine, in two performances in April of 2006.

Phelps also released a biography in 2007, entitled "Undertaker's Son: Life Lessons from a Coach." Phelps co-wrote the book with Jack Colwell, and the book details Phelps' upbringing, professional success, life principles and even lists his "Top 20" songs of all-time.

[edit] Personal

Phelps resides in South Bend and has three adult children. His oldest, Karen, is married to baseball pitcher Jamie Moyer. Digger is also a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity. He also was known as "Chesshead" in high school because of his exceptional skills in chess.

[edit] Interesting Facts

During on-air ESPN analysis, Phelps will always have a highlighter in his hand that is the same color as the tie that he is wearing.

Preceded by Ed Conlin	Fordham University Basketball Head Coach 1970–1971	Succeeded by Hal Wissel
Preceded by John Dee	Notre Dame Basketball Head Coach 1971–1991	Succeeded by John MacLeod

v • d • e Fordham Rams Head Basketball Coaches

McLaughlin • Fisher • Black • O'Donnell • Mahoney • Siskind • C. Risacher • Neary • Siskind • Devlin • Kinney • Butler • Culloton • Kelleher • Cavanaugh • Kelleher • Adams • Bach • Conlin • Phelps • Wissel • Stewart • Penders • Quinn • Macarchuk • Hill • Whittenburg

v • d • e Notre Dame Fighting Irish Head Basketball Coaches

Hering • Powers • Maris • Nelson • Harper • Dorais • Halas • Keogan • Krause • Crowe • Ripley • Krause • Jordan • Dee • Phelps • MacLeod • Doherty • Brey