Hall of Fame
Credited with guiding Towson through its early formative years of Division I basketball, Terry Truax led his teams to seven winning records, three conference tournament championships, four conference regular season titles and two trips to the NCAA post-season tournament in his 14 seasons (1983-1997) as the Tigers’ head men’s basketball coach.
After a rough start in his first three seasons while building the program, Truax posted a 177-143 record over his final 11 years. During that time he was named Coach of the Year twice in both the East Coast Conference and Big South Conference. He was honored as Towson’s Coach of the Year in 1989.
He was the only coach in the history of the now defunct ECC to win three straight tournament championships. Five of his former players are members of Towson’s Hall of Fame.
Hired in 1983 as Towson’s eighth men’s basketball coach, Truax’s vast experience had an immediate impact on the fledgling program, most especially in recruiting. His first incoming class included players from Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas, Virginia and California. 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 pounded 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 had 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.
One of the biggest wins under Truax was an 81-69 thumping of Denny Crum’s Louisville Cardinals before a packed Towson Center. Truax’s Tigers also spoiled the day for Gale Catlett, beating West Virginia 81-78 in a game played at Shepherd College to commemorate the Mountaineer coach’s homecoming.
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 Division I 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. 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.”
After leaving Towson Truax coached on varied levels that included stops at the Baltimore Bay Runners of the International League, Hagerstown Community College and Yeshivat Rambam School in Baltimore. He closed out his career on the international scene, coaching teams in China and South Korea.
Coach Truax passed away February 16, 2015 at the age of 70.
