44 // VARSITY February 20, 2014
INSIDE
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Black History Month: Pair
of pioneers led UW hoops
Badgers hired first black coaches in Big Ten
BY PATRICK HERB @BADGERMBB
A
s we celebrate Black
History Month all
across the country,
Wisconsin needs look no fur-
ther than its men's and wom-
en's basketball programs to
find pioneers.
At a time when hardly any
African-Americans were head
coaches, the University of Wis-
consin had two atop its men's
and women's basketball teams
In 1976, Bill Cofield became
the first African-American to
coach basketball in the Big Ten
Conference. That same sum-
mer, Edwina Qualls was hired
as the Big Ten's first black head
women's basketball coach.
"There were some people
who weren't ready for that
breakthrough," Bo Ryan would
write about Cofield's hiring in
his book, Another Hill to Climb.
"All coaches have a burden
of expectations. From my per-
spective, there was an additional burden
for Bill Cofield. It had nothing to do with
winning or losing."
A native of Carrier Mills, Ill., Cofield
was a 1963 graduate of McKendree Col-
lege in Lebanon, Ill. He went on to receive
his master's degree from the University
of Kentucky.
Coaching wasn't the only arena in
which Cofield would break down barrier.
He also became the nation's first black
athletic director and head coach at a pre-
dominantly white institution at the Col-
lege of Racine in 1973. It was there that
he first hired Ryan as his assistant.
The College of Racine closed its doors
in 1974, and Cofield and Ryan separated
for a year only to return to UW when Co-
field accepted the head job and Ryan be-
came his assistant.
While compiling a six-year record of
61-103, Cofield did bring several dy-
namic players to Madison, including the
former all-time leading scorer Claude
Gregory and Wes Mathews, who hit a
half-court shot be beat Michigan State
and Magic Johnson in 1979.
Cofield resigned in 1982 and was later
diagnosed with pancreatic cancer that
same year. He died after a short illness in
the summer of 1983 at the age of 43.
SCHEDULE (21-5, 8-5)
LAST TIME OUT
Feb. 13 Minnesota W, 78-70
Feb. 16 at #15 Michigan W, 75-62
COMING UP
Saturday at #15 Iowa 11 a.m.
Feb. 25 Indiana 8 p.m.