Dee Rowe Statue | The Boneyard

Dee Rowe Statue

I was on an airport shuttle about 10 years ago and sat across the aisle from him. He talked to me like we had known each other for decades even though I had never met him. Absolutely, the epitome of a gentleman who represented the University with grace and dignity. ( By the way, he WAS wearing that blue and white checked sportscoat!)
 
He was a good coach. Got them as far as they could go. I forgot how successful we were as a regional program under Greer. Of course it was Calhoun who changed the trajectory. But as a kid when Rowe was coach and we had few good teams with Tony and Thomas they already had a strong fan base from what Greer had accomplished his winning pct was .719 second only to JC .720. I mean the program won like 12 out of 14 conference championships. The year he passed during the season the team made it to the elite 8. I did some research and again taking nothing away from Calhoun personally I was a UConn die hard fan starting 1970. I remember being devastated when Hofstra was killing us in a ncaa tourney game and giving up. I was outside in my yard shooting baskets when my best friend heard the ball bouncing and came out to tell me we were making a comeback and about to win. From that day on UConn became my passion. 50 years later nothing has changed and Dee Rowe was the coach at the time.
 
Nice statue. Why not a Calhoun, Ollie, Hurley statue all holding up nets. And maybe an empty place for a 4th statue.
 
SilentDog said:
He was a good coach. Got them as far as they could go. I forgot how successful we were as a regional program under Greer. Of course it was Calhoun who changed the trajectory. But as a kid when Rowe was coach and we had few good teams with Tony and Thomas they already had a strong fan base from what Greer had accomplished his winning pct was .719 second only to JC .720. I mean the program won like 12 out of 14 conference championships. The year he passed during the season the team made it to the elite 8. I did some research and again taking nothing away from Calhoun personally I was a UConn die hard fan starting 1970. I remember being devastated when Hofstra was killing us in a ncaa tourney game and giving up. I was outside in my yard shooting baskets when my best friend heard the ball bouncing and came out to tell me we were making a comeback and about to win. From that day on UConn became my passion. 50 years later nothing has changed and Dee Rowe was the coach at the time.
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On the flip side there was the 1974 NIT game vs. BC. We had upset St. John's in the first round but blew a 17 point lead with 14 minutes to go. Paul Berwanger banked in a 10 footer as time ran out and we lost by a point. Tony Hanson was high scorer that night for us.
 
At the time Worcester was the center of New England basketball. IIRC Gavitt was an asst to Rowe at Worcester Academy a very successful prep program. The connection helped with a Big East invite. Rowe's ties to the area helped land Jimmy Foster.
 
uconnric said:
On the flip side there was the 1974 NIT game vs. BC. We had upset St. John's in the first round but blew a 17 point lead with 14 minutes to go. Paul Berwanger banked in a 10 footer as time ran out and we lost by a point.
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That was as bad a loss as any in UConn history, coaching malpractice of the highest order. The stakes were high. The NIT was still a big deal. If UConn wins that game, they go to the semifinals which would have been on national TV. I know it sounds funny now, but UConn was never on national TV back then. They had an occaisional regional game, tops. So up 17 in the second half with the most dynamic scorer in the tournament putting on a show, Dee decides to go with the stall. Just brutal. If there was a Boneyard and social media back then, I doubt he coaches another game for UConn. Even with all the eventual winning, that one left a mark.
 
Long time PC Tix holder. I had the privilege and I do mean that sincerely to play against Dee and Worcester Academy in 1967. The game was the two best teams in New England that year. I had over 30 points but that’s not the story. Dee devised a play at end of game to win on last second shot against us at Mt Hermon. I met him after game and he was incredibly gracious. Wanted to take me to England with NE All Star team but my family couldn’t afford the cost. Always regretted that. We did talk a few times thru the years and he was ALWAYS the same person. Glad UCONN recognized what he did. RIP Dee.
 
Waquoit said:
That was as bad a loss as any in UConn history, coaching malpractice of the highest order. The stakes were high. The NIT was still a big deal. If UConn wins that game, they go to the semifinals which would have been on national TV. I know it sounds funny now, but UConn was never on national TV back then. They had an occaisional regional game, tops. So up 17 in the second half with the most dynamic scorer in the tournament putting on a show, Dee decides to go with the stall. Just brutal. If there was a Boneyard and social media back then, I doubt he coaches another game for UConn. Even with all the eventual winning, that one left a mark.
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If that was coaching malpractice then Tate George prevented an even more egregious example when Calhoun sat on a nineteen point second half lead against Clemson in 1990.
Such elation to win it followed two days later by utter despair when Tate fumbled the ball out of bounds giving Duke and Laettner the opportunity to win on the last second shot just like Tate did against Clemson.
Don't think we've ever had such mood swings in such a short period of time.
And it was on National TV!
 
Scrutiner said:
If that was coaching malpractice then Tate George prevented an even more egregious example when Calhoun sat on a nineteen point second half lead against Clemson in 1990.
Such elation to win it followed two days later by utter despair when Tate fumbled the ball out of bounds giving Duke and Laettner the opportunity to win on the last second shot just like Tate did against Clemson.
Don't think we've ever had such mood swings in such a short period of time.
And it was on National TV!
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Both were tough watching the leads shrink.
 
Scrutiner said:
If that was coaching malpractice then Tate George prevented an even more egregious example when Calhoun sat on a nineteen point second half lead against Clemson in 1990.
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OK, fine. Still wasn't as bad as that NIT.
 
Waquoit said:
That was as bad a loss as any in UConn history, coaching malpractice of the highest order. The stakes were high. The NIT was still a big deal. If UConn wins that game, they go to the semifinals which would have been on national TV. I know it sounds funny now, but UConn was never on national TV back then. They had an occaisional regional game, tops. So up 17 in the second half with the most dynamic scorer in the tournament putting on a show, Dee decides to go with the stall. Just brutal. If there was a Boneyard and social media back then, I doubt he coaches another game for UConn. Even with all the eventual winning, that one left a mark.
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You are conveniently forgetting the foul situation UConn was in.
 
LIUCHusky said:
You are conveniently forgetting the foul situation UConn was in.
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No, that was the sorry excuse after. Admit it, he never would played it that way if it wasn't for the "epic" win against Rhody. Talk about a pyrrhic victory.
 
I wasn't at that NIT game mentioned, so I can't compare it to the 1990 Clemson game (which I did attend), but that's beside the point relative to the story about Dee's statue.

He was honored for decades of very effective work on behalf of UConn Athletics, not his brief coaching career, so why throw cold water on his memory.

There were no major fund-raising efforts before Gampel Pavilion (at least in my memory) and it was Dee who lead the growth of the fund-raising efforts that culminated in the building of Gampel and created the base upon which other efforts have brought in major support. The only area in which UConn has still not had great support is from the star athletes who've gone on to earn tens of millions of dollars but that's the way it seems to be with other schools for the most part.

He was an ambassador on and off campus and did so with grace and did it so effectively most people didn't notice any negative aspects to the events they attended.

One event we recall vividly was an Alumni event the morning after the Wednesday night 8/9 playin game at the Big East tournament. It was in the mid-80's and donors were invited to attend a breakfast at the then Hilton across the street from MSG. We were always in the Wednesday play in game for the Big East Tournament in those years and that year was no exception.

The Development department reserved a room for the breakfast large enough to serve as a ball room. We expected to see a large turnout, even though we'd lost again, but were stunned when we walked in. There were probably more than twenty tables setup and, since all were empty except for seven people at one table in the corner, we thought we had the room or date wrong.

It was the correct room and the seven people were Dee and three other couples. We all briefly commiserated about the previous night's loss but Dee made sure the focus quickly turned positive. We all had a nice time and looked forward to better days ahead.

Dee made it positive and I believe that's why a statue was erected in his memory.
 
Waquoit said:
That was as bad a loss as any in UConn history, coaching malpractice of the highest order. The stakes were high. The NIT was still a big deal. If UConn wins that game, they go to the semifinals which would have been on national TV. I know it sounds funny now, but UConn was never on national TV back then. They had an occaisional regional game, tops. So up 17 in the second half with the most dynamic scorer in the tournament putting on a show, Dee decides to go with the stall. Just brutal. If there was a Boneyard and social media back then, I doubt he coaches another game for UConn. Even with all the eventual winning, that one left a mark.
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This was during my time in Storrs. The following year the "Rowe must go"chants started in the student section. To his credit he eventually got the guys to the Sweet 16 in 1976.
 
Waquoit said:
No, that was the sorry excuse after. Admit it, he never would played it that way if it wasn't for the "epic" win against Rhody. Talk about a pyrrhic victory.
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Admit what? I was at the BC NIT game and UConn was in severe foul trouble. Most coaches would have played it the same way. Just didn’t work out the way we would have liked.
 
Waquoit said:
That was as bad a loss as any in UConn history, coaching malpractice of the highest order. The stakes were high. The NIT was still a big deal. If UConn wins that game, they go to the semifinals which would have been on national TV. I know it sounds funny now, but UConn was never on national TV back then. They had an occaisional regional game, tops. So up 17 in the second half with the most dynamic scorer in the tournament putting on a show, Dee decides to go with the stall. Just brutal. If there was a Boneyard and social media back then, I doubt he coaches another game for UConn. Even with all the eventual winning, that one left a mark.
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I was at that game and could not believe what I was witnessing.... The bus ride back to Storrs felt like we were at a wake.
 
LIUCHusky said:
Admit what? I was at the BC NIT game and UConn was in severe foul trouble. Most coaches would have played it the same way. Just didn’t work out the way we would have liked.
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Stalling with 17 minutes left was weird. I have never seen another coach try to stall out a game with 17 minutes to go. No sane coach would have played it the same way.

And the stall was awful. They never got up a shot and BCU ran off 8 straight points. Rowe invented this stall where a player would dribble into the right hand corner of the forecourt. It was basically dribbling into a trap. Then the guy would hand off to another Husky who would dribble back to the center of the court near the center jump circle who would hand off to another Husky who would dribble back into the right hand corner. Repeat.

The was no way to attack the basket from this stall. BCU just overloaded the right side of the court and took the ball away. By the time Rowe abandoned the stall, his team had lost all momentum and was in a dogfight. I had seen this stall before during the year. It make no sense. His team was killing BCU until Rowe killed his own team.

Rowe turned into a great ambassador and fund raiser for UConn basketball. He had a great NCAA run a few years later. Nice that they gave him a memorial. But his coaching in the NIT was indefensible.
 

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