Quick Facts
Biography
Richard David Huckabay, Sr (November 25, 1945 – March 10, 2006) was an American basketball coach, best known for his years as head coach at Marshall University.
Huckabay was born in Chicago but later moved with his family to Louisiana where he played high school baseball and basketball. He attended Louisiana Tech University and played baseball. After graduating, he became a high school basketball coach in that state. He then became an assistant coach at the Louisiana State University under Dale Brown.
In 1983 he was hired at Marshall, where he compiled a 129–59 record, including three appearances in the NCAA Tournament and one in the NIT before resigning in 1989 amid an investigation into recruiting.
Following Huckabay's resignation and a divorce, he chose not to seek another college job, but remained in the Huntington, West Virginia area where he held several high school coaching jobs in the city's Ohio suburbs, in order to remain near his two sons.
After his sons reached adulthood, he returned to Louisiana where he was coaching high school basketball when diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Huckabay was inducted posthumously into the Marshall University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006
Head coaching record
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marshall Thundering Herd (Southern Conference) | |||||||||
| 1983–84 | Marshall | 25–6 | 13–3 | 1st | NCAA Division I First Round | ||||
| 1984–85 | Marshall | 21–13 | 12–4 | 2nd | NCAA Division I First Round | ||||
| 1985–86 | Marshall | 19–11 | 10–6 | T–2nd | |||||
| 1986–87 | Marshall | 25–6* | 15–1 | 1st | NCAA Division I First Round | ||||
| 1987–88 | Marshall | 24–8 | 14–2 | 1st | NIT First Round | ||||
| 1988–89 | Marshall | 15–15 | 6–8 | 6th | |||||
| Marshall: | 129–59 (.686) | 70–24 (.745) | |||||||
| Total: | 129–59 (.686) | ||||||||
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* The NCAA vacated Marshall's loss in the NCAA Tournament.