DURHAM, N.C., Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Norm Sloan, who coached his alma mater North Carolina State to the NCAA men's basketball title in 1974, died Tuesday at Duke Hospital. He was 77.
Hospital officials said Sloan died from pulmonary fibrosis.
Sloan served two coaching stints at Florida for a total of 15 seasons and coached for 13 years at N.C. State, compiling a 501-321 overall record.
But Sloan is best known for coaching the Wolfpack teams led by All-Americans David Thompson, Tom Burleson and Monte Towe that went 27-0 in 1972-73 and 30-1 during 1973-74. The 1972-73 team was not allowed to compete in the NCAA Tournament, which was won by UCLA, because of NCAA probation violations related to Thompson's recruitment.
For the rest of his life, Sloan remained close to the players on those teams and was at the ceremony when the school retired Towe's jersey in January 2002.
Towe, now men's basketball coach at New Orleans, issued a statement Tuesday: "We have lost a great warrior. There is not a day that goes by that I don't apply something that I learned from coach Sloan in a positive way to my personal life and my teaching of basketball."
