Centennial Moments: ISU Hires Orr

In honor of 100 years of Iowa State men's basketball during the 2007-08 season, cyclones.com will publish weekly "Centennial Moments," featuring brief stories on former Cyclone players, coaches and teams. Check back at cyclones.com for more "Centennial Moments." Be sure to click here to see this week's video vignettes.

Iowa State Lures Johnny Orr From Michigan

March 26, 1980, is a special day in Iowa State men's basketball history. As the program celebrates 100 years of hoops this season, the historic day will go down as the beginning of the excitement. It was the day Iowa State lured Johnny Orr away from the University of Michigan, forever branding ISU basketball as a consistent player on the national scene.

Orr had put together a fine program at Michigan. He accumulated 209 wins to become the school's all-time winningest coach. He won two Big Ten titles and led the Wolverines to four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, the first Big Ten coach to do so. His 1976 Michigan team lost in the national championship game to Indiana, which was the last team in NCAA history to go undefeated throughout the entire season. But something did not sit right with Orr at Michigan. He never felt wanted in Ann Arbor. When then Iowa State athletics director Lou McCullough contacted Orr to see what he had to offer to snag a top-line coach, Orr rattled off a short list of demands.

"They told me they were going to hire a head coach," Orr said. "And they asked me what they have to do to get one. I told them all the things they'd have to offer, and I added if they did all that, I'd be interested."

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ISU came up with Orr's demands and offered him a six-year contract worth $45,000, making him one of the highest paid coaches at the time. At his press conference announcing his hiring, Orr made a remark that seemed farfetched at the time but would later exemplify his career at ISU.

"I want to see the arena filled and I want other teams to dread coming to Ames," Orr said. "To do that, I'm going to upgrade the schedule. Iowa State isn't afraid to play anyone."

Orr retired in 1994 as ISU's all-time winningest coach with 218 wins, leading the Cyclones to six NCAA tournaments. His prophecy proved to be true, as Hilton Coliseum became one of the toughest places to play in the country while sellouts became the norm in Ames.

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