Larry Shyatt Position: Former Head Coach Birthdate: 04/08/1951

Clemson Head Basketball Coach Larry Shyatt served as Clemson's head coach from April 18, 1998 to March 18, 2003. He resigned his position at the conclusion of the 2002-03 season. He led the Tigers to an increase in victories in each of his last three seasons.

Shyatt, a veteran of 27 seasons as a college basketball coach at the end of the 2002-03 season, led the Tigers to the championship of the NIT in 1999, the first time in exactly 60 years that Clemson played in the championship game of a postseason event. The Tigers defeated Georgia, Rutgers, Butler and Xavier before dropping a 61-60 decision to California on the last possession of the game. He finished that first year with 20 wins, most ever by a Clemson rookie head coach and just the fourth ACC coach in history to win 20 games in his first year with a program.

He also enhanced Clemson's basketball history with some outstanding victories, including three wins over North Carolina. On Feb. 18, 2001, he guided the Tigers to an upset of a number-one ranked Tar Heel team, just the second time in history Clemson had beaten a number-one ranked team in basketball. That Tar Heel team had won 18 consecutive games.

Shyatt also defeated the Tar Heels in 1999 and 2003, marking the first time Clemson had beaten North Carolina three times in a five-year period in over 20 years. He left Clemson as the school's winningest coach in terms of winning percentage against the Tar Heels and is the only Clemson coach to have a winning record against North Carolina in games played at Clemson.

"Larry Shyatt has been an outstanding representative of Clemson University," said Athletic Director Terry Don Phillips the day Shyatt resigned. "He has been a model coach in terms of keeping the overall mission of the University at the forefront.

"A couple of weeks ago, he lectured to a marketing class one night after practice. How many coaches would do that in the middle of the season? We have five seniors this year and all five are on schedule to graduate by the end of summer school.

"He has had memorable accomplishments on the court. No Clemson fan who was in the coliseum two years ago when we defeated a number-one ranked North Carolina team will forget that game. We appreciate everything Larry and his family have done for Clemson University."

Shyatt's final Clemson team had a 15-13 record. The Tigers began the season with a 9-0 record, including a victory over NCAA Tournament bound Cincinnati, the second winningest program in college basketball in the first three years of this century. Clemson swept a Virginia team that advanced to postseason play, just the second sweep for the Tigers over the Cavaliers since 1990.

Clemson was much improved in many areas, including field goal percentage defense and three-point offense. Clemson led the ACC in fewest turnovers per game. The winning season was achieved despite the fact that the team did not have a place to practice all summer and had to play its first nine games of the year away from Littlejohn Coliseum due to facility renovations.

Many of Shyatt's players showed tremendous progress as a result of his guidance over the course of their careers. In 2002-03 point guard Edward Scott was named first-team All-ACC, the first Clemson point guard in 43 years to be honored as a first-team selection. Will Solomon was also a first-team choice in 2000 and Terrell McIntyre was a second team selection in 1999. McIntyre and Solomon both led the ACC in scoring.

The native of Ohio, who still follows the Cleveland professional sports scene avidly, is regarded as one of the most respected and credible coaches in all of college basketball. He has had a positive impact on his players for many years. The team had a 2.4 semester GPA in the fall semester of 2002 and five players were named to the academic honor roll.

Emphasis on all aspects of his players' life has been tantamount with Shyatt for many years.

"He didn't have to do anything for me anymore," said Darren Tillis, who played for Shyatt at Cleveland State and served on his coaching staff all five years he was at Clemson. "I was done, my eligibility was up. And this was 20 years after the fact. But he still got on me about going back to school and finishing my degree. He was a man of his word. In the end, that meant more to me than us winning 100 games together."

"He is a great coach on the floor and a great person off the floor. He understands what people go through. He has the ability to go in and make parents feel comfortable that their children are in good hands. The players can relate to him, also. I love him to death, he is one of my favorite people," said former Tiger Merl Code.

"Larry Shyatt is an honest person who cares about people to the point that it distinguishes him from other people," said former Clemson guard Bill Harder.

In his first season as head coach at Clemson (1998-99), Shyatt took Clemson basketball into uncharted waters. The Tigers advanced to the championship game of the NIT for the first time in history and made it to a post-season final game for the first time in 60 years. He came into the season very familiar with the cast of performers he would put on the floor as he recruited many of the players while he was an associate head coach under Rick Barnes from 1994 to 1997. The 1998-99 Clemson team was known for its tenacious defense and dominance on the boards. Clemson ranked first in the ACC in scoring defense at 64.7 and third in rebounding margin at +8.2. That rebound margin was a school record for a season and eighth best in the nation in 1998-99.

Under Shyatt's leadership, a pair of Tigers won the conference's scoring and rebounding titles in 1998-99. Senior Terrell McIntyre led the ACC with 17.9 average, while Harold Jamison was fearless on the glass and finished the season with a league best average of 9.9 rebounds per game, 18th best in the nation. The accomplishment of the players marked the first time since 1972-73 and just the second time in league history that two different players from the same team led the ACC in scoring and rebounding.

Clemson began the season with an 11-1 mark and was ranked as high as 14th in one national poll. The 11 wins included a victory at South Carolina and a 34-point win over Kansas State in Maui.

Shyatt's club opened the second half of the ACC season with a 78-63 win over ninth-ranked North Carolina. That momentum carried over to a 33-point win over Florida State, a 23-point win over Virginia, and a 28-point win against Georgia Tech on Senior Day at Littlejohn Coliseum.

Clemson played its best basketball of the season to win four consecutive games and advance to the championship game in the NIT in New York. A 20-point win over Georgia in the first round set the pace for the Tigers who followed that game with a 10-point win at Rutgers. Clemson routed Butler at home by 20-points to advance to the NIT Final Four.

In New York, Clemson led Xavier by as many as 24 points in the second half before hitting six consecutive free throw attempts in the last minute to gain a 79-76 win. The Tigers lost to California 61-60 in the tournament's final game, but Clemson's stellar play in the NIT helped Shyatt's team become the most improved team in the nation in post season play according to the final RPI Index. Clemson jumped 30 spots in the index from March 7 to the final post Final Four ranking. Clemson had to rebuild for the 1999-00 season, as seniors Tony Christie, Tom Wideman, Harold Jamison and Terrell McIntyre moved on to the professional game.

The Tigers showed their heart and desire in two important areas, leading to four ACC wins over the second half of the league season. Clemson out-rebounded the opposition by +4.4 per game, the ninth best figure in Clemson history and the second best mark in the ACC that year. Shyatt was Clemson's head coach for five years and the Tigers have had four of the top 10 rebound margin figures in Clemson history during that time. Defensively, Clemson limited its opponents to 40.9 percent shooting in 1999-00, best by a Clemson team in almost 40 years.

Players have shown dramatic improvement and flourished under Shyatt's system. He has coached 16 players who have played in the NBA during his career. In his first two years at Clemson he coached a different player who led the ACC in scoring, an unprecedented achievement in Clemson history. In 1998-99, guard Terrell McIntyre paced the conference with a 17.9 average. The following year Will Solomon led the league with a 20.9 figure. He made a 14.9-point improvement over his freshman year, the greatest one-year jump in ACC history.

Solomon completed his career as one of Clemson's greatest players. He had a 19.7 scoring average in 2000-01, his junior year, and was drafted in the second round of the NBA draft by the Memphis Grizzlies. Solomon was named first-team All-ACC at the conclusion of the 1999-00 season, the first Tiger to make the prestigious team in 10 years, the first guard to do it in 20 years. He was a second-team selection in 2000-01.

Shyatt's third Clemson team was the youngest in the ACC. Clemson had 108 starts from freshmen and sophomores in 2000-01, most in the ACC. Freshmen Chris Hobbs and Tony Stockman were both named to the ACC All-Rookie Team. Clemson was the only ACC team with two members on the first team. Hobbs led all ACC freshmen in rebounding, while Stockman's 12.0 scoring average was best among ACC rookies.

February 18, 2001 was a landmark day in Clemson basketball history and a landmark day in the coaching career of Larry Shyatt. That Sunday afternoon the underdog Clemson Tigers defeated a number-one ranked North Carolina squad that had won 18 consecutive contests. The capacity crowd stormed the court to celebrate Clemson's second victory over the nation's top ranked team in history.

Shyatt joined just five other coaches during the 2000-01 season who upset the nation's top team. The 10-point victory was the largest margin of victory over the nation's top ranked team in 2000-01. He joined Clemson Hall of Fame Coach Bill Foster as the only Tiger coaches in history to defeat number-one.

The Tigers played an up-tempo pace in 2000-01, and the Tigers set a school mark for three-point goals in a season and became the first Tiger team in 14 years to shoot over 70 percent from the foul line. This was achieved while facing a schedule that included13 games against ranked teams, tied for the most in Clemson history.

In 2001-02 the Tigers recorded a pair of landmark victories. The Tigers upset a fifth ranked Virginia game by 16 points (68-52), and downed a 17th ranked Wake Forest team in double overtime, 118-115 in one of the most exciting games in the history of Littlejohn Coliseum. Excellence continued off the court as five members of the basketball team made the ACC Academic Honor Roll for the fall 2000 semester, tied for the highest single semester total in school history.

Before returning to Clemson, Shyatt spent one season at Wyoming as head coach. Under Shyatt, Wyoming finished the 1997-98 season with a 19-9 record, the best winning percentage by a Cowboy team in 10 years. Wyoming defeated two top 10 teams, New Mexico and eventual National Finalist Utah, along the way. The triumphs were key victories in Wyoming securing an NIT bid, the Cowboys' first post-season appearance since 1990-91. For his efforts, he was named the Coach of the Year in the Mountain Division of the Western Athletic Conference. Over the last 20 years, 15 of the teams Shyatt has been associated with in either a head coaching or assistant coaching capacity have advance to post season play.

Coaching and a corresponding passion to improve have always been in Shyatt's blood. Despite his 5-7 size, he pursued basketball at an early age. In the face of being cut from his seventh-grade team, he continued to work on his game and made his Cleveland Heights High School team. He played with intensity as a youth, breaking his nose twice and his shoulder once when he crashed into a concrete wall behind one of the baskets.

"I remember one summer game when he took a charge at the Cleveland Pavilion," recalled his high school coach Jim Cappelletti. "They were playing on an ice skating rink converted to a concrete floor for basketball in the summer. He took a charge and hit that floor hard. I remember thinking, 'what kind of a kid takes a charge in a summer pickup game with no referees and no coaches watching.'"

Shyatt continued to improve and his senior year of high school was the team's MVP and earned all-city honors. He scored 33 points in a state playoff game. His senior year performance earned him a scholarship at the College of Wooster, a school just an hour south of Cleveland.

He was now in a great environment for learning the game under Coach Al Van Wie. Although he didn't know it at the time, seven of the 12 players off the 1970-71 College of Wooster team would go on to be coaches. That includes Shyatt's roommate, Chuck Cooper, who has been in the game for 30 years.

Shyatt played for the College of Wooster for two seasons. The team was outstanding, reaching the NCAA Division II tournament before losing to Philadelphia Textile, the defending National Champion.

After his sophomore year, Shyatt decided he wanted to go into coaching, so he became a student assistant coach at Wooster under Van Wie. With the student assistant coaching experience on his resume, he landed a graduate assistant position at nearby Akron for the 1973-74 season. At the time, Shyatt's mother, Doris, introduced him to a young lady by the name of Pam Moore, who was a junior at the College of Wooster. They had their first date on April 1 and Shyatt proposed. Two years later and six days after Pam graduated from college, they were married.

"Pam will and always has been my best friend. I don't have any hobbies. I spend all my free time with my family and enjoy every minute."

With two years and a master's degree in secondary education from Akron under his belt, Shyatt then moved to Utah for the 1975-76 season. He helped Jerry Pimm's team post a strong 19-8 record, a record that would have gotten the team in the NCAA Tournament by today's standards, but in that era only 32 teams were chosen for the NCAA Tournament.

Shyatt returned to his hometown of Cleveland, OH in 1976-77 where he started a six-year tenure with Cleveland State. That team showed improvement four straight years and won 18 games in each of his final three seasons. That was the best three-year run in Cleveland State history. Shyatt recruited a first-round NBA draft choice two years in a row, Franklin Edwards the first year and Tillis the second. Tillis was the 21st pick of the 1982 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics. Shyatt has had a strong impact on Tillis' coaching career. When Tillis finished his professional career, it was Shyatt who helped him get back to school, finish his degree, then helped him start his coaching career. Shyatt promised him a coaching position when he received his degree.

After six seasons at Cleveland State, he began a six-year stay at New Mexico and the Lobos went to five NITs in those six years. Among the victories was an upset of fourth-ranked UCLA in 1983. The team had a 25-10 record in 1986-87, the most wins in school history, then had 22 more wins in 1987-88. The Lobos averaged 21 wins a year his final four years in Albuquerque.

In 1988-89, Shyatt joined Rick Barnes at Providence. The Friars won 108 games in those six seasons, including the school's only Big East Championship in 1994. Providence went to three NCAAs and two NITs during the six years and posted 17 wins over Top 25 teams, a school record for that period of time. In those six seasons, every senior letterman graduated. He was involved in the recruiting of six players who went on to play in the NBA.

In 1994-95, Shyatt joined Barnes at Clemson as associate head coach. The staff also included current Western Kentucky Head Coach Dennis Felton. The Tigers were picked last in the ACC preseason poll for that year, but Clemson won its first 10 games and was ranked as high as 16th in the nation at mid season. Among the upsets was a victory over ninth-ranked Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium, Clemson's first win at Duke in 10 years. The Tigers went on to an NIT bid.

In 1995-96, Shyatt helped recruit a top 10 class and the group of seven freshmen propelled Clemson to its first NCAA berth in six years. Clemson was the youngest team in the NCAA Tournament and started four freshmen much of the year. The 18-11 Tigers defeated every team in the ACC that season, including a landmark 75-73 victory over North Carolina in the ACC Tournament, Clemson's first-ever win over the Tar Heels in that event.

The 1996-97 season saw Clemson start the year with a 16-1 record and the club reached an all-time high number-two ranking in January. Clemson defeated five top 25 teams that year and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament before suffering a double overtime loss to Minnesota in the Midwest Regional in San Antonio. During his three years as an assistant at Clemson, Shyatt also supervised the academic progress of the Tiger players. During the 1996-97 academic year the squad had its highest GPA in 14 years. Academics have always been a priority with Shyatt. The first thing he did when he came back to Clemson was tell his team to stay away from Littlejohn Coliseum for the final three weeks of the spring semester. The result was a strong academic finish resulting in the biggest improvement from the fall semester among all 18 Clemson athletic teams.

Shyatt embraced the Clemson University community in his tireless and entertaining style. A few days after he was announced as Clemson's head coach, he was asked to throw out the first ball prior to the Clemson vs. South Carolina baseball game. Shyatt never does anything half-heartedly. He not only showed up to perform the duty, he ran in from the bullpen wearing a complete Clemson baseball uniform. Shyatt was omnipresent at Clemson sporting events. He was the Grand Marshall of the first Friday football parade of 1998, served as the featured speaker at the season opening football pep rally (dressed as one of the Kudzu Kids) and has been a speaking guest of nearly every fraternity and sorority on campus. He has certainly embraced the Clemson community and they have reciprocated.

He was also lectured to various classes on campus when asked, even during the season. A leader as an administrator in the coaching profession, Shyatt is a past chairman of the NCAA Assistant Coaches Committee. Earlier in his career he became the first assistant coach in the nation to sit on the National Association of Basketball Coaches Board of Directors. Within recent years, he was named one of the top 15 assistant coaches in the nation by Basketball Times and one of the top 10 recruiters in the country by Sport Magazine.

He and his wife Pam have three sons, Jeremy (5-15-81), a student at Clemson, Geoffrey (1-15-84) and Philip (5-11-86). During his final season at Clemson Jeremy was a senior manager and Geoff was a freshman walk-on on the squad. It is the only season in Clemson basketball history that a coach had two of his sons affiliated with the program at the same time.