Frank Arnold (basketball)

For other people named Frank Arnold, see Frank Arnold (disambiguation).

Frank Arnold

Arnold from 1973 UCLA yearbook
Biographical details
Born	(1934-10-01)October 1, 1934 Ogden, Utah, U.S.
Died	June 8, 2024(2024-06-08) (aged 89)
Playing career
1954–1956	Idaho State
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1956–1958	Payette HS (assistant)
1958–1960	Brigham Young HS
1960–1962	BYU Laboratory HS
1962–1963	Oregon (GA)
1963–1964	Pocatello HS
1964–1966	Clark JC
1966–1971	Oregon (assistant)
1971–1975	UCLA (assistant)
1975–1983	BYU
1985–1987	Hawaii
1987–1989	Arizona State (assistant)
Head coaching record
Overall	148–139 (college) 30–22 (junior college)
Tournaments	3–3 (NCAA Division I) 0–1 (NIT)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
3 WAC regular season (1979, 1980, 1983)

Frank Harold Arnold (October 1, 1934 – June 8, 2024) was an American college basketball coach. He served as the head basketball coach at Brigham Young University (BYU) from 1975 to 1983 and at the University of Hawaii at Manoa from 1985 to 1987.

Early life and college playing career

Arnold was born in Ogden, Utah, on October 1, 1934. He grew up in Pocatello, Idaho, and graduated from Pocatello High School in 1952. He then attended Idaho State University in Pocatello and lettered on the Idaho State Bengals basketball team from 1954 to 1956.

Coaching career

After graduating from Idaho State in 1956, Arnold became an assistant basketball coach at Payette High School in Payette, Idaho, in 1956. In 1958, Arnold became head coach at Brigham Young High School in Provo, Utah, and enrolled in graduate school at the Brigham Young University College of Education, from which he earned a master's degree in education in 1960, then coached at BYU's laboratory school until 1962.

In 1962, Arnold enrolled in a doctoral program at the University of Oregon and became a graduate assistant on the Ducks basketball team. In 1963, Arnold returned to Pocatello High to be head coach. The following year, Arnold moved to Vancouver, Washington, to be head coach at Clark Junior College, where he would stay for two seasons until 1966. Arnold then returned to the University of Oregon to be assistant coach under Steve Belko, who coached Arnold at Idaho State.

Arnold joined John Wooden's staff at UCLA in 1971 to replace Denny Crum, who left to take the head coaching position at Louisville. He was tutored by the “Wizard of Westwood” during the school's glory years, including three NCAA championships in four seasons.

Hired in 1975 to replace Glenn Potter at BYU, Arnold led the Cougars to a 137–94 (.593) record, with three consecutive Western Athletic Conference (WAC) titles, three trips to NCAA tournament, and another to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in 1982. BYU made it to the NCAA final 8 in 1981 with a team starring future NBA players Danny Ainge, Greg Kite, and Fred Roberts. Arnold struggled after the 1981 season and finished coaching at BYU in 1983.

Arnold accepted the head coaching position at the University of Hawaii in 1985 and coached at the school for two seasons and led the Rainbow Warriors to an 11–45 (.196) record. He resigned in 1987 and noted that his lack of success at the school was because "In order to win here you have to have J.C. transfers and that doesn't fit into my recruiting or coaching style". Arnold then was an assistant at Arizona State for two seasons.

Personal life and death

His son Gib Arnold also became a basketball coach and was most recently head coach at Hawaii from 2010 to 2014.

Frank Arnold died on June 8, 2024, at the age of 89.

Head coaching record

Junior college

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Clark Penguins (Northwestern Athletic Conference) (1964–1966)
1964–65	Clark	15–11	12–4	2nd (Western)
1965–66	Clark	15–11	11–5	T–2nd (Western)
Clark:		30–22	23–9
Total:		30–22

College

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
BYU Cougars (Western Athletic Conference) (1975–1983)
1975–76	BYU	12–14	6–8	T–5th
1976–77	BYU	12–15	4–10	7th
1977–78	BYU	12–18	6–8	T–4th
1978–79	BYU	20–8	10–2	1st	NCAA Division I Second Round
1979–80	BYU	24–5	13–1	1st	NCAA Division I Second Round
1980–81	BYU	25–7	12–4	3rd	NCAA Division I Elite Eight
1981–82	BYU	17–13	9–7	T–4th	NIT First Round
1982–83	BYU	15–14	11–5	T–1st
BYU:		137–94	71–45
Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (Western Athletic Conference) (1985–1987)
1985–86	Hawaii	4–24	1–15	9th
1986–87	Hawaii	7–21	2–14	T–8th
Hawaii:		11–45	3–29
Total:		148–139
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

External links

• Frank Arnold – Sports-Reference.com college basketball coach profile