Florida Southern basketball legend Hal Wissel dies; how he impacted star John Ebeling

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Hal Wissel, who coached the Florida Southern men’s basketball team to its first national title in the 1980s, died on Feb. 10. He had just turned 86.

Graduating from Springfield College with a degree in physical education (1960) before achieving his M.A. in physical education at Indiana University in 1964, Wissel went on to serve as head coach for Trenton State (1964-67). Then, he coached Division I Lafayette College (1967-71), becoming a conference champion before coaching Division I Fordham University to the National Invitation in 1972. He earned the Coach & Athlete magazine’s Eastern Coach of the Year in ’72.

The New Rochelle, New York native used this experience to become the Florida Southern Moccasin head basketball coach in 1977, eventually turning Florida Southern into a national power. In fact, from 1980-82, he led Florida Southern to three straight trips to the NCAA Division II Final Four, which hasn’t been matched at the university since.

In 1980, the Mocs finished third nationally, which garnered Wissel the National Coach of the Year. The very next year, the Mocs won the state of Florida’s first college title, racking up the NCAA Division II National Championship. And in 1982, he fell just short of winning back-to-back national titles.

Wissel and his Mocs went on to rack up four straight NCAA regional championships and four SSC Championships, accomplishing a five-year record of 105-49.

Polk county’s basketball legend was commemorated as the SSC Coach of the year three times and was inducted into the SSC Hall of Fame in 1997. He even authored two coaching textbooks.

He then followed up his career at Forida Southern with stints at UNC-Charlotte and Springfield College. By the time his coaching career was over in 1990, he racked up over 300 career wins before joining the professional ranks.

Having a passion for the professional game, Wissel was the scout and special assignment coach with the Milwaukee Bucks (1990-95) before becoming the Director of Player…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/florida-southern-basketball-legend-hal-090238609.html

Author : The Ledger

Publish date : 2025-02-25 09:02:00

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