How Denny Crum helped build two NCAA champions

Most coaches would be lucky to contribute to one dynasty. Denny Crum, on the other hand, played a key part in two of them.

The Hall of Fame coach died on Tuesday at the age of 86.

Best known for transforming Louisville into a perennial contender -- winning two national titles (1980, 1986) -- Crum got his start at UCLA and performed a vital role in the Bruins' 1972 championship season, widely viewed as the greatest college basketball team of all time.

In January 1972, Sports Illustrated ran an article on Crum's rise at Louisville, with William F. Reed writing, "But Crum has implied that he and his predecessor, Jerry Norman, had more to do with UCLA's success than most people realize. As one writer said, 'To hear Crum, you would think Wooden was his assistant for three years.'"

Unfortunately for Crum, the Bruins reaped the rewards of his labor against him in the Final Four that season when they walloped the Cardinals 96-77.

"I took my first team here to the Final Four...And we got beat by UCLA with all the guys I'd recruited -- Bill Walton, Greg Lee, Keith Wilkes," Crum told the Chicago Tribune in 2006.

Prior to the 1972 Final Four game, the New York Times discussed Crum's connection to UCLA, writing that he "worked for three years as the chief recruiter and aide to John Wooden." 

While visiting Louisville in 2017, Walton recalled being recruited by Crum and how the legendary Louisville coach persuaded famed UCLA coach John Wooden to sign him.

Denny ... came back from a trip to San Diego one time and he went in to Coach Wooden and he said, 'Coach, I found a player in San Diego,' and Coach Wooden said there's never been a player from San Diego, 'Coach, this guy's got red hair,' there's never been a good red headed player. Denny said, 'Well, you better come see coach,' and the rest is history.

In 1980, Crum coached what SBNation ranked as the 25th-best team in college basketball history while at Louisville, following the UCLA model to get there. "His team is a product of Crum's natural selection. The coach looks for players who have speed and can leap," wrote the New York Times ahead of their 1980 Final Four appearance.

That season, he got revenge against his former team and alma mater when the Cardinals beat the Bruins -- then with Larry Brown in his first year as head coach -- 59-54 for the national championship. 

The team earned the nickname "Doctors of Dunk" with high-flying guard Darrell Griffith being "Dr. Dunkenstein."