Sad news of the passing of friend and former UNLV assistant George McQuarn who died over the weekend.
George was one of the best high school coaches in the history of California where he coached Verbum Dei high school in the late 60’s and early 70’s winning three California CIF titles.
They were so dominant they were referred to by many at the time as the UCLA of high school basketball. While the head coach at Verbum Dei he coached future Rebel Lew Brown, David Greenwood and Roy Hamilton who went on to UCLA and Raymond Lewis who is probably the best player to never play in the NBA.
All of the success made George a hot commodity for college assistant jobs. Jerry tried to hire him as part of his first UNLV staff, Lute Olson tried to hire him as an assistant at LBSU when he got the job and Bob Boyd tried to hire him on a couple of occasions at USC. George however decided to stay on board as Director of the Compton Recreation Center.
Finally when Lynn Archibald left to become an assistant at USC following the 75-76 season Jerry convinced him to come on board not long before the 76-77 season began. George was an assistant on the staff of UNLV’s first final four team and recruited many of the best players who were part of the program in the late 70’s/early 80’s and played a good role in helping recruit Sid Green.
He left UNLV following the 79-80 season to become the head coach at Fullerton. Even though he never was able to get them to the NCA tournament he had arguably the best run any coach had there recruiting/coaching the likes of Leon Wood, Kevin Henderson and Richard Morton. He also gave breaks to future head coaches Phil Matthews and Donnie Daniels.
After resigning from Fullerton he would finish his coaching career as an assistant for Bill Frieder at ASU. When Frieder got the ASU job one of the first people he called was Jerry for recommendations for good assistants and Jerry was quick to refer George (as well as Lynn Archibald) who Frieder would hire.
George was a tough hard nosed coach, but likewise had really good people skills which among other things made him a great recruiter.
George was one of the best high school coaches in the history of California where he coached Verbum Dei high school in the late 60’s and early 70’s winning three California CIF titles.
They were so dominant they were referred to by many at the time as the UCLA of high school basketball. While the head coach at Verbum Dei he coached future Rebel Lew Brown, David Greenwood and Roy Hamilton who went on to UCLA and Raymond Lewis who is probably the best player to never play in the NBA.
All of the success made George a hot commodity for college assistant jobs. Jerry tried to hire him as part of his first UNLV staff, Lute Olson tried to hire him as an assistant at LBSU when he got the job and Bob Boyd tried to hire him on a couple of occasions at USC. George however decided to stay on board as Director of the Compton Recreation Center.
Finally when Lynn Archibald left to become an assistant at USC following the 75-76 season Jerry convinced him to come on board not long before the 76-77 season began. George was an assistant on the staff of UNLV’s first final four team and recruited many of the best players who were part of the program in the late 70’s/early 80’s and played a good role in helping recruit Sid Green.
He left UNLV following the 79-80 season to become the head coach at Fullerton. Even though he never was able to get them to the NCA tournament he had arguably the best run any coach had there recruiting/coaching the likes of Leon Wood, Kevin Henderson and Richard Morton. He also gave breaks to future head coaches Phil Matthews and Donnie Daniels.
After resigning from Fullerton he would finish his coaching career as an assistant for Bill Frieder at ASU. When Frieder got the ASU job one of the first people he called was Jerry for recommendations for good assistants and Jerry was quick to refer George (as well as Lynn Archibald) who Frieder would hire.
George was a tough hard nosed coach, but likewise had really good people skills which among other things made him a great recruiter.
