ESPN.com - NCB - Crum's Cardinals were once dominant

The Cardinals' 59-54 victory over UCLA, his alma mater, had done the one thing that none of his other victories had been able to do -- validate him as a top-tier coach in his own mind.

"To be honest, I think there was a lot more relief than there was excitement when we won that first one, at least for me personally," Crum told The Associated Press earlier this season. "We had already been in two Final Fours and lost both times. When that happens, you maybe start questioning yourself a little bit.

"When we finally won one, it was a total feeling that, 'Hey, we've finally made it over the hump. Can Crum win the big ones? Yes, he can."'

On Friday, his 64th birthday, Crum said he will retire after the season. He leaves Louisville after 30 years, having built the school into one of the dominant college basketball programs of the 1980s and early '90s.

A native of San Fernando, Calif., Crum played for John Wooden at UCLA in the 1950s. He graduated in 1958 and served as a graduate assistant coach for Wooden from 1959-61. After coaching at a junior college in Los Angeles he returned to work for Wooden from 1968-71. The Bruins went 86-4 and won three national championships while he was there.

Crum's relationship with Wooden has remained one of the strongest in his life.

"In terms of basketball, he taught me everything: organization, planning, attention to detail, principles of teaching ... just about everything I know," Crum said. "In terms of the way to live one's life, I can't think of a better model than Coach Wooden."

Wooden has never hesitated to praise his protege, either.

"I never had any doubt Denny would succeed as a coach," Wooden said in September. "Of any player I've ever coached, Denny was probably the most cut out to be a coach.

"He wanted to know reasons for everything. Why do we do this drill? Why did we run this play in this situation? He was storing information and developing a system for doing things even then."

Under Crum, the Cardinals won NCAA titles in 1980 and 1986 and played in the Final Four in 1972, 1975, 1982 and 1983. Crum's 674 career victories rank 14th in Division I-A history.

Crum imbued his players with his passion for winning. The roster of players he touched includes Darrell Griffith, Junior Bridgeman, Derek Smith, Rodney McCray, Billy Thompson, Milt Wagner, Lancaster Gordon, Pervis Ellison and Felton Spencer.

"He's a winner both on and off the court," said Charles Jones, who played for Crum from 1980-1984 and spent four seasons in the NBA with Phoenix, Portland and Washington. "He doesn't like to lose at anything. It doesn't matter whether it's a basketball game, a golf tournament or a fishing trip. He was determined to be the guy who got the hole-in-one or caught all the fish."

The only active Division I coach who has been at the same school longer than Crum is Jim Phelan, who just completed his 47th season at Mount St. Mary's.

"It never entered my mind that I'd be anywhere for 30 years," Crum said. "My original intention was to come here and prove I could be a successful Division I coach and then go back to UCLA if the opportunity ever presented itself -- and it did on three different occasions.

"In the end, I just couldn't leave Louisville. Professionally, it would have been a lot easier to go back because there's eight times more kids to recruit out in California than there are in Kentucky. What I didn't count on was the love I developed for this university and the people of this city. After a while, there was just no place else I wanted to be."

Upon replacing John Dromo in 1971, he led the Cardinals to the Final Four in his first season but fell to Wooden and UCLA in the semifinals.

Louisville returned to the Final Four in 1975 and again in 1980, breaking through for its first championship with the victory over the Bruins.

"He always has such great poise," said Wiley Brown, a member of the 1980 title team. "He stays calm in certain situations when most other guys would be going out of their minds. A preseason game or the championship game, he's no different."

The Cardinals won their second NCAA title in Dallas in 1986, beating LSU 88-77 in the semifinals and Duke 72-69 in the championship game.

"I was a lot more relaxed that time around," Crum said.

Dubbed "Cool Hand Luke" by former Marquette coach and broadcaster Al McGuire, Crum guided Louisville to seven 20-win seasons from 1987-97.

Since then, the Cardinals have gone only 61-61 with an 0-2 record in the NCAA Tournament. Some suggested that perhaps the game passed Crum by.

"Coach Wooden used to say that you only prosper through adversity, and I truly believe that," Crum said. "You don't get any better if everything is just peaches and cream. You just go along day to day never appreciating anything or bettering yourself in any way.

"Until a person develops an inner desire to improve himself, he'll never be a winner. It has to come from within. And that's something that applies to life as well as basketball."

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