Louis Orr obit

Louis Orr Has Passed Away at Age 64

The Syracuse basketball legend has quite the legacy as a player and coach in college basketball. 

He was not on the list.

Syracuse Orangemen basketball legend Louis Orr has passed away at age 64, according to a report from CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein. Thoughts and prayers go out to Orr’s family, friends and loved ones.

Louie Orr was the first recruit to commit to Jim Boeheim when Boeheim began his Hall of Fame career as head coach of Syracuse basketball. Orr was a star at Withrow High School in Cincinnati Ohio and was one of the smoothest scorers to come through the Orange program. He teamed up with Roosevelt Bouie to form the Bouie ‘N Louie Show, compiling a record of 100-18 over four years. Orr averaged 12.2 points and 7.6 rebounds for his career, but took his game to the next level as a senior averaging 16.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists while shooting 57% from the floor earning him All-American honors. He shot 55% for his collegiate career. In total, Orr played in 116 games, starting 87.

Orr was selected in the First Round of the 1980 NBA Draft by the Indiana Pacers. He played two seasons with Indiana before spending six with the New York Knicks. He averaged 9.8 points and 3.7 rebounds per game during his NBA career, including a career high 12.7 points per game during the 1984-85 campaign.

Following his professional basketball career, Orr became an accomplished coach. He started as an assistant at Xavier before going to Providence for three years. He returned to Central New York to coach with Boeheim starting with the 1996-97 season and lasting for four total years. Orr got his first head coaching gig with Siena in 2000, where he led the Saints to a tie for the MAAC title in his first season. Orr would leave Siena for Seton Hall, earning Big East Coach of the Year recognition in the 2002-03 season. He would spend five seasons with the Pirates. After that, Orr would take the head coaching job at Bowling Green for a few seasons before becoming an assistant at Georgetown.

Orr was the Vic Hanson Medal of Excellence Award Winner in 1990, named to the Syracuse All Century Team in 2000 and was a Letterwinner of Distinction in 2006. Syracuse returned his jersey, along with teammate Roosevelt Bouie, in 2015.

He got his first assistant coaching job in 1990 with Xavier in Cincinnati, Ohio, the city where Orr was from. Then, in 1994, he began serving under Pete Gillen at Providence and soon he was an assistant under Jim Boeheim and the Syracuse Orangemen. During his tenure there, he rose to become a noted assistant, and helped them to a 92–40 record in that time. Syracuse reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament twice during Orr's time there.

In 2000, Orr received his first head coaching job, accepting the position as head coach of the men's basketball team at Siena College. In his lone year at Siena, Orr led the Saints to a three-way tie for first place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and a 20–11 record, the best ever for a first-year Siena coach. Siena broke many attendance records that year as well.

Orr became the first former Big East player to become a head coach in the conference after he was hired in 2001 by Seton Hall after Tommy Amaker left to become the head coach at Michigan. In his first year in the Big East Conference, Orr went 12–18, but was noted for playing Duke very close in the Maui Invitational.

By his fifth season at Seton Hall, Orr had led the Pirates to two NCAA Tournaments in three years. In the 2004 NCAA tournament, Seton Hall defeated the 9th seed Arizona in the first round before falling to 1st seed Duke in the second round. During the 2005–06 season, Orr led Seton Hall to a 9–7 record in the Big East and an 18–12 record overall. Seton Hall was seeded 10th in the 2006 NCAA tournament and played the 7th seed Wichita State, falling 86–66. Although Orr had made the NCAA tournament twice and the NIT once in his five seasons at Seton Hall, concerns about lackluster recruiting resulted in his firing after the 2005–06 season with a record of 80–69. 

After sitting out from coaching for a season, Orr was hired to become the men's basketball coach at Bowling Green State University, replacing former head coach Dan Dakich whose contract was not renewed by Bowling Green after ten seasons. In his first season at Bowling Green, Orr posted a 13–17 overall record and 7–9 record in the MAC, finishing 5th in the East Division. The following season, Orr led Bowling Green to their 10th MAC regular season title after the Falcons posted an 11–5 conference record. Although the top seed in the conference tournament, Bowling Green would fall in the tournament semifinals to eventual champion Akron. As the MAC regular season champion, Bowling Green received an automatic bid to the 2009 National Invitation Tournament. Bowling Green was the 8th seed in bracket 3 and played at the bracket's top seed Creighton. Bowling Green made a strong comeback, but fell short, losing to Creighton 73–71 in their first-round game. Orr was named the MAC Coach of the Year for Bowling Green's performance during the 2008–09 season.

 

On March 11, 2014 Bowling Green announced that it would not renew Orr's contract. Orr was 101–121 in seven seasons, including a record of 54–60 in Mid-American Conference play.

 

He was formerly an assistant at Xavier University, Providence College and his alma mater Syracuse University, before getting his first head coaching job at Siena College. He was also an assistant coach at Georgetown under his former New York Knicks teammate Patrick Ewing.

 

Career information

High school            Withrow (Cincinnati, Ohio)

College            Syracuse (1976–1980)

NBA draft            1980 / Round: 2 / Pick: 29th overall

Selected by the Indiana Pacers

Playing career            1980–1988

Position            Power forward / Small forward

Number            55

Coaching career   1991–2022

Career history

As player:

1980–1982            Indiana Pacers

1982–1988            New York Knicks

As coach:

1991–1994            Xavier (assistant)

1994–1996            Providence (assistant)

1996–2000            Syracuse (assistant)

2000–2001            Siena

2001–2006            Seton Hall

2007–2014            Bowling Green

2017–2022            Georgetown (assistant)

Career highlights and awards

As player:

First-team All-Big East (1980)

No. 55 retired by Syracuse Orange

As head coach:

 

MAC Coach of the Year (2009)

Big East Coach of the Year (2003)

MAC regular season champion (2009)

MAAC regular season champion (2001)