Lou Henson, a college basketball coach who took New Mexico State and Illinois to the Final Four during a 41-year career that included nearly 800 victories and a feud with fellow Big Ten coach Bob Knight, died July 25 at his home in Champaign, Ill. He was 88.
Mr. Henson retired as the winningest coach at both Illinois and New Mexico State, and he still ranks fifth all-time among Big Ten coaches in total wins (423) and conference wins (214). He was one of 14 coaches to lead two teams to the Final Four. In 2015, he was named to the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.
Mr. Henson’s best team, the 1988-89 “Flyin’ Illini,” reached the NCAA semifinals with a fluid mix of athleticism and style. Led by Stephen Bardo, Kenny Battle, Kendall Gill and Nick Anderson, Illinois reached the Final Four with 31 wins before finally losing to eventual champion Michigan by two points.
Mr. Henson began his coaching career in the 1950s at New Mexico’s Las Cruces High School — where he won three consecutive state titles — and at Hardin-Simmons University in Texas. He took over at New Mexico State in 1966.
His Aggies made the NCAA Tournament in each of his first five seasons, including a Final Four appearance in 1970.
Mr. Henson took over a struggling program at Illinois in 1975. Drawing heavily on in-state players, Mr. Henson took his teams to the NCAA Tournament nine times between 1981 and 1990. His comb-over hair style became known as the “Lou-Do.”
In 1990, the NCAA put Illinois on probation for rules violations, including improper contacts with recruits and improper car loans to players from a team booster.
Mr. Henson’s long-running rivalry with Indiana coach Bob Knight boiled over in 1991, after Knight refused to offer a postgame handshake and made a comment to Mr. Henson outside the teams’ locker rooms. Mr. Henson called Knight “a classic bully.”
After 21 years, Mr. Henson left Illinois in 1996 and returned to New Mexico State for another seven seasons, winning the Big West conference title in 1999 and advancing once more to the NCAA Tournament.
He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2003 and coached for a time from a wheelchair on the sidelines. The following season, he retired from coaching with a 779-412 record.
Louis Ray Henson was born Jan. 10, 1932, in Okay, Okla. He played college basketball at New Mexico State (then called New Mexico A&M), from which he received bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
The basketball courts at both Illinois and New Mexico State are named in Mr. Henson’s honor.
Survivors include his wife, Mary, and three daughters. A son, Lou Henson Jr., died in a car accident in 1992.
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