| Wins against Kentucky - 0 | Losses against Kentucky - 1 |
Alma Mater: Miami (OH) [1967]
Hometown: Decatur, IL
Date Born: January 5, 1945
Date Died: November 20, 2020
Overall Record: 57-53 [4 Seasons]
Date | Matchup | UK Result | Score | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
11/29/1980 | East Tennessee State at Kentucky | W | 62 - 57 | - |
Obituary - Johnson City Press (November 23, 2020)
Former ETSU coach Hallihan Remembered as a Loyal, Caring Man
by Joe Avento
Jim Hallihan was remembered as a coach who cared about his players long after their playing days had ended.
Hallihan, a former basketball coach at East Tennessee State, died Friday in Iowa. He was 75 and had been in ill health recently.
Steve Forbes, the former ETSU head coach who is about to begin his first season at Wake Forest, was hit hard when he heard the news. Hallihan had spent the final years of his coaching career as an assistant at Iowa State, where he helped Johnny Orr turn the program into a national power.
Forbes grew up in Iowa and had known Hallihan since he entered the coaching profession.
"He was one of those guys I've known my entire coaching career, since I started in 1989 at Southwestern Community College," Forbes said. "He was somebody I really looked up to. He was always there to give me guidance and mentor me. Throughout the years, we remained good friends."
"He was a voice of reason. I bounced things off of him. Whenever there was a job opportunity, I always talked to him. When my dad passed away, he was there at the funeral. He was one of the few people in my life that talked to me like my dad, always gave me advice and talked to me more about life than basketball."
Forbes said Hallihan was quick to congratulate him when he was hired as ETSU's head coach in 2015.
"That was one of his proudest moments," Forbes said. "He loved East Tennessee State and he loved people. He came back to Johnson City three or four times a year. He stayed with me once. He talked to our team just about every year."
Hallihan was an assistant for Sonny Smith at ETSU before Smith left for Auburn in 1978. Hallihan replaced Smith as the Bucs' head coach and spent four more years in Johnson City before moving on to Iowa State.
"Jim is special to me," Smith said. "You don't say things like this, but I said it to him the other day. I told him 'Jim, if you had gone to Auburn with me, we would have won a national championship.'"
"The reason was that he was so good at teaching defense. We worked for Don DeVoe together (at Virginia Tech). He and DeVoe were great defensive coaches. People always accused me of spending more time on offense than defense, and that was true. I offered him a chance to come to Auburn with me, but he got the head coaching job at East Tennessee. That made me real happy."
Smith called Hallihan one of the most loyal people he ever met in the coaching profession.
"This is the kind of guy Jim was," Smith said. "All the guys we recruited, he kept in touch with every one of those guys. It takes a guy with strong feelings to do that. I do it some, but not as much as that guy did. He had a feeling for the people who played for him. I just look at Jim as a special person."
Less than a month ago, Hallihan spoke about the recent tragic death of one of his former ETSU players, B.J. Johnson. The news shook the former coach, who spoke glowingly about Johnson, who had gone to become one of the NBA's top scouts for the Houston Rockets and died in a biking accident.
"That was more important to him than anything," Forbes said. "He was always looking out for his former players. He was really a kind person and somebody I'm really, really going to miss."