Osborne Cowles

Osborne Bryan Cowles (August 25, 1899 – August 29, 1997) was an American basketball player and coach. He was the head men's basketball coach at Carleton College (1924–1930), River Falls State Teachers College (now University of Wisconsin–River Falls) (1932–1936), Dartmouth College (1936–1946), University of Michigan (1946–1948), and University of Minnesota (1948–1959). He was also the head baseball coach and assistant basketball and football coach at Iowa State Teachers College, now the University of Northern Iowa during 1923–24. In 30 seasons as a collegiate head basketball coach, Cowles compiled a record of 416–189 . His teams competed in the NCAA basketball tournament six times. In his draft registration card completed in September 1918, Cowles indicated that he was living at Browns Valley and working for his father as a farm laborer.

Carleton Cowles attended Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. While at Carleton, Cowles played basketball, baseball and football, winning a total of 11 varsity letters. He was an All-State guard for the basketball team and was selected as the team captain during the 1920–21 and 1921–22 seasons. After Cowles scored 21 points against Coe College in 1921, The Coe College Cosmos praised his "whirlwind tactics in handling the ball" and noted, "Cowles is quick as a cat, powerful and heady—the personification of speed." During the two years in which Cowles was the captain, the Carleton basketball team compiled records of 13–4 and 14–2. Interviewed in January 1923, Cowles declared that basketball was the greatest sport in America because more take part in the game than any other game. As proof, Cowles noted that 175 men and boys and about 60 women were regularly playing basketball in Rochester.

Iowa State Teachers During the 1923–24 academic year, Cowles coached football, baseball and basketball at Iowa State Teachers College—now known as Northern Iowa University. He was an assistant coach to the L. L. Mendenhall for the football and basketball teams and the head coach of the baseball team. In his one year as head baseball coach, he "turned out a team that won the Iowa conference championship" in 1924.

Carleton In September 1924, Cowles accepted a position as the head basketball and baseball coach at his alma mater, Carleton College. At one point, Cowles' Carleton teams won 32 consecutive games on their home court and 48 out of 52 games overall. At the time of the 1930 United States Census, Osborne was living in Northfield, Minnesota and listed his occupation as bond salesman. Cowles was the athletic director and head baseball, football and basketball coach at River Falls from 1932 to 1936. His 1936 River Falls basketball team won a conference title. He compiled a 32–28 record in three years as the basketball coach at River Falls.

Dartmouth and Navy In March 1936, Cowles was hired as the head basketball coach at Dartmouth College. Fritz Crisler, who was the football and basketball coach at Princeton University at the time, had seen Cowles' teams at Carleton College and recommended Cowles for the coaching position at Dartmouth.

Cowles was the head coach of the Dartmouth basketball team from 1936 to 1943 and 1944 to 1946. In his eight seasons as head coach, Dartmouth's basketball teams won the Ivy League championship seven times and finished in second place the other year. He compiled a record of 144–47 (.754) at Dartmouth.

In March 1942, Cowles led Dartmouth to a 47–28 victory over Kentucky to win the East Championship, The championship game pitted Cowles against Stanford coach, Everett Dean, who had coached Cowles at Carleton College. Dean recalled prior to the championship game that Cowles was "one of the best guards to play under me." He held the rank of lieutenant during World War II, serving with the Naval Aviation Selection Board. In March 1944, while Cowles was fulfilling his military obligation, his Dartmouth basketball team returned to the NCAA championship game, losing a close game to Utah, 42–40, in overtime. In February 1946, Cowles led Dartmouth to its eight Ivy League basketball championship in nine years with a 47–27 victory over Columbia.

Michigan In August 1946, Cowles was hired as the head basketball coach at the University of Michigan, succeeding Bennie Oosterbaan. Upon hiring Cowles, Michigan's athletic director Fritz Crisler said, "In recommending Mr. Cowles, I feel that we are very fortunate. He is absolutely in my estimation the best possible man for the position we could select." In his first year at Michigan, he led the team to a 12–8 record. The following year, he led the 1947–48 Michigan Wolverines to a 16–6 (.727) record. Following the 1947–48 season, Cowles received the Coach of the Year award at Michigan. He coached the Gophers from 1948 through 1959. In his first season at Minnesota, Cowles led the basketball team to an 18–3 record (.857) and a No. 6 ranking in the final AP poll. Despite the lack of championships, his tenure at Minnesota has been described by some as the "golden age" of the program.

At Minnesota, Cowles had a defensive focus, taught "control basketball" and was "often criticized by Big Ten opponents for using a deliberate style of play." In 1957, he was in the minority in opposing the introduction of a 30- or 24-second rule to college basketball, arguing that "it makes teams take shots they shouldn't take." When Cowles introduced his control-oriented game at Minnesota in 1949, the style was deemed anachronistic and became "the main topic of conversation among net fans in the midlands."

Earlier, Cowles had been an outspoken opponent of a 1950 rule limiting a fouled player to one free-throw if he was not fouled in the act of shooting. Believing the odds were better, Cowles ordered his team to refuse all free-throws (and instead opt for a jump ball as was permitted under the rules at that time) in a game against Michigan State.

In his final two seasons at Minnesota, the program had losing records of 9–12 in 1957–58 and 8–14 in 1958–59.

Family, honors and later years Cowles was married to Luella Elizabeth Kaus in Saint Paul, Minnesota, at Peoples Church on March 12, 1922. They had two children, Roxanne and David Cowles. Following the death of his first wife, Cowles was remarried to Edris Cowles. He was a member of Quinn and Co. in El Paso and was active in the exploration and production of natural gas.

Cowles has been inducted into the Helms Foundation Hall of Fame, the Dartmouth "Wearers of the Green," the University of Minnesota M Club Hall of Fame, the Carleton College Hall of Fame, and with the Metropolitan Award in 1993.

In August 1997, Cowles died at Gainesville, Florida, at age 98. He was preceded in death by wives, Louella and Edris, and his son, David. He was survived by his third wife, Georgia, daughter, Roxanne, and step-daughter, Janet Gharrity.

Head coaching record

College football

College basketball