Tippy Dye

William Henry Harrison "Tippy" Dye (April 1, 1915 – April 11, 2012) was an American college athlete, coach, and athletic director. As a basketball head coach, Dye led the University of Washington to its only NCAA Final Four appearance in 1953. As an athletic director, Dye helped build the University of Nebraska football dynasty in the 1960s.

Playing career Born in Harrisonville, Ohio, Dye enrolled at Ohio State University in 1933 and became a star three-sport athlete for the Buckeyes. He earned three varsity letters as a football quarterback in 1934, 1935, and 1936. His team finished those seasons with records of 7–1, 7–1, and 5–3, respectively, and until 2006 he was the only Buckeye quarterback to win three consecutive games over the University of Michigan. Dye also played guard on the basketball team, lettering in 1935, 1936, and 1937. He was an All-Conference selection in the Big Ten in 1936 and 1937. In 1937 he was also the team's captain. Dye lettered in baseball in 1935 and 1936.

After graduation, Dye played in the 1937 College All-Star Football Game against the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field (collegians upset the defending champion Packers 6–0). In that game, Dye played in a backfield that included future pro legend, Sammy Baugh. Dye then signed to play with the first incarnation of the Cincinnati Bengals, a member of the second American Football League, in 1937.

Coaching career After his one-year stint with the Bengals, Dye entered the coaching ranks. He coached first at Grandview Heights High School just outside Columbus from 1939–41. The next year, Dye returned to Ohio State to be an assistant for the football and basketball teams. The Buckeye's basketball team was coached by Harold Olsen at the time, one of the men who spearheaded the creation of an NCAA basketball tournament in 1939. Dye's 156–91 record with the Huskies ranks him as the fourth winningest coach in UW basketball history, behind coaches Hec Edmundson (488 wins), Marv Harshman (246 wins), and Lorenzo Romar (298 wins). After three years, he moved up to the Big Eight Conference at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln in 1962. Prior to hiring Dye, the Nebraska football program had an all-time winning percentage of less than 62%, and had a lackluster two decades; Dye hired Bob Devaney from Wyoming following the 1961 season as head coach. Devaney would coach ten years and win two national championships while being asked to replace Dye as director in 1967.

He hired head basketball coach Joe Cipriano, the scrappy leader from his Final Four team at Washington. Cipriano coached the Huskers for 17 seasons, until his death from cancer in 1980. Dye moved on to Northwestern University in 1967 and retired in 1974, retiring to Florida.

Name Dye was named after William Henry Harrison, the ninth U.S. President. Harrison used the campaign nickname of Tippecanoe in 1840, which led in turn to Dye's nickname of "Tippy."

Death Dye died in 2012 in Grass Valley, California, ten days after his 97th birthday. In recent years, he had lived in California with his daughter and her husband following his wife's death, who died in 2001 after 64 years of marriage. He was buried next to her in Pomeroy, Ohio.

Head coaching record