Hall of Fame
One of the winningest coaches in WSU basketball history, George Raveling guided the Cougar hoop fortunes from 1972-1983. During his 11 years, Raveling guided WSU to two NCAA tournaments, 1980 and 1983. WSU’s 1980 appearance was the first for the Cougars since finishing second in 1941. Raveling finished his WSU career with 167 wins, 136 losses, and had seven winning seasons, including five straight from the 1975-76 campaign through the 1980 season. Raveling won numerous coach-of-the-year honors during his Cougar career, including the 1976 UPI Pac-8 Conference and 1983 Pac-10 Conference Coach of the Year. While at WSU Raveling was an assistant coach for the USA team at the 1979 Pan American Games and the West Regional coach at the 1979 U.S. Olympic Sports Festival. Raveling continued his collegiate coaching career after leaving WSU in 1983, first at the University of Iowa, then at the University of Southern California. In 1984 he served as an assistant coach for the 1984 U.S. Olympic Team. The Washington, D.C. native coached at his alma mater Villanova and at Maryland before taking over at WSU. The author of two books on rebounding Raveling was honored by WSU with his induction into the Pac-10 Basketball Men’s Hall of Honor in 2004. In 2019 Raveling’s was contributions to Washington State University were recognized further as his name was immortalized on a banner to hang in the rafters of Beasley Coliseum.
