Hall of Fame
Jack Friel was a three-year letterwinner in both baseball at basketball at Washington State in the early 1920s. On the hardwood, he averaged 7.7 points per game in days when the Cougars averaged 25.7 as a team. Friel returned to Washington State as the head basketball coach for the 1928-29 season and held the position for three decades. He also coached the Cougars on the baseball diamond, 1943-45. His 1940-41 basketball squad was his best, winning a school-record 26 games and finishing runner-up to Wisconsin in the NCAA Championship. Friel is credited with developing the platoon system and installing the one-and-one free throw rule. He served as the first commissioner of the Big Sky Conference. Friel received the WSU Alumni Achievement Award in 1971 and the Metropolitan Award from the National Association of Basketball Coaches for his contributions to the game in 1977. Friel was placed in the Pac-10 Men’s Basketball Hall of Honor as part of the 2003 class and is a member of the State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame and the Inland Northwest Sports Hall of Fame. The Cougars’ home basketball floor was named Friel Court in his honor.
