Former Purdue men’s basketball coach Lee Rose dies at 85
FILE - UNC-Charlotte coach Lee Rose reacts during an NCAA basketball game against Michigan on March 19, 1977, in Lexington, Ky. Rose, a former men’s college basketball coach who led Purdue and Charlotte to the Final Four, died Tuesday, April 5, 2022, in Charlotte. He was 85. The school did not provide a cause of death. (AP Photo/File)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Lee Rose, who led Purdue and Charlotte to the men’s Final Four, has died. He was 85.
UNC Charlotte said he died Tuesday in Charlotte. The school did not provide a cause of death.
Rose led the 49ers to 1976 NIT championship game and to the school’s only Final Four in 1977. Rose was 72-18 in three years with Charlotte before leaving to take over at Purdue.
He spent just two seasons with the Boilermakers and had a 50-18 record. He took Purdue to the Final Four in 1979.
He spent the next six years at South Florida amassing a 106-69 record before becoming an assistant coach in the NBA.