Louis Orr

Louis Orr

Sport(s)	Basketball
Biographical details
Born	(1958-05-07) May 7, 1958 Cincinnati, Ohio
Playing career
1976–1980	Syracuse
1980–1982	Indiana Pacers
1982–1988	New York Knicks
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1991–1994	Xavier (asst.)
1994–1996	Providence (asst.)
1996–2000	Syracuse (asst.)
2000–2001	Siena
2001–2006	Seton Hall
2007–2014	Bowling Green
Head coaching record
Overall	201–201 (.500)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
MAC regular season championship (2009) MAAC regular season championship (2001)
Awards
MAC Coach of the Year (2009) Big East Coach of the Year (2003)

Louis McLaughlin Orr (born May 7, 1958) is an American men's college basketball coach. Orr was most recently the basketball head coach at Bowling Green State University.^[1] Orr was the head coach at Seton Hall University from April 4, 2001 until his firing on March 24, 2006. He was formerly an assistant at Xavier University, Providence College and his alma mater Syracuse University, before getting his first head coaching job at Siena College.

Playing career

Orr attended Withrow High School where he was coached by Charles Cadle. Orr played at Syracuse from 1976 to 1980 and was part of the famed "Bouie & Louie Show" with teammate Roosevelt Bouie. After graduating from Syracuse in 1980, he was the 28th pick in the 1980 NBA Draft, selected by the Indiana Pacers. He played two seasons with the Pacers, which included one playoff appearance. After that, he moved on to the New York Knicks, and played for six years, with three playoff berths. Orr averaged career highs rebounds and points for the Knicks with 12.7 and 4.9, respectively, in the 1984–85 season. He scored over 5,500 career points as a pro.

Coaching career

He got his first assistant coaching job in 1990 with Xavier in Cincinnati, Ohio, the town where Orr was from. Then, in 1994, he began serving under Pete Gillen at Providence and soon he was an assistant under Jim Boeheim and the Syracuse Orangemen. During his tenure there, he rose to become a noted assistant, and helped them to a 92–40 record in that time. Syracuse reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament twice in during Orr's time there.

Siena

In 2000, Orr received his first head coaching job, accepting the position as head coach of the men's basketball team at Siena College. In his lone year at Siena, Orr led the Saints to a three-way tie for first place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and a 20–11 record, the best ever for a first-year Siena coach. Siena broke many attendance records that year as well.

Seton Hall

Orr became the first former Big East player to become a head coach in the conference after he was hired in 2001 by Seton Hall after Tommy Amaker left to become the head coach at Michigan. In his first year in the Big East Conference, Orr went 12–18, but was noted for playing Duke very close in the Maui Invitational.

By his fifth season at Seton Hall, Orr had led the Pirates to two NCAA Tournaments in three years. In the 2004 NCAA Tournament, Seton Hall defeated the 9th seed Arizona in the first round before falling to 1st seed Duke in the second round. During the 2005–06 season, Orr led Seton Hall to a 9–7 record in the Big East and an 18–12 record overall. Seton Hall received was seeded 10th in the 2006 NCAA Tournament and played the 7th seed Wichita State, falling 86–66. Although Orr had made the NCAA tournament twice and the NIT once in his five seasons at Seton Hall, concerns about lackluster recruiting resulted in his firing after the 2005–06 season with a record of 80–69.

Bowling Green

After sitting out from coaching for a season, Orr was hired to become the men's basketball coach at Bowling Green State University, replacing former head coach Dan Dakich whose contract was not renewed by Bowling Green after ten seasons. In his first season at Bowling Green, Orr posted a 13–17 overall record and 7–9 record in the MAC, finishing 5th in the East Division. The following season, Orr led Bowling Green to their 10th MAC regular season title after the Falcons posted an 11–5 conference record. Although the top seed in the conference tournament, Bowling Green would fall in the tournament semifinals to eventual champion Akron. As the MAC regular season champion, Bowling Green received an automatic bid to the 2009 National Invitation Tournament. Bowling Green was the 8th seed in bracket 3 and played at the bracket's top seed Creighton. Bowling Green made a strong comeback, but fell short, losing to Creighton 73–71 in their first round game. Orr was named the MAC Coach of the Year for Bowling Green's performance during the 2008–09 season.

On March 11, 2014 Bowling Green announced it will not renew Orr's contract. Orr was 101–121 in seven seasons, including a record of 54–60 in Mid-American Conference play.

Head coaching record

External links

• Orangehoops.org with an Orr profile
• Bowling Green profile