Kansas State University Athletics
K-State Athletics Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 1991
Morice Fredrick “Tex” Winter was an assistant coach during Jack Gardner’s glory years. He was a natural to succeed his mentor, although the early years were tough. So tough, in fact, that at one point signs sprouted saying, “Spring is here, Winter must go.” Fortunately, Winter stayed, and it was a “long, hard Winter” for Kansas State opponents for 15 years. An innovator of the “triangle offense,” he earned a reputation as one of the most creative offensive coaches in the land and in 1962, published a book on the offense entitled The Triple-Post Offense.
Winter owns the second-most wins (262) of any Kansas State coach, and laid claim to more league titles (eight) than any other Wildcat coach. He would lead the school to postseason play seven times, including six trips to the NCAA Tournament. K-State won the Big Eight Holiday Tournament four times under his leadership, and achieved top 20 finishes on four occasions. Eleven Wildcats achieved all-league honors under Winter, and two (Jack Parr and Bob Boozer) were All-Americans. He was also named the United Press International (UPI) National Coach of the Year in 1958.
There were several outstanding teams under Winter, two of which made trips to the Final Four. Spearheaded by the play of Bob Boozer, the 1958-59 team was ranked among the nation’s top-five for most of the season and spent numerous weeks as the nation’s No. 1 ranked team before falling in the Midwest Regional Finals to No. 5 Cincinnati. Then, in 1964, the Wildcats charged back to the Final Four, finally being eliminated by eventual champion UCLA, 90-84.
A native of Huntington Park, Calif., Winter began his coaching career as the first full-time assistant at Kansas State for Jack Gardner from 1947-51. Like Gardner, he graduated from the University of Southern California [in 1947], where he learned the triangle offense from Sam Barry. An All-American pole vaulter for the Trojans, he became the youngest coach in the nation at Marquette in 1951, guiding the Warriors to the National Catholic Championship in his first season. After his second season he replaced Gardner (who left to become coach at Utah) as head coach in 1953.
Following his departure in 1968, Winter served shorter stints as head coach at Washington (1969-72), the NBA’s Houston Rockets (1972-74), Northwestern (1975-78) and Long Beach State (1978-83). In total, he won 454 games at the collegiate level. Winter went 51-78 during his two-year stint with the Rockets.
In 1985, Winter started another chapter of his life, serving as an assistant coach with the Chicago Bulls under Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Phil Jackson, and teaching the triangle offense to Michael Jordan. He was hired to the position by General Manager Jerry Krause, an old friend he had met while at K-State. As an assistant to Jackson, who took over as the Bulls' head coach in 1989, Winter was an integral part of the Bulls' NBA championships in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, and 1998. Winter followed Phil Jackson to the Los Angeles Lakers, where he collected four additional championship rings, in 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2009.
A member of both the state of Kansas Hall of Fame as well as the Kansas State Sports Hall of Fame, among others, Winter was awarded the John Bunn Award for lifetime achievement from the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. However, although Winter has been on the final ballot for the Basketball Hall of Fame six times, he has not yet been awarded this honor.
