http://towsonfans.com/forums/index.php?/...-sad-news/

No story yet but Skerry announced it on Twitter.

http://towsontigers.com/news/2015/2/17/M...53411.aspx

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/colle...story.html

(02-17-2015 08:10 PM)mat1992 Wrote:  http://towsontigers.com/news/2015/2/17/M...53411.aspx

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/colle...story.html

Thanks, Mat.

When TSU first signed Terry they started doing pre-game meetings between the coach and then young alums like myself. Coach Truax would come in and give us a little pep talk and and couple of x and o hints about that night's opponent. He probably hated doing it right before a game, but I guess he understood that he was responsible for selling the program and that was one way to do it. He was always very nice to us.

After he was fired, I also saw him a few times at Schuerholz Field watching the baseball team. It was nice to see that he still connected in that way with the athletic program.

Coach T was a great storyteller. I wish I had recollection of some of the stories he told. He wasn't a BS artist like some other coaches we might know. That probably hurt him at times because he was too blunt. I'll never forget when I was in radio and we hosted a special luncheon for the local college coaches with Stan Charles and myself as emcee at a hotel in Fells Point. Terry brought Michael Keyes and Fleurian Schnedier with him. He made a snide comment about Keyes' academics and then said "Schneider could guard that door over there."

It was a strange moment and I'm sure Wayne Edwards, who eventually let him go, wasn't pleased. But that was Coach. That talent at the end was a little thin and I think all the conference shifting set the program back at least five years. I'm sure he knew that the writing was also on the wall. He had teams that beat St. John's, West Virginia and Louisville and you can't take that away. Nor the two NCAA Tournament bids or the five regular season/postseason titles from 1990-1994.

I critiqued him when I was on radio and I felt extremely guilty about it because it was proven that I was wrong. He deserved at least another year or two to try and turn things around. Doubt that Edwards would have given him or any coach for that matter, the resources to win. I spoke with him a few years ago at the brunch at the final home game at the Towson Center. He was there about a year after his wife past with Lew Waller and the great former manager Ira Malkin. Not sure why more players did not show up though maybe they did for the previous night and later game day luncheon. Did get to interview him for the final time.

Then I saw him on Feb. 7 on his way out of SECU. We chatted on the way back to the parking lot. Talked about Gary Durant of all people and the current team. He didn't look good but I thought it was just age, maybe an old basketball injury that slowed him down. Little did I know that his mentor-Dean Smith-would pass away that day. And Coach Truax would join him 10 days later.

Thanks Terry for bringing us to the NCAA Tournament twice. We were cocky enough to think we'd have 10 more banners by now. Some of students tried to make that old place roar because those Towson teams were exciting. I could only imagine how that current crowd inside SECU would react to a Devin Boyd ally-oop pass to Chuck Lightening. Anybody that attended the ECC title games in 1990 and 1991 understood the incredible electricity and intensity that was inside that building and has yet to be recaptured since.

RIP Terry Truax

Coach was a good man. Sad to see him pass away. RIP. Rushing the court in 91 is an incredible memory of mine.

I just thought of hearing the coach on the radio, I think with Stan Charles, right after he was fired. He said that he got a call from a Richmond reporter right before that happened asking if he was a candidate for their job. He had to tell the reporter that he wasn't and that he was probably losing the one he had. That stuck with me somehow.

(02-19-2015 04:57 PM)howie14 Wrote:  I just thought of hearing the coach on the radio, I think with Stan Charles, right after he was fired. He said that he got a call from a Richmond reporter right before that happened asking if he was a candidate for their job. He had to tell the reporter that he wasn't and that he was probably losing the one he had. That stuck with me somehow.

I vaguely remember that because I was on with Stan that night, and might have a tape of that. When we had Terry on, you could ask him 2-3 questions, and he'd go on for 15 minutes. He loved talking hoops.

(02-19-2015 08:54 PM)mat1992 Wrote:  When we had Terry on, you could ask him 2-3 questions, and he'd go on for 15 minutes. He loved talking hoops.

Several of the coaches we've had have been good on the radio. I thought Jas was good with Spiro and Kennedy was always entertaining. Too bad Kennedy couldn't coach any more.

I was always surprised Truax didn't get another college job.

(02-19-2015 09:39 PM)howie14 Wrote:  

(02-19-2015 08:54 PM)mat1992 Wrote:  When we had Terry on, you could ask him 2-3 questions, and he'd go on for 15 minutes. He loved talking hoops.

Several of the coaches we've had have been good on the radio. I thought Jas was good with Spiro and Kennedy was always entertaining. Too bad Kennedy couldn't coach any more.

I was always surprised Truax didn't get another college job.

Not sure if he wanted to go back to being an assistant at that age (I think he was around 52 when he was let go). But it was sad that he never coached in D-1 again. He was too smart and too good to be toiling around in junior college and high school. Somebody should have given him an NBA scouting job or maybe an administrative job at a college. Maybe it's an age thing where most coaches want a younger guy who can travel and recruit. He could have been a Joe Harrington-type that was somebody's x's and o's guy.

(02-19-2015 10:07 PM)mat1992 Wrote:  

(02-19-2015 09:39 PM)howie14 Wrote:  

(02-19-2015 08:54 PM)mat1992 Wrote:  When we had Terry on, you could ask him 2-3 questions, and he'd go on for 15 minutes. He loved talking hoops.

Several of the coaches we've had have been good on the radio. I thought Jas was good with Spiro and Kennedy was always entertaining. Too bad Kennedy couldn't coach any more.

I was always surprised Truax didn't get another college job.

Not sure if he wanted to go back to being an assistant at that age (I think he was around 52 when he was let go). But it was sad that he never coached in D-1 again. He was too smart and too good to be toiling around in junior college and high school. Somebody should have given him an NBA scouting job or maybe an administrative job at a college. Maybe it's an age thing where most coaches want a younger guy who can travel and recruit. He could have been a Joe Harrington-type that was somebody's x's and o's guy.

I pulled up an article about him from the Sun in 2006 and was surprised to find out that he did so much coaching on the high school and prep level after Towson. I hadn't realized he did much other than that minor league stint.