Weber State University Athletics
Hall of Fame - Ron Abegglen
3/18/2015 3:39:00 PM | Wildcat Club
Ron Abegglen
Men's Basketball Coach (1992-1999)
Inducted October 2011
Coach Ron Abegglen led Weber State's basketball program to a pair of the greatest upsets in NCAA Tournament history. But Abegglen, a Utah native, was anything but a flash in the pan coach.
In a career which took him from Morgan, to Ephraim, to Anchorage, Alaska, to Ogden, then to London, Abegglen never coached a losing team in his amazing 40-year coaching career.
Abegglen posted an overall record of 152-83 at Weber State, the second most victories in Weber State men's basketball history, and eighth-most in Big Sky Conference annals.
Abegglen's squads won 20 or more games in five of his eight seasons as WSU's head coach. He led Weber State to the Big Sky Conference regular-season title in 1994, 1995 and 1995, and was named Big Sky coach of the year in each of those seasons.
A native of Vernal, Utah, Abegglen graduated from Uintah High School and went on to a four-year playing career at BYU. His first coaching job came at Morgan High, where he spent 13 seasons as head coach. In his final season at Morgan, the Trojans finished with a perfect 26-0 record and won the state 2-A championship.
For the next 10 seasons, Abegglen stepped up to the junior college ranks as the head coach at Snow Junior College. He then left Utah for Alaska, first as an assistant coach, then as head coach at Alaska-Anchorage University.
In 1991, Abegglen returned to Utah to become the seventh head coach at Weber State men's basketball. In 1993-94, he led the Wildcats to its first Big Sky Conference regular-season title in 10 years. During that time, three of Abegglen's players – Ruben Nembhard, Jimmy DeGraffenried and Harold Arceneaux – were named Most Valuable Player in the Big Sky Conference.
The 1994-95 season will go down as a highlight year for Weber State. Abegglen led Weber State to a repeat win as conference championship, and the Wildcats won the conference postseason tournament to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 12 years.
Abegglen led the Wildcats o NCAA Tournament victories over No. 3 seed Michigan State, 79-72, in the 1995 Big Dance. The 'Cats also extended Georgetown to the final seconds in the next round, falling 53-51. The win was the first by Big Sky team in 13 years.
In 2014, the Big Sky Conference listed WSU's upset of Michigan State as the No. 7 greatest moment in the league's history.
In 1995-96, with just one starter returning, Abegglen again led the 'Cats to a strong season, posting a 20-10 record while advancing to the final of the Big Sky tournament.
Abegglen's final season with the Wildcats, in 1998-99, turned out to be another historic year for WSU. With a new group of players, led by Harold Arceneaux and Eddie Gill, the Wildcats once again took hold of the Big Sky by posting a 25-8 record, Abegglen's best at WSU, in sweeping the regular-season and post season titles.
In the 1999 NCAA Tournament, the Wildcats again captured the world's attention. Abegglen's 'Cats upset No. 3-seeded North Carolina, 76-74 in the first round of play to create national buzz for WSU. With Arceneaux and Gill leading the way, the game went down as one of the top upsets in NCAA history.
In 2014, the Big Sky Conference listed the shocker as the No. 3 greatest moment in league history.
Two days later, the Wildcats went on to push Florida into overtime in the second round before falling 81-74 in overtime.
In his eight seasons with the Wildcats, Abegglen posted an 86-34 mark in the Big Sky. After WSU, Abegglen coached for two seasons for the London Tower of the British Basketball League before returning to Utah to retire from coaching and is currently the head golf professional at Paradise Golf Course in Fillmore, Utah.