William Robert "Bob" Boyd was an American collegiate men"s basketball coach who was head coach at Seattle University, the University of Southern California and Mississippi State University.
Education
Boyd then began his coaching career, first for five years in the high school ranks (at El Segundo, California and Alhambra, California), then for six years at the junior college level at Santa Ana College (his 1959 team finished second at the state tournament) and then collegiately, first at Seattle University, where Boyd went 41-13 in 2 seasons (1964-1965).
Career
Boyd had a long association with the University of Southern California"s men"s basketball, first as a player and then as its head coach. The 3-year letterman (1950-1952) was University of Southern California"s most valuable player as a senior in 1952. After a year out of coaching while working for Converse athletic shoes, Boyd embarked on a 13-year career (1967-1979) as head coach of the University of Southern California basketball team
Boyd"s teams went 216-131 overall and played in the post-season four times (the 1979 National Collegiate Athletic Association playoffs, 1973 National Institute of Technology and 1974 and 1975 Commissioner"s Conference tourney).
Boyd"s wins over University of California, Los Angeles in 1969 and 1970 were the University of California, Los Angeles"s first losses in Pauley Pavilion, built in 1966. Boyd sent ten players into the National Basketball Association, including Paul Westphal and Gus Williams.
After University of Southern California, Boyd went on to be the head coach at Mississippi State University (1982-1986), Riverside Community College (1989) and Chapman University (1990-1992), and then was an assistant at Louisiana State University and Utah State University. Boyd died of natural causes in Palm Desert, California on January 14, 2015 aged 84.
"Boyd labored quietly and effectively for the Trojans — much more effectively than most people realize," wrote Steve Bisheff.
"The truth is, Boyd was the best University of Southern California basketball coach of the modern era, if not any era. The only thing wrong was his timing. He just happened to coach in the same town, at the same time, as a college basketball icon.
Membership
Boyd was a member of the University of Southern California"s Athletic Hall of Fame and the Pac-12 Conference Men"s Basketball Hall of Honor.