Passing of a Character

Former UT Arlington men's basketball coach Robert, Bob, "Snake" LeGrand passed away on July 19 of this year at the ripe old age of 81. For those who know the history of the Maverick program, the loss hits pretty hard. He had a personality larger than his impact on the court for the UTA basketball program.

Snake coached from the 1976/77 season to the 1986/87 year. In those 11 seasons, LeGrand compiled a career record of 122-184. That amounts to a winning percentage of .399. Within the Southland Conference, LeGrand was 30-78, a worse .278 percentage.

It is important to note several things working against Snake during this time.

First, the SLC was a very competitive men's basketball conference. In the early years of LeGrand's tenure, no SLC team was guaranteed to end the year in the NCAA Tournament. Auto-bids for only 16 conferences were awarded entrance into the tournament in 1978 and prior. The SLC first played in the official NCAA postseason in 1969. The second came in 1979 and every year after. The SLC earned wins in six of the eight years Snake was in their ranks. Two of those years a team from the SLC went to the Sweet Sixteen. Lamar, Louisiana (then known as Southwestern Louisiana), Louisiana Tech and Louisiana-Monroe all represented the SLC in that time frame. Meaning the SLC was not top heavy with one or two schools. On any given season, the SLC's winner could not be predicted accurately. Several of those years UTA was right there, but just couldn't get over the hump, more on that in a moment.

Second, UTA did not fund the program very well. I've mentioned this several times when The Maverick Rambler features This Day in UTA Football History. UTA funded their programs in a tier. Football was more funded than basketball, basketball more than baseball, baseball more than golf, etc. Football offered 80 percent of the scholarships its conference peers did in football. Basketball was worse. It's not often one sees a conference record worse than the overall record for a school like UTA. That's what happens when an underfunded schools competes against the top of the NCAA.

As an aside, when I was a student and spoke to then-Athletic Director Pete Carlon, he was quite proud that UTA fully funded all sports. I didn't understand the pride point then but given the historical context it makes perfect sense now. Carlon was with the school in 1981 and saw the rise of the whole thing. Snake likely would have a higher winning percentage under the current funding model.

Third, Texas Hall. If you know, you know. It was an incredible home court advantage. But in his own words, he wouldn't show it to recruits unless they asked. If they did, they would go to the doors and find it chained. It was a handicap for sure.

Fourth, there was just bad luck or circumstances that kept happening in those 11 years. Overtime losses to the Sweet Sixteen participants, injuries and a replacement for Texas Hall falling out. On the last point, Maverick Stadium and a new arena were planned to be built using the same funding mechanism. However, after the Mav was built, but prior to securing funds for the arena, the State changed the rules on how things like that could be funded. If the rules changed a couple of Legislative Sessions later, we wouldn't know a College Park Center today. Snake likely would have a few more wins though. 

But perhaps the greatest display of bad luck was Sam Norton. In 1983/84, Norton led the team in scoring at 21.4 points a game, rebounding at 10.9 per game and field goal percentage at .584 as a junior. All those were top ten in the SLC. The team went 5-23. Norton then put his name in the NBA draft. Despite Coach LeGrand's pleas for Norton to return for a senior year and ignore the advice of his father, Norton declared early, forfeiting his collegiate eligibility. He was one of ten in the NCAA to do so. Nine were drafted. Norton was not.

The year after, the Mavs went 12-16, but 3-9 in SLC play. I can't help but think Norton would have been good for at least three wins and a winning record. Three of the SLC losses were in single digits. It is also apparent when you look at point guard Ronell Peters. He had seven assists per game as a sophomore with Norton. He had 5.3 as a junior and 5.6 as a senior without him. That is not a coincidence. 

But the bright spots were certainly fun. Prior to Snake, UTA had two winning seasons in 17 tries. One season was an even .500. His first three years were also losing seasons, but each was better than the last. By 1979/80, LeGrand had a winning season at 14-13.

As mentioned, UTA was right there during the middle parts of Snake's tenure. In 1980/81, UTA went 20-8. The second place finish was the best in nearly a decade. It was the first 20-win season and the first post-season berth. The National Invitational Tournament was purely at-large at the time. That season, UTA beat Southwest Conference schools TCU, Baylor and SMU on the road. They went toe-to-toe with defending champion Lamar, losing both by a combined single digit margin. While their season ended on a three-game losing streak, it was a memorable year. I chronicled the NIT game here.

The fans responded that year. The 2,291 fans per game average still sits as the fourth most attended season in program history. As far as capacity percentage, it is the most, or fullest, attended season in program history as Texas Hall had a capacity of between 3,500 to 4,200. Expectations were high the following year as the 1981/82 season is the sixth most attended season at 2,099 fans per game and the second highest capacity season.

The 81/82 year was a bit of a disappointment as the Mavericks finished 6-4 in the SLC and a third-place finish. UTA beat Lamar in the SLC tournament to make it to the championship game, only to lose to Louisiana by six.

The 17 games over .500 were the best three-year stretch in school history to that point. 1990/91 to 1992/93 surpassed that by a game. There were several combos in the 2010's that surpassed that, with the best being 39 games from 2015/16 to 2017/18. The other combos that surpassed Snake's stretch center around these three seasons.

His reach was beyond all this though. He was a larger-than-life character that reached players, coaches and fans. His memory out-lived most. Some old time SLC fans recalled Snake LeGrand during UTA's time in the Sun Belt. On the Sun Belt boards his name came up often, with examples here, here and here.

Whether it be how he stood up for his players, fired up his team or was just a good dresser that made fans remember him, he left a lasting impact.

After his time on the sidelines, LeGrand still went to UTA games. I saw him frequently in the stands rooting on that season's iteration of the Mavericks. He could have been bitter about his circumstances at UTA, but he was thankful to the school throughout.

He even gotten media attention regarding his passing locally. I don't know anyone else on the UTA sidelines that would have garnered that kind of attention.

Rest in peace Snake.