Louis Orr - Men's Basketball Coach - Bowling Green State University Athletics

Louis Orr

Title:
Head Men's Basketball Coach
Phone:
419-372-8311

Louis Orr, a success as both a player and a coach, was named head men's basketball coach at Bowling Green State University in April of 2007 and has completed six years leading the program. A native of Cincinnati, Orr has led the Falcons to a Mid-American Conference regular season championship and two postseason appearances. He has a career record of 189-181, including 89-101 at BGSU.

Orr’s coaching resume speaks for itself. In just his second year at Bowling Green, he was voted MAC Coach of the Year after leading the team to the 2008-09 conference championship and a bid to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT). As the head coach at Seton Hall, he was named the Big East Conference’s Coach of the Year in 2003, becoming the first person in league history to receive league honors as both a player and a coach. He was also honored by the United States Basketball Writers Association as its District II Coach of the Year that season.

A fierce competitor and defensive-minded coach who stresses toughness and humility, Orr's programs play in the same image that he projected as a collegiate All-American and as an eight-year NBA veteran.

In 2012-13, Bowling Green went 13-19 overall and finished 7-9 in MAC play. The Falcons went 11-5 in the Stroh Center, improving to 23-9 at home in the first two years of the new facility. BGSU defeated Horizon League powers Wright State and Detroit, while pushing Michigan State to the brink, holding a 45-45 tie with 10 minutes remaining in front of a standing-room only crowd of 4,291 at the Stroh Center. The Falcons lost a wild triple overtime game at the BIG EAST’s South Florida and had wins over teams seeded third, fourth and fifth for the MAC Tournament. BGSU was the No. 6 seed for the league tournament but was upset in the opening round.

Orr, 51, is the 15th head coach in the history of the Falcon program. Prior to BGSU, he was the head coach at Seton Hall University from 2001-06, where he compiled a record of 80-69 in those five seasons with the Pirates. Orr, the first former Big East player to coach at a conference institution, went 132-111 in eight overall seasons as a head coach between Seton Hall and Siena.

Orr took over a BGSU program that lost two starters from the previous year, including the MAC's leading scorer. On the eve of the 2007-08 season, Orr lost his most experienced post player when Erik Marschall went down with an injury in October. Then, the Falcons lost arguably their top playmaker and the team's only senior on the eve of the conference schedule when Ryne Hamblet was declared academically ineligible.

Still, BGSU more than doubled the MAC win total for all of the prior season, going 7-9 in league play after the team went 3-13 in 2006-07. The Falcons posted wins over the teams picked to finish first, second and third in the Eastern Division in the league's preseason poll. Those wins included a victory over Kent State, a nationally-ranked team at the time and the eventual MAC champion.

The 2008-09 team built off of that foundation and exceeded preseason expectations, as the team was picked to finish third in the division by the MAC News Media Association. BGSU went 11-5 in conference play to share the division crown with Buffalo. By virtue of a season sweep over the Bulls, the Falcons earned the No. 1 seed for the MAC Tournament and the conference's automatic bid to the NIT.

Along the way, the team established itself as a legitimate candidate to win the MAC by winning their first six games in Anderson Arena and developing a formula for success on the road. The Falcons lost their first seven road games but eventually became the best road team in the conference. A 52-51 win at Ohio in front of 10,988 fans sparked the team to six consecutive conference wins in hostile environments, the longest MAC streak since Kent State won seven in a row in 2001-02 and the longest in program history.

With the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament on the line, Bowling Green blew out Ohio 75-41 at home on the last day of the regular season. The Falcons went on to win a MAC Tournament quarterfinal game and advance to the semifinals for the first time in seven years. After a hard-fought loss to Akron, BGSU went to the NIT, pushing No. 1 seed Creighton to the brink of defeat, eventually losing 73-71 to end the Falcons' season.

The 2009-10 season was one in which the Falcons had to overcome the loss of four of their top five scorers from a MAC Championship team a year earlier. Despite that fact, Bowling Green ran an efficient offense that led the league in field goal percentage. A tough-nosed squad, the Falcons ranked among the MAC’s best rebounding and shot-blocking teams. Orr developed Otis Polk into one of the most feared centers in the conference as Polk finished his fourth year as the school’s all-time blocked shot leader.

Although the team finished 14-16 overall and 6-10 in MAC play, the Falcons had some impressive wins throughout the year. Bowling Green defeated both the MAC regular season champion Kent State and the MAC Tournament champion Ohio during the season. The 76-70 win over Kent State was one of only two home court defeats the Golden Flashes took all year and the only one against a MAC opponent. Bowling Green also defeated St. Louis, one of the top Atlantic 10 programs, and went 3-2 on the program’s longest road trip in more than 30 years, an excursion that saw the team play five consecutive road games over the course of a full month.

The 2010-11 team bounced back from a slow start to go 10-3 during a 13-game stretch midway through the season. After losing 9-of-11 to begin the year, the Falcons rebounded to lead the MAC at the midway point of the conference season at 6-2. After splitting a pair of home games, Bowling Green stood at 7-3 in league play, and although the team struggled down the stretch, the Falcons still had a chance to host a MAC Tournament First Round game if they could beat Buffalo in the final regular season basketball game in Anderson Arena history. In front of many of the legendary figures in BGSU basketball history, Orr led the squad to a 73-63 victory. The team went on to beat Northern Illinois by 20 points in the first round of the MAC Tournament to qualify for the quarterfinals in Cleveland.

The 2011-12 team earned a bid to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT), the program’s second postseason appearance in four years. The Falcons had wins over three teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament, beating Detroit, Temple, and Ohio in the first year of the brand-new Stroh Center. BGSU improved its overall win total by two games, going 16-16, and improved by a game in MAC play, finishing 9-7 and earning the sixth seed for the conference tournament. After being upset in the first round of the MAC Tournament, the Falcons were selected to play in the CIT, losing at Oakland University in the postseason opener. In all, the team played seven games against NCAA Tournament teams, posting a respectable 3-4 record against that competition.

Along with posting three home wins over NCAA Tournament teams, the Falcons had some impressive road wins. The team posted a 72-48 win at Western Michigan, the program’s first win in University Arena since 2002. BGSU also won 65-57 at Miami (Ohio), giving the Falcons their first victory in Millett Hall since 2002 and the first season sweep of the RedHawks (winning 56-51 at home) since the 2001-02 campaign.

Prior to his time at Bowling Green, Orr was named the Big East Conference's Coach of the Year in 2003, becoming the first person in league history to receive league honors as a player and as a coach. He took the Pirates to two NCAA tournaments and one NIT during his tenure. After the 2002-03 season, Orr also was honored by the USBWA as its District II Coach of the Year.

During his tenure with the Pirates, his teams posted a nine-game overall winning streak and captured eight straight conference games during the 2002-03 season. He also saw his squad defeat No. 10 Notre Dame in 2003, and No. 13 Syracuse, No. 23 Providence and No. 4 Pittsburgh during the 2004 season.

The Pirates advanced to the second round of the NCAA Championships in 2004 and knocked off No. 18 Arizona in the first round. In 2006, Seton Hall made its second trip to the Big Dance. He began his head coaching career in the 2000-01 season at Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y. In his lone season there (2000-01), he guided the Saints to a 20-11 overall record and a tie for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular-season title. In addition, he was one of the top rookie coaches in college basketball with 20 wins and his team set an attendance record averaging 6,400 fans per game.

Orr began his coaching career as an assistant under Pete Gillen at Xavier University in his hometown, spending four years there (1991-94). He also served assistant coaching stints at Providence College (1994-96) and Syracuse (1996-2000), helping those three teams to a combined four NCAA tourney appearances and four NIT trips. SU went to the NCAA tourney three times (1998 through 2000) during his four years there, including two trips to the Sweet 16.

A religious man, Orr was inducted into the Fellowship of Christian Athletes' Northwest Ohio chapter Hall of Champions in April of 2011.

Orr, a star player out of Cincinnati's Withrow H.S., attended Syracuse University, where he was the first recruit of head coach Jim Boeheim. Orr was a sixth man for much of his freshman year (1976-77), before starting every game but one over his last three seasons.

Orr shot better than 50 percent from the field in each of his four years, teaming with Roosevelt Bouie (the `Bouie `N Louie Show') to help SU to the Big East regular-season championship in the conference's inaugural season in 1980. That season, his senior year, Orr was named the team's MVP and was an All-Big East First-Team selection. SU posted a record of 100-18 during his four years, advancing to the NCAA Tournament in all four seasons.

Orr earned All-America honors his senior season. He scored nearly 1,500 points (1,487) during his SU career, averaging 12.8 points and 7.6 rebounds per game over his 116-game career while shooting 55.5% from the field.

The 28th pick of the 1980 NBA Draft, Orr was chosen by the Indiana Pacers in the second round. He played two seasons with the Pacers and six more with the New York Knicks. Orr averaged 9.8 points per game over his professional career, with a career-high 12.7 for the Knicks in the 1984-85 campaign.

He was named to the Syracuse University All-Century Team in 2000 and was honored as a Syracuse Letterwinner of Distinction in 2006. He and his teams are also active in the community having worked with Renovation House, Children's Specialized Hospital and the New Jersey Developmental Center during his stay at Seton Hall. He also has assisted at Rescue Missions in Albany and Syracuse, N.Y.

His family includes wife Yvette, daughter Monica, a former basketball player at Fordham, goddaughter Dalria, and son Chauncey. Yvette is from nearby Ypsilanti, Mich.