ST. LOUIS – Rick Majerus, who served as Saint Louis University’s men’s basketball coach for five years, has been selected to the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2019.
Majerus coached for five years from 2007 to 2012. He passed away in December 2012. It was announced earlier that year he would take a leave of absence for the season while dealing with a heart condition.
He posted a 95-69 record at SLU and guided the Billikens to the NCAA tournament in his final season in 2012, which was SLU’s first NCAA appearance in 12 years. The Billikens would go on to make two additional NCAA Tournament appearances with Majerus' core group of players.
During his time at SLU, he had eight players earn Academic All-Conference honors, the most by any Atlantic 10 Conference program during that span. He coached six Academic All-Americans in his career, including two with the Billikens.
Also entering the Hall of Fame as part of the 2019 class are Indiana's Calbert Cheaney, Duke's Shane Battier, Purdue's Terry Dischinger, Providence's Ernie DiGregorio, UNLV's Larry Johnson and Stanford's Todd Lichti. Former coaches Homer Drew and Lute Olson are also entering the Hall of Fame.
Cheaney, the Indiana and Big Ten all-time leading scorer, served as an assistant coach for three seasons (2013-16) under Jim Crews at Saint Louis.
Majerus won 517 games in a 25-year career that included stints at Marquette, Ball State, Utah and Saint Louis. He reached the postseason 17 times, and his 12 NCAA Tournament appearances included a spot in the 1998 national championship game with Utah.
He will officially be enshrined on Nov. 24 in Kansas City at the 2019 National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Induction Celebration presented by Nike.
