Harold Bradley - Head Coach - Staff Directory

Staff Directory

Harold Bradley

Career Record at Duke:
165-78 (9 Seasons)

Taking over the reins of the Duke program less than a month before the start of the 1951 season, Harold “Hal” Bradley guided the Blue Devils to a 20-win campaign. It was the first of nine consecutive winning ledgers for the man who coached Duke through the 1950s and won 68 percent of his games with a 167–78 record.

Bradley coached star guard Dick Groat during his junior and senior seasons. He coached the Blue Devils’ last Southern Conference team and its first ACC team. He was the first coach to take a Duke team into the NCAA Tournament, the only Duke coach to win a Dixie Classic and the first to direct a team that finished in the final national rankings. About the only thing he never won was a conference tournament, though three times he coached the Devils to the championship game. All three attempts ended in defeat, to N.C. State on the Wolfpack’s home floor.

Bradley left Duke for Texas, where he coached the Longhorns to three Southwest Conference titles before retiring in 1967. His overall college record: 50–18 at Hartwick, 167–78 at Duke, and 125–73 at Texas, for a 20-year total of 342–169.

Bio excerpt from "The Encyclopedia of Duke Basketball" by John Roth, 2016.