In the spring of 2010, Don Meyer retired the winningest coach in any division in NCAA men’s basketball history. Meyer had amassed 923 wins over his 38 years of coaching at three different institutions.
Meyer, a Wayne, Neb. native, attended the University of Northern Colorado and graduated in 1967 majoring in physical education and minoring in English. Meyer’s first head coaching job was at Hamline University in 1972. In 1975 he moved to Lipscomb University where he spent the next 24 years, winning 665 games and the 1986 NAIA National Championship.
The head basketball coach at Northern State University from 1999 to 2010, Meyer led the Wolves to a pair NSIC Regular Season Titles and two NSIC Tournament Championships. Meyer’s Wolves made five NCAA Tournament appearances, including two regional championship games. In the 2007-08 season the Wolves went 29-4 and to the NCAA Central Regional finals. The four loses that season all came at the hands of the NCAA DII National Champions of Winona State.
Meyer had cancer discovered in his liver and intestines during emergency surgery after a car crash on September 5, 2008 in which he lost one of his legs. Defying all odds, Meyer made a miraculous return to the sidelines for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons. Meyer claimed historic win number 903 on Jan. 10, 2009, to pass up the legendary Bobby Knight for most career victories by an NCAA men’s basketball coach. After his retirement in 2010, Meyer continues at Northern State in the role of Regents Distinguished Professor and Assistant to the President.
At the 2009 ESPY Awards, Meyer was honored with the Jimmy V. Award for Perseverance. In 2010 he earned the Legends of the Hardwood Award and in 2011 he was awarded the National Basketball Coaches Association’s Guardians of the Game Award for Leadership.
Meyer has been married to his wife Carmen for 42 years. The couple has three children and eight grandchildren.