‘That’s a good man gone’: Hugh Watson, folksy Tennessee native who led the NIC men’s basketball team to a fourth-place finish at nationals in 1997, dies at 84

By MARK NELKE 

Sports writer 

Hugh Watson was a successful basketball coach at many levels, including the eight seasons he coached the North Idaho College men’s basketball team, from 1996-2004. 

But Watson, who died Thursday at age 84 following a battle with cancer that began in 2012, was remembered just as much for his people skills as he was anything on the basketball court.  

“He knew Xs and Os, he was good at that,” recalled Jared Phay, an assistant under Watson for two seasons before succeeding him as head coach in 2004. “But he had more of the personality; he really cared about the players and they’d all run through a wall for him.” 

“His zest for life was just infectious,” said Al Williams, who came to NIC as athletic director in 2003, just before Watson’s final season with the Cardinals — but he knew him for many years before then. “He always had a smile for you, he always had a happy story to tell you. He always made you feel like you made his day by calling. And so, every time you talked to him, Hugh was in good spirits.” 

In Watson’s eight seasons at NIC, the Cardinals went 148-98.  

In his first season, 1996-97, NIC won the Region 18 title at home before a raucous crowd and went on to reach the semifinals at nationals before finishing fourth at the NJCAA tournament, with a 30-6 record. It remains NIC's best finish at nationals.

Those wins at nationals remain the final ones in NIC men’s history. The Cardinals have been back to the NJCAA tournament just once, in 2016. 

“He had the ability to mesh talent and still have the ability to showcase their skills,” Williams said. “It was freestyle basketball, but he got them to play defense when they needed to.” 

One of the players at NIC was Leonard Myles, who was recommended to Watson by Williams, who was living, working and coaching in Chicago at that time. 

“The thing about his roster is, he had players from all over the country,” Williams said. “The coaches would forward players to him because they knew he would take care of them, and make sure they got recruited by four-year schools.” 

Winston Brooks played for Watson during the 2000-01 season before continuing his career at Gonzaga, then becoming a police officer in Spokane. 

“He was definitely a player’s coach,” Brooks said in a 2017 story in The Press. “He would come into practice wearing jeans and a collared shirt. He was the most Tennessee guy ever. 

“He trusted me and let me play my game, and it really helped me as a player. He was a good dude to play for.” 

Watson, who was born in Sweetwater, Tenn., coached at Loudon High and Hiwassee College in Tennessee. He was later an assistant at Idaho before becoming head coach at NIC. 

Phay was coaching at Falls Christian Academy in Post Falls when Watson arrived in Coeur d’Alene. Phay worked at Watson’s camps at NIC, and was eventually hired as his assistant. 

“I just remember sitting in his office,” Phay recalled, “and it could be the janitor, or the college president, it could be anybody, he treated everybody the same. He treated his players really well ... just sittting and talking to students, he was kind of the same person. He didn’t have any big-time, elitist part of him. He was just a sincere person with everybody. 

“He was just a people person, and kinda made everybody feel better when they had a conversation with him.” 

In 2004, Watson mulled a job offer from his home state, at NCAA Division II Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tenn. 

“I remember him coming into my office and asking me if he should take that job,” said Williams, the AD at NIC then. “I asked him where your heart’s at. He said Tennessee’s home, and he’s always wanted to be a head coach at the four-year level ... so that was a challenge that he didn’t have on his resume. Plus he had a lot of family back there.” 

In 2012, Watson was diagnosed with bone cancer and told he had six months to live. 

“He actually called me about 15 years ago to say goodbye to me,” Williams recalled. “He was really sick, and then he went to Vanderbilt and got an experimental stem cell treatment, and he went in there in a wheelchair, and within a couple of weeks, somehow he was walking. He started coaching again.” 

Watson returned to Coeur d’Alene in 2017, when he was inducted into the NIC Athletics Hall of Fame. 

He was nearly the consummate Southern gentleman, from the accent to the personality. 

“Everybody liked imitating that accent,” Williams said. “He had that Southern drawl that just made you laugh when you heard him on the phone. When we had (former Idaho player and coach) Leonard Perry come speak at our first booster club awards ceremony (at NIC), he imitated Hugh Watson to a ‘T’ and had the whole crowd in stitches. Nobody could imitate Hugh Watson like Leonard Perry.” 

Phay was head coach at NIC for 10 seasons (2004-14). He then coached at the College of Southern Idaho for five seasons, and was an assistant at Idaho State for one. 

He’s back in the NJCAA ranks, preparing for his sixth season at Missouri State-West Plains. 

“When we first moved to Missouri (in 2020) my youngest son played in a basketball tournament in Tennessee, and I was able to take him over there and spend an entire day with Hugh and (wife) Anna Sue,” Phay said. “And I’m really grateful for that time.” 

Funeral services for Arthur Hugh Watson are scheduled for Monday in Tennessee. 

”That’s a good man gone,” Williams said. 

    Photo courtesy Hiwassee College Former North Idaho College men’s basketball coach Hugh Watson.