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Former University of Utah men's basketball coach Bill Foster died Thursday in Chicago, according to his family.
Foster passed away peacefully was surrounded by his family and friends, said his daughter, Debbie Foster. He was 85.
Foster coached the Utes from 1971-74, compiling a 43-39 overall record. His Utah teams went 13-12 in 1971-72 and 8-19 in 1972-73. He guided Utah to a 22-8 record and runner-up finish in the NIT in the 1973-74 season.
Foster left Utah to coach at Duke, and he led the Blue Devils to a runner-up finish in the 1978 NCAA tournament, losing to Kentucky in the final.
At Duke, Foster was the predecessor to current coach Mike Krzyzewski.
He also coached at Rutgers, South Carolina and Northwestern.
Foster was the first coach in the history of the NCAA to guide four different Division I schools (Rutgers, Utah, Duke, South Carolina) to 20-win seasons, according to the website coachbillfoster.com. He was named National Coach of the Year in 1978 after leading Duke to a 27-7 record and the national final. That Duke team featured Mike Gminski, Jim Spanarkel and Gene Banks.
After leaving Northwestern in 1993, Foster worked as a consultant for the Western Athletic Conference and the Big 12 Conference.
A native of Norwood, Pa., Foster began coaching at the high school level in suburban Philadelphia before he moved to Bloomsburg State University in Pennsylvania, his website says. Foster spent eight years at Rutgers before moving to Utah.
Foster served in the United States Air Force and graduated from Elizabethtown College and earned a master's degree from Temple University, his website says.
He served as chairman of the board of the Basketball Hall of Fame from 1996-98.
On Jan, 25, 2009, he was inducted into the New Jersey Sports Writer Association Hall of Fame.
Foster was named to several sports' halls of fames, served as a college basketball analyst for CBS, ESPN and others, coached numerous all-star teams, and had almost 40 players play professional basketball, his website says.