Former Weber State men’s basketball coach Neil McCarthy died on Saturday at age 81, dying of natural causes.
McCarthy was Weber State’s men’s basketball coach from 1974 to 1985. He went on to coach New Mexico State from 1985 to 1997.
While at Weber State, McCarthy went 205-105, including a 99-52 record in Big Sky play. He led the Wildcats to five regular-season conference championships and four conference tournament championships. The Wildcats appeared in the NCAA tournament four times under McCarthy, beating New Mexico State in 1979 for their lone NCAA tournament win during that time.
His best season came in 1979-80, when Weber State went 26-3 and finished 17th in the final Associated Press poll — the only team in Wildcat history to be ranked — but the seventh-seeded Wildcats were upset by 10th-seeded Lamar in the first round.
McCarthy has the second-most wins in Weber State history, behind only current head coach Randy Rahe. McCarthy was inducted into the Weber State Hall of Fame in 2000.