PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Philadelphia University’s Herb Magee got his 800th victory Thursday night when his Rams topped Wilmington College 95-68, making him the eighth coach in NCAA history to reach the milestone.

Magee, in his 39th year – all at Philadelphia – joined former North Carolina coach Dean Smith (879), former Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp (876), Texas Tech’s Bobby Knight (859) and four others on the list. Knight and Northern State’s Don Meyer are the only active coaches ahead of Magee.

Magee, 64, has an 800-310 career record.

Magee played four years at Philadelphia, then the Philadelphia College of Textiles & Science, and spent four seasons as an assistant before taking over the head job in 1967. He led the Rams to the Division II national championship in 1970 among 21 NCAA tournament appearances. As a player, Magee averaged 24.3 points per game in four seasons at Philadelphia Textile and won All-America honors twice. He ended his career in 1963 as the school’s all-time leading scoring with 2,235 points. Magee was drafted by the Boston Celtics with the 62nd pick in the 1963 draft, but instead opted for a career in coaching.

He started as an assistant to Bucky Harris and four years later took over as head coach. In his first season, the Rams went 21-6 and made the NCAA tournament.

He was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1979.

AP-ES-12-08-05 2131EST

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