Fred A. Shabel[3] is an American former college basketball player-coach and sports executive. He was the Connecticut Huskies men's basketball head coach from 1963 through 1967.
![]() Shabel in 1962 | |
Personal information | |
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Born | c. 1933[1] Union City, New Jersey |
Nationality | American |
Listed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[2] |
Listed weight | 190 lb (86 kg)[2] |
Career information | |
High school | Union Hill |
College | Duke (1952–1954) |
Position | Guard |
Number | 34 |
Coaching career | 1957–1967 |
Career history | |
As coach: | |
1957–1963 | Duke (assistant) |
1963–1967 | Connecticut |
Career coaching record | |
Connecticut | 72–29 (.713) |
Fred A. Shabel grew up in Union City, New Jersey, where he attended Union Hill High School.[4] He matriculated to Duke University, where he played on the men's basketball team from 1952 to 1954.[5]
He then served in the U.S. Air Force from 1954 to 1956, and was a First Lieutenant at the time of his discharge.[6]
After his playing career, Shabel served as an assistant coach for Duke from 1957 to 1963.[2]
Shabel left Duke in 1963 to become Connecticut Huskies men's basketball head coach. Across his four seasons at Connecticut, he held a 72–29 record for a 71.3% win percentage.[3] He led Connecticut to four Yankee Conference regular season titles and three NCAA tournament berths.[7]
In 1967, Shabel became the athletic director for the University of Pennsylvania, overseeing the Penn Quakers sports teams. In 1975, he left the athletics department and became vice president for operations at the university.[6]
In 1980, Shabel left Penn to become an executive at Spectacor, a sports company which owns several professional teams and arenas in the Philadelphia area. As of 2012,[update] he was still at the company (now called Comcast Spectacor).[6]
UConn Huskies men's basketball head coaches | |
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# denotes interim head coach |
Penn Quakers athletic directors | |
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# denotes interim athletic director |