Regan Truesdale only scored 2.3 PPG off the bench as a freshman at The Citadel but ended up becoming 1 of the greatest players in school history. He scored 22 PPG as a JR, 21.5 PPG as a SR, and was a 2-time SoCon POY. His greatest performance was on January 9, 1984, when he scored a career-high 41 PTS/22-28 FT in an 8-PT win over Marshall that kicked off a 22–game home winning streak for the Bulldogs that carried over into the next season. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel interviewed Regan’s former coach Les Robinson about his recruitment and that wonderful winning streak. Today is the 38th anniversary of that win over Marshall so we take this time to celebrate Regan’s life/legacy.
How did Regan end up at The Citadel? He was a football player and was being recruited by colleges to be a linebacker. I was concerned that if Furman went after him then they would beat us out because it is hard to recruit at a military school, but somehow they overlooked him. In our 1st preseason game of his senior year I huddled the team together and said, “I am going to say the same thing I said last year: get the ball to Regan!” He was probably the nicest player I ever coached: very soft-spoken and gentle. I coached several guys who went on to play pro basketball, but after the 1st month of coaching him I realized to not get on his case because he would fall apart. He told me that he was scared of going to school way back in the 1st grade because it was the start of integration in South Carolina.
Your team won 22 straight games at McAlister Field House, which was 1 of the longest streaks in the nation at the time: how big of a home-court advantage did you have, and did it reach a point where the fans just expected you to win every single home game? It was unusual to win that many home games at The Citadel. I knew that we needed the crowd to be our 6th Man so we had to do some marketing. Our assistant football coach was Ralph Friedgen: his wife offered to organize an all-female dance team to perform during games at our all-male school. It was legal for 18-year-olds to drink back then so we found a beer distributor to donate a keg of beer for each home game…and after that we started having record student attendance! I reached out to the hotels in the Charleston area and worked out a deal with them to offer free tickets to their guests. After our winning streak they started calling it “The Animal House”!
He did not start a single game as a freshman at the Citadel (and only scored 2.3 PPG), then scored over 1500 PTS during his final 3 years: what changed from his freshman year to sophomore year, and how was he able to remain so dominant over the rest of his career? The main change was that I stopped hollering at him and just let him play! I noticed that he would get shaken up when the fans yelled at him.
In January of 1984 he scored a career-high 41 PTS vs. Marshall (including a school-record 22-28 FT) after Coach Rick Huckabay said you were not that good of a team: was it just 1 of those scenarios where every shot he put up seemed to go in because he was “in the zone”, and how much motivation was Huckaby’s criticism? My only coaching strategy that night was to get the ball to Regan. I had to tell the team separately from him because he did not like to get singled out. Regan was not motivated by Huckabay’s comments because he did not get into that: he would just laugh about it!
The following month he scored 26 PTS against top-ranked UNC (Michael Jordan had 24 PTS): what was it like to play against Jordan, and where does “outscoring Michael Jordan” rank among his career highlights? That was a pretty good night to say the least. Coach Dean Smith made some nice comments to me about Regan: there is no question that he could have played for anyone in the ACC. A lot of people thought that he was just going to play football so it was an unusual situation.
He was named conference POY in both 1984/1985: what did it mean to him to win such outstanding honors? He was the kind of guy who was almost embarrassed about receiving such praise. He was at a banquet where he received an award for being the state’s POY and was humbled by the whole night. He is a very devout Christian who never smoked/drank.
After graduation he played 2 years in the CBA (after being picked 1st overall in 1985), 1 year in New Zealand, and 1 year in the World Basketball League: what did he learn from these experiences, and how did they compare to college basketball? 1 of his coaches called me about his performance and I gave them some tips about how to coach him but I never got to see him play. I know that he enjoyed it.
After retiring from pro basketball he got into manufacturing: how does he like it, and what does he hope to do in the future? The last I heard was that he was a store manager. I knew he would be very good at that, although he might be too easy on his employees because there was never a mean bone in his body.
The school later honored him by hanging up his jersey inside the gym: what does it mean to see his jersey up in the rafters? I am sure that it meant a lot to him and his family. I do not know any kid I coached who was happier than Regan.
Cameron Wells ended up breaking his 25 year-old career scoring record in 2011: do you think that Regan realized at the time how prolific a player he was? No: he knew that he was pretty good but not out of the gate.
When people look back on his career, how do you think that he should be remembered the most? He was an outstanding player and an even better person. Some of my friends might say the same about me, but it might not be as much of a compliment as it is when I say it about Regan!
