Digger Phelps is a former collegiate basketball coach in the United States who most notably coached the Notre Dame Fighting Irish from 1971 to 1991. He worked as an ESPN analyst for 20 years, from 1993 to 2014. His father, a mortician in Beacon, New York, gave him the nickname "Digger."
Richard F. 'Digger' Phelps was born on July 4, 1941, in Beacon, NY. In 1963, Phelps started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Rider College (now Rider University), where he had previously played basketball. He got his first complete assistant job at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 1966 after transferring to St. Gabriel's High School in Hazleton, Pennsylvania.
In 1970, he took his first head coaching job at Fordham University in The Bronx, where he worked with Charlie Yelverton and P.J. Carlesimo, the athletic director's son. In the 1970–71 regular season, Phelps led the Rams to a 24–2 record and a #9 national ranking.
Fordham received an at-large entrance to the NCAA tournament, where they reached the Sweet Sixteen and won the East regional consolation game for third place. Phelps was hired to head coach of the University of Notre Dame in May 1971, when he was 29 years old.
Digger got married to Teresa Godwin when he was a junior high coach in Trenton, New Jersey. She was Digger's girlfriend for a few years before they agreed to exchange vows. They have three kids together.
Teresa was very supportive of him and was just content to be a coach's wife. When his career blossomed, he was absent most of the time, and it started to pinch her. Teresa wrote an autobiography titled- 'The Coach's Wife: A Memoir' where she recalls what it meant to be a couch's wife and how she would struggle between her promising career and supporting her husband. She went over her achievements and how terrible it was when Digger was dumped from Notre Dame after such a long time there; this was a crucial point in their married life.
After the successful performance of his Fordham Rams led to a 26-3 record, he was hired as a head coach at the University of Notre Dame. He stayed there for 19 long years. Digger was an excellent coach, and although they all were good players, their record did not meet expectations near the end of his time at Notre Dame. When the former president Fr. Theodore Hesburgh, retired and a new administration took over, their plan was winning at any cost. When Phelps was let go, he shared the NCAA record for most upsets over a #1 team at seven.
Digger worked for the Office of National Drug Control Policy for a short time. His first broadcasting experience at the Summer Olympics in 1984 was when he worked as a commentator for ABC Sports' basketball coverage in Los Angeles; this marked a new phase in his professional career when he joined as a color commentator for NCAA in 1992 for CBS. The following season, he joined ESPN and has been with them since as a college basketball studio and game analyst.
Phelps authored his memoir in 2007, called "Undertaker's Son: Life Lessons from a Coach." He co-wrote the book with Jack Colwell. This book reveals his upbringing, life, and professional career.
Phelps was diagnosed with bladder cancer in April 2013. His doctor certified him cancer-free on July 1, 2013.
| Birth Date: | 4 Jul, 1941 |
| Age: | 78 yrs |
| Occupations: | Basketball player Basketball coach Sports commentator |
| Citizenship: | United States of America |
| Birth Place: | Beacon |
| Gender: | Male |
| Description: | American basketball player, coach, announcer |
| Twitter Id: | DiggerPhelps |
| Net Worth 2020: | 15 million |
| Net Worth 2021: | 15 million |
