Selected in the eighth round (77th overall) in the 1951 NBA draft, Phelan played in four games as a reserve for the Philadelphia Warriors in 1953.[3] He then played for the Pottstown Packers in the Eastern League.[2]
Coaching career
Phelan coached his entire career at Mount St. Mary's University. He led the Mountaineers to the 1962 NCAA Men's Division II Basketball Championship as well as 14 NCAA Division II tournaments and five Final Four appearances.[4] When he retired in 2003, after coaching for 49 years, he had amassed 830 wins (overall record of 830–524) in over 1,300 games in all divisions. In those 49 years, Phelan had 19 teams that reached 20 or more wins in a season. Prior to the announcement of his induction to the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in April 2008, Phelan was often noted for having the most victories of any coach not in the Hall of Fame.[5]
On February 17, 1986, Phelan earned his 600th win as Mount St. Mary's head coach.
Phelan got his 800th win in the Northeast Conference Championship Game on March 1, 1999.[6] He became just the fourth coach in NCAA history to get 800 career wins; currently he sits 14th on the all-time list. On January 19, 1998, he became just the second coach in NCAA history to coach in 1,200 career games. The only other coach to do so prior was Clarence Gaines. Phelan held the record in games coached with 1,354 across all NCAA divisions and is currently fourth on the all-time list; he is behind Phog Allen and tied with Jim Smith for second place in total career seasons coached with 49, though all 49 of Phelan's and Smith's seasons came at one school while Allen coached at four other institutions besides Kansas, where he gained fame.
Coaching highlights
830 wins (14th most all time)
1,354 games coached (4th most all time)
5 Final Fours
16 NCAA Division II Tournament Appearances
2 NCAA Division I Tournament Appearances
2 Championship games coached
1962 NCAA Division II Champions
1962 National Coach of the Year
Players coached
Notable players that Phelan coached include Fred "Mad Dog" Carter, Jack Sullivan, and Jon O'Reilly. The 1962 team won the school's only national championship. Phelan earned his first of two coach of the year awards in '62. In the book, King of the Mount: The Jim Phelan Story, the 1980–1981 season is a highlight.
Mount Saint Mary's University has also renamed its court "Jim Phelan Court", complete with his years coached and his signature bow tie painted on each end of the court. A new banner was also revealed in the ARCC Arena (MSMU's home court) with a Phelan bow tie and signifying his 830 wins.
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
Conference regular season champion
Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
Division regular season champion
Division regular season and conference tournament champion
Conference tournament champion
^Menton, Paul (1969), "Mason-Dixon Conference", The Official National Collegiate Athletic Association Basketball Guide, 1970 (74th ed.), Phoenix, Arizona: College Athletics Publishing Service, p. 28