Coach of the Year. While at St Louis, he sent two players to the NBA; Harry “Tree” Rogers and Robin Jones. Rice In a return to bigger conference, he accepted the head coaching position at Rice after five seasons at Saint Louis. However, he was unable to duplicate the earlier success he enjoyed at Vanderbilt. Polk served as the President of the National Association of Basketball Coaches during the 1974–75 season. UAB In April 1977, Polk resigned from Rice and accepted a position as the assistant athletic director at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). He retired from that position in 1977. He hired Gene Bartow to build the men's basketball program. Death Polk died of heart disease at age 71 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, on March 18, 1986. He is buried in Tell City, Indiana. He was memorialized by his induction into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 1990. Head coaching record References External links University of Evansville Hall of Fame profile Tennessee Hall of Fame profile 1915 births 1988 deaths American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Indiana Basketball players from Indiana College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Evansville Purple Aces men's basketball players Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets men's basketball coaches High school basketball coaches in Indiana High school basketball coaches in the United States People from Tell City, Indiana Rice Owls men's basketball coaches Saint Louis Billikens men's basketball coaches Trinity Tigers men's basketball coaches Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball coaches