Emmett B. "Branch" McCracken (June 9, 1908 – June 4, 1970) was an American basketball player and coach. He served as the head basketball coach at Ball State University from 1930 to 1938 and at Indiana University Bloomington from 1938 to 1943 and again from 1946 to 1965. McCracken's Indiana Hoosiers teams twice won the NCAA Championship, in 1940 and 1953. McCracken was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 1960. Playing career As a player at Indiana, McCracken was a three-year letter winner. At 6'4" and , McCracken played center, forward and guard, pacing the Hoosiers in scoring for three years. His coach and predecessor, Hall of Fame coach Everett Dean, called McCracken "rough and tough." McCracken never missed a game. Once, when slowed by injuries, he planted himself near the free throw line, back to the basket, from there passing off to players cutting by him or keeping the ball and rolling to the basket himself. "Once we saw what he could do, we let him go," Dean said. "He was one of the first college centers who played the pivot the way it's played today." McCracken scored 32.3 percent of the points his three Hoosier teams scored. He led the Big Ten Conference with a 12.3 average his senior year and graduated as the league's career scoring record holder. McCracken was a consensus All-American in 1930. Upon his induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1960, he was the first man ever voted there for his performance as an Indiana player. After his college career, McCracken played professional basketball for a few local and barnstorming teams, most notably the Indianapolis Kautskys with John Wooden and Frank Beard. This was often done while he was also coaching or working at another job and involved long car trips. Coaching career Ball State McCracken was the head coach for Ball State University from 1930–38 and compiled a 93–41 record. He led Ball State to the school's only victory over Indiana in school history in a year the Cardinals went 17–4. Indiana In 1938 McCracken succeeded Everett Dean and coached the Indiana University Hoosiers. His teams were known as the "Hurrying Hoosiers" because of McCracken's emphasis on the fast break. During his two spans at Indiana from 1938–1943 and 1946–1965 he compiled a 364–174 record. During the intermission from 1943 to 1946,