went to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament. During his tenure, the basketball players began to graduate in high numbers. As a player, Finch was known for his shooting prowess, and his skills remained intact throughout his coaching days; he would routinely win games of H-O-R-S-E against his players and against assistant coaches in long-distance shooting contests after road game practices. Even while head coach, he maintained connections to his roots; he often visited Orange Mound barbershops, often delivering Memphis State posters and other team paraphernalia. Despite Finch's overall success, during the mid-1990s more and more local blue chip recruits began leaving for other schools, specifically Todd Day to the University of Arkansas and others to the University of Tennessee. This began grating on Tiger fans, who had become used to seeing national powers built on primarily Memphis-area talent. While there was the Elite Eight team of 91–92, several of Finch's teams were considered under-achievers, such as the highly touted 1995–96 squad which lost to 12th seeded Drexel University in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Finch was forced to resign and his contract was bought out at the end of the 1996–97 season. The forced resignation was a public relations fiasco for the university and athletic director R. C. Johnson, as the deal was finalized immediately following Finch's final game in one of the concession areas of the Pyramid Arena. Although a portion of the fan base had become disenchanted with Finch, even some of his detractors were critical of the way school officials handled it. He left as the school's all-time winningest coach, a record which stood until John Calipari passed him in 2007–08. However, after all of the Tigers' wins in the 2007–08 season were vacated, Finch recovered his standing as the school's winningest coach. After basketball In 1998, Finch ran for the office of Shelby County Registrar and lost to the incumbent by only 127 votes despite having no government experience. He was briefly in the running for coaching positions at Tennessee State, Georgia State, and South Alabama. In 2002, Finch suffered a debilitating stroke. People close to Finch created the Friends of Larry Finch Foundation to help offset his medical expenses. In December 2006, the foundation released a Larry Finch tribute CD called "Eye of the Tiger", featuring performers from Memphis' diverse musical community such as Al Green, The Bar-Kays, Gary Johns, John