Shelby Metcalf (December 23, 1930 – February 8, 2007) was the head coach of the Texas A&M Aggies men's basketball team for 27 seasons, from 1963 to 1990. He won more games than any other coach in the former Southwest Conference. Achieving success as basketball coach at a university known more for its dedication to its football team, Metcalf endeared himself to Aggie fans for his loyalty to the school and his witticisms. Although his coaching career ended on a bitter note when he was fired in a dispute with A&M athletic director John David Crow in 1990, Metcalf remained loyal to Texas A&M University. He continued to live in the College Station community and supported the Aggie basketball coaches who succeeded him. Early years Shelby R. Metcalf, Jr. grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma and attended Tulsa Central High School. He attended A&M Junior College for one year before transferring to East Texas State (now Texas A&M University-Commerce), where he was an All-American guard and led the team to three NAIA national tournaments, twice being named to the all-tournament team. In his senior year in 1955, the team won the NAIA championship; the same year, Metcalf earned his bachelor's and master's degrees at ETSU. After graduation, Metcalf spent one year as a head coach at Cayuga (Texas) High School, posting a 33–10 record. He then joined the United States Air Force, becoming the Athletic Officer at Sembach Air Base in Germany from 1956 to 1958. As a player and coach, he amassed a 78–17 record and won the All-Germany Championship twice. Coaching career Metcalf joined the Texas A&M University men's basketball coaching staff in 1958 as the freshman coach under Bob Rogers, who had previously coached Metcalf at East Texas State University. For the next five years, Metcalf continued in that role, before replacing Rogers as head coach in 1963. During his 26½ seasons with Texas A&M from 1963 to 1990, Metcalf won a total of 438 games, 239 of them in conference play, more than any other men's basketball coach in Southwest Conference history. His coaching record was 438–306, 239–158 in conference. Metcalf was known as "The King of Tournaments", for taking the Aggies to 74 in-season tournaments in order to ensure that the team would play at least one game each year on a neutral floor. In the 1989–90 season, the team made a record five tournament appearances.