Men's Basketball

Alden Pasche
Alden Pasche

Hometown:
Houston, Texas
High School:
Jefferson Davis '28
Last College:
Columbia '39 (MA) • Rice '32 (BA)
Position:
Head Coach
Years at Houston:
1946-56

ALDEN PASCHE
Full Name Herbert Alden Pasche
Date of Birth July 19, 1910
Date of Death May 9, 1986 • Houston
Hometown Houston, Texas
Education Columbia • Master's in physical education • 1939
Rice • Bachelor's • 1932
Jefferson Davis HS • 1928
Family Wife: Marguerite
Son: Norman
Daughter: Marguerite Ann
COACHING EXPERIENCE
Year School, Position
1946-56 Houston, head coach
1944 Lamar HS, boys basketball head coach
football assistant coach
Sam Houston HS, assistant/head football coach
Hogg Junior High, physical education teacher
COACHING NOTES
Year Notes
135-116 overall record (three postseason berths)
Two NAIB Tournaments
1 NCAA Tournament
63-55 conference record
1956 Missouri Valley Conference champions
1950 Gulf Coast Conference champions
1947 Lone Star Conference champions
1946 Lone Star Conference champions
PLAYING EXPERIENCE
Years Team (Years)
1931-32 Rice (football)
Alden Pasche served as the first men's basketball head coach at the University of Houston from 1946 to 1955. During that time, he assembled a 135-116 record and went a combined 63-55 in Lone Star, Gulf Coast and Missouri Valley Conference play.

As head coach, Pasche led the Cougars to two NAIB Tournaments and the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1956, his final season with the Cougars.

In his first two seasons, he led the Cougars to Lone Star Conference championships in 1946 and 1947. Three years later, he led the Cougars to a 16-7 overall record and a perfect 6-0 mark in the Gulf Coast Conference.

After moving to the Missouri Valley Conference in 1950, Pasche led the Cougars to a 19-7 overall record and the team's first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1955. He also played a key role in the long-term success of the program he started with the hiring of one of his greatest student-athletes, Guy. V Lewis, as assistant coach in 1953.

Pasche is the only coach in school history to lead the Cougars to conference championships in three different leagues. His four conference crowns stand second in Houston history behind only Lewis' six titles.

He joined the University of Houston Athletics staff when the Cougars began their intercollegiate program in 1945.

As an undergraduate student-athlete at Rice, he received his bachelor's degree and received varsity letters as an end on the football team in 1930 and 1931. He went on to earn his master's degree in physical education from Columbia University in 1939 and served as an associate professor in physical education during his UH tenure.

Pasche entered the professional ranks in physical education at Hogg Junior High. From there, he served as an assistant and then football head coach at Sam Houston High, where he remained until 1943.

Pasche moved on to Lamar High, where he served as boys' basketball head coach and football assistant coach. In 1944, he helped lead the football squad to a district championship.

A native Houstonian, Pasche graduated from Jefferson Davis High School in 1928 after earning two football, three basketball and three track letters.

Born July 19, 1910, Pasche and his wife Marguerite had a son Norman and a daughter Marguerite Ann. He passed away from Parkinson's disease in Houston on May 9, 1986, at the age of 75.

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