Hall of Fame
Tom Folliard Sr., the head coach of the men's basketball team from 1984-1991, was inducted into the Florida Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 2003. Folliard Sr. accumulated a 399-212 overall career record at Stonehill, Bryant, and Florida Tech, with 124 wins as the Panther head coach. His 124-74 record in Melbourne is the best winning percentage by a Florida Tech men's basketball coach. All three schools went from struggling teams to NCAA Tournament teams. The Panthers made it to the NCAA Tournament twice under Folliard Sr. At the height of his Florida Tech career, he led the team to wins over Boston College and the University of Massachusetts.
In 1990-91, Folliard Sr. led the team to a 22-6 record and to the SSC Championship game, where it lost to Florida Southern. He was coming off the program's best season ever, with a 26-4 record, taking the team to becoming the SSC Co-Champions and to its second straight NCAA Tournament appearance in 1989-90, going to the NCAA Division II Sweet Sixteen. Folliard Sr. was rewarded with the 1990 SSC Coach of the Year Award for his hard work. He coached an excellent 22-8 team the year before the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. The team ranked in the top-10 for the first time in school history in both the 1988-89 and 1989-90 seasons. Folliard Sr. coached the three-time All-SSC selection and two-time Second Team member Dwight Walton during those three seasons.
In his first four seasons, he slowly improved the team from a team that won four games in three straight seasons before he arrived to an 18-10 season in 1987-88. The most significant moment was when the Panthers defeated first-ranked Florida Southern twice in 1988.
Folliard Sr. graduated from Providence College, where he was a member of the 1961 NIT Championship team. He was recently named one of Providence's all-time top athletes.
