Completed Event: Men's Basketball at UNLV on February 7, 2026 , Loss , 78, to, 80
M Basketball
at UNLV
L 78-80
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Ex-Lopes coach Shumate passes away
2/3/2025 3:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
Former NBA 1st-round pick led Grand Canyon for 3 seasons
Former Grand Canyon men's basketball head coach John Shumate passed away Monday at age 72 after spending a lifetime in the sport.
Shumate coached three Lopes seasons with his teams going 58-33 from 1983 to 1986 in the program's NAIA era. His Grand Canyon time followed 2 1/2 seasons as Hall of Fame coach Digger Phelps' assistant at his alma mater, Notre Dame. Shumate preceded Paul Wesphal as Grand Canyon head coach and moved on to SMU, where he was the Mustangs' head coach for seven seasons (1988-95) and guided a 1993 NCAA tournament team.
His .637 winning percentage with the Lopes ranks as the sixth-best clip among coaches in Grand Canyon basketball's 75-year history. He led the 1984-85 team to the NAIA District XIII finals.
Shumate's death was announced by Notre Dame, where he was immortalized in the Ring of Honor two seasons ago for his early 1970s career with the Fighting Irish. He averaged 24.2 points and 11.0 points to be a consensus pick on the 1973-74 All-America first team. The South Carolina native and New Jersey preps product was part of the Notre Dame win that ended UCLA's record 88-game winning streak in 1974.
He came to Phoenix as the NBA Draft's No. 4 overall selection by the Suns, who traded him during the 1975-76 season and brought him back for a community relations position in 1998 after he was a Toronto Raptors assistant coach. Shumate worked as a Suns scout for two stints that bookended an 8-26 season as the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury head coach in 2003.
Shumate also served as an assistant coach for the Suns' 2010 Western Conference Finals team under head coach Alvin Gentry.
Blood clots hampered Shumate's playing career, causing the 6-foot-9 forward to a miss his sophomore year in college, his first year in Phoenix (1974-75) and another NBA season (1978-79). After playing five seasons for six NBA teams over seven years, Shumate's battle through the ongoing blood clot issues ended when he played his final game at age 28 in November 1980.
Shumate was named to the NBA All-Rookie first team after splitting his first season between Phoenix and Buffalo, averaging 18.9 points and 9.3 rebounds for the Suns before being traded for Gar Heard during the Suns' 1976 NBA Finals season.
Shumate coached three Lopes seasons with his teams going 58-33 from 1983 to 1986 in the program's NAIA era. His Grand Canyon time followed 2 1/2 seasons as Hall of Fame coach Digger Phelps' assistant at his alma mater, Notre Dame. Shumate preceded Paul Wesphal as Grand Canyon head coach and moved on to SMU, where he was the Mustangs' head coach for seven seasons (1988-95) and guided a 1993 NCAA tournament team.His .637 winning percentage with the Lopes ranks as the sixth-best clip among coaches in Grand Canyon basketball's 75-year history. He led the 1984-85 team to the NAIA District XIII finals.
Shumate's death was announced by Notre Dame, where he was immortalized in the Ring of Honor two seasons ago for his early 1970s career with the Fighting Irish. He averaged 24.2 points and 11.0 points to be a consensus pick on the 1973-74 All-America first team. The South Carolina native and New Jersey preps product was part of the Notre Dame win that ended UCLA's record 88-game winning streak in 1974.
He came to Phoenix as the NBA Draft's No. 4 overall selection by the Suns, who traded him during the 1975-76 season and brought him back for a community relations position in 1998 after he was a Toronto Raptors assistant coach. Shumate worked as a Suns scout for two stints that bookended an 8-26 season as the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury head coach in 2003.
Shumate also served as an assistant coach for the Suns' 2010 Western Conference Finals team under head coach Alvin Gentry.
Blood clots hampered Shumate's playing career, causing the 6-foot-9 forward to a miss his sophomore year in college, his first year in Phoenix (1974-75) and another NBA season (1978-79). After playing five seasons for six NBA teams over seven years, Shumate's battle through the ongoing blood clot issues ended when he played his final game at age 28 in November 1980.
Shumate was named to the NBA All-Rookie first team after splitting his first season between Phoenix and Buffalo, averaging 18.9 points and 9.3 rebounds for the Suns before being traded for Gar Heard during the Suns' 1976 NBA Finals season.
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