(ThyBlackMan.com) In a year that has been full of tragedy, 2024 has hit the college basketball community hard after the surprising loss of South Florida men’s basketball head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim. He passed away on October 24, 2024 after undergoing a medical procedure at a Tampa-area hospital when he died due to complications that arose, according to the University of South Florida. Abdur-Rahim was only 43 years old and leaves behind his wife, Arianne, and their three children, Laila, Lana, and Aydin. It is the most painful loss for his wife and three kids who unexpectedly lost a husband and father at a relatively young age. On a much less important level, Abdur-Rahim had added to the basketball legacy of his family due to his coaching success before this loss.
The surname “Abdur-Rahim” definitely strikes accord for many basketball fans who watched the National Basketball Association in the 1990s. Shareef Abdur-Rahim played 12 seasons in the NBA after being the 3rd overall pick of the famed 1996 NBA Draft, which included future Hall of Famers Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, Ray Allen, and Steve Nash. Abdur-Rahim had a quality NBA career as one of the best players in Vancouver/Memphis Grizzlies franchise history and making the All-Star team during the 2001-02 NBA season for the Atlanta Hawks. Shareef was the older brother to Amir, who never played in the NBA but was a three-time All-Southland Conference guard for the Southeastern Louisiana University Lions during his college basketball career prior to becoming a basketball coach.
Amir Abdur-Rahim had made his own name beyond being the younger brother of Shareef as he did some impressive things as a basketball coach in a short time during his career. As an assistant coach for the University of Georgia, Abdur-Rahim was key in helping Georgia sign top-five recruit Anthony Edwards, who went on to be the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NBA draft and the new face of the Minnesota Timberwolves. In 2019, Abdur-Rahim was named the head coach at Kennesaw State and was a major success at that small school. He gradually improved during his four years at Kennesaw State and won the Hugh Durham Award in 2023, given annually to the nation’s best mid-major coach, and was named ASUN Coach of the Year. His leadership also guided them to the NCAA men’s tournament in 2023.
When he was hired by South Florida in March of 2023, South Florida Director of Athletics Michael Kelly said of Amir Abdur-Rahim at the introductory news conference that “Everything that we were looking for in a leader for our men’s basketball program, we found in Amir. He is a man of high character who is a proven recruiter, program-builder, and winner that creates unparalleled student-athlete experiences. In our conversations, it became clear that he has a vision for USF Basketball and his enthusiasm and tenacity will rally Bulls Nation around our men’s basketball program.” He lived up to those words in his one year as South Florida men’s basketball head coach by leading the South Florida Bulls to a program-record 25 wins and their first American Athletic Conference regular-season title.
The college basketball season is here and the loss of Amir Abdur-Rahim will hurt so many. Most importantly, his family, his team, and the staff of the schools where he worked will feel the effects. As time passes, those who knew him best can continue to remember him fondly as a man and others in the college basketball world as a coach who was a bright, young star at his profession.
Staff Writer; Mark Hines
