Larger Than Life Legend: Tim Tift
January 27, 2026 | General, Men's Basketball
On January 23, 2026, UC Irvine lost a beloved friend when Tim Tift passed away. He was 85.
Tim Tift was a gifted athlete at Hawthorne High School, where he was a member of the football, basketball and track teams and was classmates with another UCI legend Mike Gillespie. Following his prep career, he would go on play basketball at Pepperdine where he was a member of the Waves’ 1962 team that won the school’s first West Coast Athletic Conference title with an 11-1 mark, advancing to the 25-team NCAA Tournament. The Waves received a first-round bye in the West Regional and would lose to Oregon State 67-69 in the regional semifinal. In the consolation game, Pepperdine earned its first NCAA Tournament victory with a 75-71 victory over Utah State behind Tift’s team-high 22 points. Tift and the 1962 team were later inducted into the Pepperdine Hall of Fame in 1986.
Tift would play in 72 games, averaging 5.0 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.
In 1967, Tift arrived at UC Irvine as an assistant men’s basketball coach under Dick Davis. He would lead the freshman basketball team as well as coach golf, all while serving as a teacher and instructor in Department of Physical Education, which at the time was an academic unit. He taught golf and tennis as well as various fitness classes.
He became the head basketball coach in 1969 and would hold the position until 1980, racking up 145 wins which is fourth most at UCI. Tift led the Anteaters to the NCAA playoffs in 1972 and 1975 and was named District Coach of the Year in 1972. His Anteater team had 13 home victories in 1971-72.
Tift coached in the days before the shot clock. He was a master at the slowdown offense and four-corner stalls frustrating opponents but keeping the Anteaters in games. In 1970 he wrote "The Passing Game," a basketball motion offense.
Over the years, he served as an associate athletic director and chaired the Department of Physical Education plus served another stint as the Anteater men’s golf coach. He also stepped in and was the interim director of athletics on several occasions.
He would take his knowledge of the game to the airwaves, serving as UCI's color analyst for radio broadcasts.
He also was an instructor for the UC Irvine Department of Recreation, teaching Deep Water Fitness, affectionately dubbing himself “Aquaman”
In 2004, the Tim Tift Endowed Scholarship was created and awarded to a men's basketball student-athlete annually. Donations to the fund are a great way to honor Tim.
Following his time in Athletics he transitioned across campus and spent his last 17 years in the School of Education.
From coach to administrator to lecturer, he always relished the role of mentor and becoming a part of someone’s life.
Few people touch a university in as many ways as Tim Tift did.
Tift loved life. For those of us who were lucky to have known him, he was larger than life. Yes, he stood at a strapping 6-5 with broad shoulders, but his effervescent personality is what captivated everyone in his orbit. You couldn’t help but be happy in his presence. Whether it was a joke, a story or a nickname, many times just adding the word meister to the end of someone’s name, you would smile.
Having food and a beverage with Coach T was always a culinary experience even if you were eating something as simple as pizza. The poetic description of the ingredients when ordering was followed by the sensory explosion he would narrate starting with the eyes as the pie was lowered, the aroma he would inhale and then finally the taste buds.
Some of my fondest Athletics memories were at lunches spearheaded by Tift, traditionally the week of Thanksgiving, at El Tapatio, a tiny Mexican restaurant he had found in Santa Ana. He would order several Familia platters and the banquet of laughs, stories and delicious food would last for hours. He cherished his people and his people cherished him.
He lived a full life and even when his body began to let him down his wit and recall of the people and his time at UCI remained clear. Every game, road trip, class and student was still distinct and remembered fondly.
Tift came to the men's basketball game on Jan. 8 at the Bren Events Center just before his passing. He took in the people and place he was instrumental in building.
While he beamed with joy on a day-to-day basis, his true happiness came from loving his wife Marilyn and sons Randy and Brian. When you have a rock, you are free to be yourself.
Free to be a legend.
A celebration of his life will be held in May
