Tippy Dye

William Henry Harrison "Tippy" Dye (born April 1, 1915) is a noted former college athlete, coach, and athletic director in the United States. As a basketball head coach, Dye led the University of Washington to their only NCAA Final Four appearance. As an athletic director, Dye helped build the University of Nebraska football dynasty.

Dye entered the Ohio State University in 1933 and became a star three-sport athlete. He earned three varsity letters as a football quarterback in 1934, 1935 and 1936. His team finished those seasons with records of 7-1, 7-1, and 5-3, respectively, and until 2006 he was the only Buckeye quarterback to win three consecutive games over the University of Michigan. Dye also played guard on the school's basketball team, lettering in 1935, 1936 and 1937. He was an All-Conference selection in the Big Ten in 1936 and 1937. In 1937 he was also the team's captain. Dye lettered in baseball in 1935 and 1936.

After graduation, Dye entered coaching. He was the basketball head coach of the Ohio State University from 1947 to 1950. In 1950 Ohio State won the Big Ten Conference title and finished in the Elite Eight of the NCAA basketball tournament. Dye then moved on to the University of Washington, where he served as the basketball head coach from 1951 to 1959. Washington won three consecutive Pacific Coast Conference titles (1951-53), and in 1953 went to the NCAA Final Four. Dye's 156-91 record in Washington ranks him as the third winningest coach in the school's basketball history, behind Hall of Fame coaches Hec Edmundson and Marv Harshman.

Dye was hired as the athletic director at the University of Nebraska in 1962. Prior to hiring Dye, the University of Nebraska football team had an all-time winning percentage of less than 62%. Since 1962 (ending 2005) the University of Nebraska football winning percentage is just over 81%, which is by far the highest winning percentage in that period in the nation.

Dye was named after former United States President William Henry Harrison. Harrison used the campaign nickname of Tippecanoe, which led in turn to Dye's nickname of Tippy.