Beloved Stockton Basketball Coach, South Jersey Icon 'Hutch' Dies

GALLOWAY, NJ — Stockton University's longtime assistant basketball coach Bob Hutchings has died at 72, about eight weeks after suffering a massive heart attack.

Hutchings, or "Hutch" as he was affectionately known, died Monday evening following a lifetime in basketball with a coaching resume spanning nearly 50 years.

"I've been thinking a lot about the void the Hutch leaves. At various times he was a father figure, brother, friend, mentor and colleague to me," Stockton head coach Scott Bittner said in a statement. "Hutch was a guy who could always pull a player aside in practice or on the bench and give him a boost or make him feel better."

A native of Millville, he played professionally in Holland before joining the Army, where his coaching career began as an assistant under Mike Krzyzewski.

Hutchings was in his 17th year of his third stint and 26th season overall at Stockton, according to Stockton Athletics. He coached under Joe Carideo in 1979 and later served as an assistant coach on Gerry Matthews' staff for eight of the nine seasons between 1990 and 1999.

Hutchings rejoined Matthews on the Stockton bench in 2006 and remained there through the transition to Bittner as head coach in 2016 until his passing yesterday. The Ospreys won eight NJAC championships, earned 13 NCAA Tournament berths and reached the 2009 NCAA championship game with Hutchings on the bench.

He was well-known throughout South Jersey and inducted into the Millville Thunderbolts Hall of Fame, New Jersey Scholastic Coaches Association Hall of Fame, All Sports Museum of Southern New Jersey Hall of Fame and Stockton Athletics Hall of Fame twice, with the 1995-96 and 2008-09 Osprey teams.