 lowell "cotton" fitzsimmons (october 7, 1931 &ndash; july 24, 2004) was an american college and nba basketball coach. a native of hannibal, missouri, he attended and played basketball at hannibal-lagrange junior college in hannibal and midwestern state university in wichita falls, texas. he coached the phoenix suns three times, was named the nba coach of the year twice, and is often credited as the architect of the suns' success of the late 1980s and early to middle 1990s. ==early life and career== fitzsimmons played college basketball at hannibal-lagrange, where his jersey is now retired. he got his first coaching job at moberly junior college in moberly, missouri in 1956. he coached there eleven years, capping his tenure with two national junior college championships (njcaa), in 1966 and 1967. in 1968, fitzsimmons was hired by kansas state university, where he served as head basketball coach for only two seasons before going into the nba. ===college coaching record===   {{cbb yearly record entry | championship = | season = 1968â69 | name 
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