Jim Jabir, longtime women's basketball coach, dies at 63 after cancer battle

Jim Jabir, who won more than 500 games as a Division I women’s college basketball coach and guided Dayton to the Elite Eight in 2015, has died after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 63. Social media accounts for the University of Dayton athletics announced his passing on Thursday night .

"On behalf of the University of Dayton and the women's basketball program, we mourn the passing of former head coach Jim Jabir,” Dayton athletics director Neil Sullivan said in a statement. “We offer our most heartfelt prayers and condolences to his wife, Angie, and the entire Jabir family. ” When Jabir is mentioned around Dayton, Ohio, the folks there will always remember the Flyers’ historic run in 2015.

After losing in the Atlantic 10 conference tournament title game to a George Washington team powered by future WNBA MVP Jonquel Jones, Dayton received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and was seeded No. 7. The Flyers — powered by Andrea Hoover and Ally Malott — defeated Iowa State, Kentucky and Louisville to reach the regional final in Albany, New York.

Unfortunately, Jabir’s Flyers ran up against Geno Auriemma’s UConn amid a historic run for the Huskies and Dayton lost 91-70. Dayton was just the third team that season to score at least 70 points against the vaunted Huskies. The 2015 tournament is the only time Dayton has played in the second weekend of March Madness, and it was the sixth consecutive season that Jabir guided the Flyers to the NCAA Tournament.