Los Angeles Lakers head coach Phil Jackson will receive an honorary degree from the University of North Dakota.
The state Board of Higher Education on Thursday gave approval for UND to award Jackson an honorary doctor of humane letters degree.
Jackson played basketball for the Sioux from 1964 through 1967, before moving on to an NBA career starting with the New York Knicks. He graduated from UND in 1967 with a bachelor of arts degree in religion, psychology and philosophy.
In the nomination letter, UND administrators called Jackson one of UND's most successful graduates and a role model for students. The nomination also cited three books he has authored.
The school has tried to get Jackson to come back for a visit. His last public appearance in Grand Forks was in 1989, when he returned to speak at a fundraiser for longtime state auditor Robert Peterson, his coach at Williston High School in the early 1960s.
UND has tried to get Jackson back for such things as its 100-year celebration of basketball in 2004, and the induction of Jackson's 1964-65 Sioux team into the UND Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003, but the dates did not work out.
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