Whether you're winning or losing, it is important to always be yourself. You can't change because of the circumstances around you.

One year later in 1985 he was inducted into the National Junior College Hall of Fame. He would return to Phoenix in 1975 to become a permanent resident although he still coached the Hawks. He lasted there one season being hired by the Kansas City Kings to be their head coach for the next season.

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. Lowell "Cotton" Fitzsimmons (October 7 1931 – July 24 2004) was a college and NBA basketball coach.