[2] Strack played college basketball at the University of Michigan (UM), earning MVP honors in 1943 and 1946.

Following his team's 24–4 record and runner-up finish in 1965, Strack was named the UPI College Basketball Coach of the Year.

[13] In 1980, Strack was criticized following a scandal involving the football program's use of an athletic slush fund for improper payments to coaches, alumni and recruits.

[2] In 1947, while attending the University of Michigan, Strack met and married Ruth Ann Mayer.

They briefly lived in East Lansing, Michigan before moving to Ann Arbor to raise their five children.