Chuck Daly

1930-

American basketball coach

Charles J. "Chuck" Daly is the only coach in the Basketball Hall of Fame to win both an Olympic gold medal and a National Basketball Association (NBA) championship. Lauded as a player's coach, Daly worked his way up from college player to high school coach to college coach, then moved on to coach NBA teams. He is perhaps best known for his work with the Detroit Pistons, which he led to nine straight winning seasons. His career successes and ability to meld diverse players into a successful team landed him the job of coach of basketball's Dream Team for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. During his 30 years of coaching, he was known as one of the most respected coaches in the NBA.

Moving through the Ranks

Daly attended Kane Area High School in Kane, Pennsylvania, from 1944-48, becoming a four-year letter winner and named All Conference in 1947-48. He was a student first at St. Bonaventure University in New York in 1948 for one year, then moved to and graduated from Bloomsburg State College in Pennsylvania. He played on the teams of both schools during his time as a student.

Truly moving his way up the ranks, Daly began his coaching career in 1955 when he led the Punxsutawney (PA) High School basketball team. He served there until 1963. As coach he was able to achieve a 11-70 (.613) record. His collegiate career began as assistant coach at Duke University in 1963. He headed to Boston College in 1969, where he compiled a 26-24 record. From 1971 to 1977 he coached at the University of Pennsylvania, where he led the team to four straight Ivy League championships from 1972 to 1975, and four NCAA Tournament appearances those same years. In eight college seasons, he compiled a 151-62 record, including four straight 20-win seasons at Penn.

Daly's professional coaching career began in 1978 when he was named to the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers

as assistant coach to Billy Cunningham. During his three-year stint, the team won two Eastern Division titles and four post-season berths. In 1981, he moved to the Cleveland Cavaliers, but a 9-32 record ended his tenure that season.

Turning around the Detroit Pistons

It was with the Detroit Pistons (beginning in 1983 and running through 1992) that Daly achieved both success and notoriety. Although the Pistons had never before achieved back-to-back winning seasons, under Daly's leadership the team won three Eastern and Central Division titles, two World Championships, saw nine straight winning seasons, and scored five 50-plus wins between 1988 and 1990. Daly became the fifth NBA coach to achieve back-to-back NBA championships.

The Pistons racked up some impressive stats during Daly's stint as coach. In his first year, the Pistons participated in the highest scoring game in NBA history, winning the 186-184 triple-overtime game. The team's 1989 record of 63-19 was the best in the history of the franchise, followed in 1990 by a record of 59-23 that was second best in franchise history. The team's 25-1 streak in 1990 was the third best in NBA history. The Pistons were the top defensive team in 1990, holding opponents to 98.3 points per game and 47.7 field-goal percentage.

In 1992, Daly became coach of the New Jersey Nets. Although he served only two years, he led the team to the playoffs in both seasons, giving the Nets their best record since 1983.

Olympic Victory and Retirement

Daly's success with the Pistons and Nets helped him land his history making job—coaching the US's first Dream Team basketball team in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. With players such as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson , and Larry Bird , the Dream Team won the gold medal.

In the 1993-94 season, Daly announced his retirement from coaching. He was soon honored on May 9, 1994 with enshrinement as a coach in the Basketball Hall of Fame. He is renowned as the only Hall of Fame coach to win both an Olympic gold medal and an NBA championship.

Daly's professed retirement didn't last long. On June 4, 1997, he was named coach for the Orlando Magic for two years. As reported in Sports Illustrated, although he was making $5 million, one reason he may have retired was to avoid hassles with player Penny Hardaway , who claimed he got no respect from Daly.

This may have been a surprising turn, since during his career, Daly was often praised for his respectful stance with players, for giving of himself, and for turning a group of diverse players into a winning team. In an example of his character, Daly has been quoted as saying, "It's discouraging to make a mistake, but it's humiliating when you find out you're so unimportant that nobody noticed it."

In an interview for ESPN's Page 2, Daly talked about the most important lesson he learned about coaching. In his first year of college coaching, he told players that they had to be tough in the game, but once they step out-side the lines, everything goes back to normal. A football player questioned this idea, saying that you can't be two different people. That was when Daly learned that coaches and players must discover who they really are, what motivates them, and to be true to themselves at all times.

Following his second and final retirement, Daly has remained in the sports field. He served as a special consultant for the Grizzlies, and an NBA analyst with Turner Network Television. In 1996, he provided the keynote graduation speech at his alma mater, Kane Area Senior High School. In October 2002, the Michigan Basketball Coaches Clinic, a training session open to coaches at all levels, featured Daly as a guest speaker.

Daly still promotes basketball through multimedia. He appeared as an instructor on the All Pro Basketball Superstar Series of videos in the volume Chuck Daly: The Coach—Offensive Plays, Defense & Motivation. In the 50-minute video, he demonstrates offensive plays, discusses winning strategies, and shares the story of his success. Daly also made an appearance in the NBA Comic Relief video The Great Blooper Caper (1991) which focused on a fanciful basketball game. On the serious side, Daly wrote introductions to a series of books released in the late 1990s focusing on the top players in basketball history.

Chronology

Awards and Accomplishments

Daly's overall statistics give him a respectable place in basketball coaching history. He compiled a 564-379 (.598) career record—13th best among all coaches, and 9th best by percentage. Daly's 564 wins ranks 17th all-time on the combined NBA/ABA victory list. His 74-48 playoff record with the Detroit Pistons ranks 4th best in NBA history by wins and 8th best by percentage (.607).

FURTHER INFORMATION

Books

Heeren, Dave. The Basketball Abstract. Edgewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1988.

Hickok, Ralph. Encyclopedia of North American Sports History. New York, NY; Facts on File, 1992.

Hickok, Ralph. Who's Who of Sports Champions. Boston, MA; Houghton Mifflin, 1995.

Other

Basketball Hall of Fame, www.hoophall.com/halloffamers/daly.htm (December 15, 2002).

Detroit Pistons Bad Boys, www.smackbomb.com/badboys/daly.html (December 15, 2002).

ESPN, http://espn.go.com/page2/s/coaches/daly.html (December 15, 2002).

Hickoksports, www.hickoksports.com/biograph/dalychuc.shtml (December 15, 2002).

Sports Illustrated, http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/magazine/basketball/nba/news/1999/05/25/nba/0531 (December 15, 2002).

Sketch by Lorraine Savage