Chuck Daly

Chuck Daly
Born	(1930-07-20)July 20, 1930 St. Marys, Pennsylvania, United States
Died	May 9, 2009(2009-05-09) (aged 78) Jupiter, Florida, United States

Charles Jerome "Chuck" Daly (July 20, 1930 – May 9, 2009) was an American basketball head coach. He led the Detroit Pistons to consecutive National Basketball Association (NBA) Championships in 1989 and 1990, and the Dream Team to the men's basketball gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics. He had a 14-year NBA coaching career.

Early life

Born in St. Marys, Pennsylvania, to Earl and Geraldine Daly on July 20, 1930, Daly attended Kane Area High School in nearby Kane. He matriculated at St. Bonaventure University for one year before transferring to Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1952. After serving two years in the military, he began his basketball coaching career in 1955 at Punxsutawney (PA) High School.

College career

After compiling a 111–70 record in eight seasons at Punxsutawney (PA) High School, Daly moved on to the college level in 1963 as an assistant coach under Vic Bubas at Duke University. During his six seasons at Duke, the Blue Devils won the Atlantic Coast Conference championship and advanced to the Final Four, both in 1964 and 1966. Daly then replaced Bob Cousy as head coach at Boston College in 1969. The Eagles recorded an 11–13 record in Daly's first year at the school, and improved to 15–11 in 1971.

Daly became the head coach at the University of Pennsylvania in 1971, succeeding Dick Harter. Penn won twenty or more games and captured the Ivy League title in each of its first four seasons with Daly at the helm. The most successful campaign was his first in 1972, when the Quakers recorded a 25–3 record overall (13–1 in their conference), and advanced to the NCAA East Regional Final, eventually losing to North Carolina. An additional significant success for Daly was in 1979, when all five starters on Pennsylvania's Final Four team had initially been recruited by Daly. His overall record after six seasons at Penn was 125–38 (74–10 within the Ivy League).

NBA and international career

In 1978, Daly joined the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers as an assistant coach. During the 1981 season, he was hired as head coach by the Cleveland Cavaliers, but was fired before the season ended. He then returned to the 76ers as a broadcaster until he was hired in 1983 by the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons, a club that had never recorded back-to-back winning seasons before Daly's tenure, made the NBA playoffs each year he was head coach (1983–1992), as well as reaching the NBA finals three times, winning two consecutive NBA championships in 1989 and 1990. While serving as the Pistons coach, Daly was also a color commentator for TBS's NBA Playoff coverage.

Daly was named head coach of the U.S. Dream Team that won the gold medal at the 1992 Olympics, before moving his NBA career onto the New Jersey Nets for the 1992-93 NBA season. Daly stayed with the Nets for two seasons, before his first retirement.

Daly again took up a role as color commentator for TNT's NBA coverage during the mid-1990s before coming out of retirement to coach the Orlando Magic at the beginning of the 1997-98 season. Daly stayed two seasons with the Magic and then retired permanently.

Daly coached a total of 14 NBA seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, New Jersey Nets and Orlando Magic. He compiled a 564–379 (.598) career record, 13th best among all coaches and ninth best by percentage. On the combined NBA/ABA victory list, Daly's 564 wins places him 17th all-time. His 74–48 playoff record ranks fourth best in NBA history by wins and eighth best by percentage (.607).

Death

Daly was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March 2009 and died on May 9, 2009, at the age of 78. He is survived by his wife Terry and their daughter Cydney. He is buried at Riverside Memorial Park in Tequesta, Florida.

College coaching record

Season	School (Conference)	Overall Record	Conference Record (Position)	Postseason Tournaments
1969–70	Boston College (independent)	11–13
1970–71	Boston College (independent)	15–11
1971–72	Pennsylvania (Ivy League)	25–3	13–1 (1st)	NCAA, Regional Final
1972–73	Pennsylvania (Ivy League)	21–7	12–2 (1st)	NCAA, Second Round
1973–74	Pennsylvania (Ivy League)	21–6	13–1 (1st)	NCAA, First Round
1974–75	Pennsylvania (Ivy League)	23–5	13–1 (1st)	NCAA, First Round
1975–76	Pennsylvania (Ivy League)	17–9	11–3 (2nd)
1976–77	Pennsylvania (Ivy League)	18–8	12–2 (2nd)
Totals	8 seasons	151–62	74–10

Professional coaching record

Legend
Regular season	G	Games coached	W	Games won	L	Games lost	W–L %	Win-loss %
Post season	PG	Playoff games	PW	Playoff wins	PL	Playoff losses	PW–L %	Playoff win-loss %

Team	Year	G	W	L	W–L%	Finish	PG	PW	PL	PW–L%	Result
CLE	1981–82	41	9	32	.220	(fired)	—	—	—	—	—
DET	1983–84	82	49	33	.598	2nd in Central	5	2	3	.400	Lost in First Round
DET	1984–85	82	46	36	.561	2nd in Central	9	5	4	.566	Lost in Conf. Semifinals
DET	1985–86	82	46	36	.561	3rd in Central	4	1	3	.250	Lost in First Round
DET	1986–87	82	52	30	.634	2nd in Central	15	10	5	.667	Lost in Conf. Finals
DET	1987–88	82	54	28	.659	1st in Central	23	14	9	.609	Lost in NBA Finals
DET	1988–89	82	63	19	.768	1st in Central	17	15	2	.882	Won NBA Championship
DET	1989–90	82	59	23	.720	1st in Central	20	15	5	.750	Won NBA Championship
DET	1990–91	82	50	32	.610	2nd in Central	15	7	8	.467	Lost in Conf. Finals
DET	1991–92	82	48	34	.585	3rd in Central	5	2	3	.400	Lost in First Round
NJN	1992–93	82	43	39	.524	3rd in Atlantic	5	2	3	.400	Lost in First Round
NJN	1993–94	82	45	37	.549	3rd in Atlantic	4	1	3	.250	Lost in First Round
ORL	1997–98	82	41	41	.500	5th in Atlantic	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
ORL	1998–99	50	33	17	.660	1st in Atlantic	4	1	3	.250	Lost in First Round
Career		1075	638	437	.593		126	75	51	.595