Stan Van Gundy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stan Van Gundy
volunteering for "Bike the Sites", State University of New York at Brockport.
Born	August 26, 1959 (1959-08-26) (age 48) Indio, California
Occupation	NBA head coach
Employers	Orlando Magic

Stan Van Gundy (born August 26, 1959 in Indio, California) is the head coach of the National Basketball Association's Orlando Magic. From 2003 to 2005, he was the head coach of the Miami Heat but resigned in the 2005 postseason, turning the job over to Pat Riley . He is the brother of former New York Knicks and Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy.

[edit] Early career

Stan Van Gundy played college basketball for his father, Bill, at SUNY Brockport. As a senior in 1981, he was named Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the whole SUNY system. He is a native of Indio, CA. He served as an assistant coach at Canisius College and Fordham University in 1987 and 1988, respectively. Van Gundy was then named the head coach of the men's basketball team at Castleton State College leading the Spartans to a combined 68-18 record. This included the breaking of the school record for wins in his first season and an appearance in the 1985 NAIA National Tournament.^[1] and later was the head coach at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. In 1994, he replaced Stu Jackson as the head coach at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he coached until the following season. Jackson went on to become Senior VP of Basketball Operations in the NBA.

In eight years as a college coach, Van Gundy compiled a record of 135-92, a .595 winning percentage.

[edit] Miami Heat

Van Gundy spent twelve years with the Heat organization, beginning as an Assistant Coach to Pat Riley in 1995.

After working as an assistant under coaching legend Pat Riley, Van Gundy was named head coach when Riley abruptly resigned as coach prior to the 2003-04 season. However, Riley remained on as President of the team. Van Gundy took over a team that had won 25 games the previous season. He led them to a 42-win season, in which they won a very high percentage of their late season games and surprised many by advancing to the second round of the 2004 NBA Playoffs, nearly defeating the team with the league's best record, the Indiana Pacers, due to the strong play of rookie Dwyane Wade.

During the off-season, Riley arranged a trade to bring Shaquille O'Neal to the Heat. The Heat ended the first half of the season with the best record in the Eastern Conference, allowing Van Gundy to become the first Heat coach to coach in the All-Star game, leading the East to a victory. The Heat finished the season with 59 wins, earning the best record in the conference.

The Heat went on to advance to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, where they lost to the Detroit Pistons. Injuries and fatigue played a factor in their defeat. During the 2005 off-season, it was widely speculated that Pat Riley was attempting to run Van Gundy out of his coaching job. Whether or not these rumors were valid, Van Gundy indeed resigned from his position as head coach on December 12, 2005, insisting that he wanted to spend more time with his family. Reports surfacing in April of 2008 state that it was Shaq who ran him out. He supposedly did not like being pulled from the game at crucial moments and would constantly deride Van Gundy, whom he called "Ron Jeremy" after the porn star,^[2] who many believe Van Gundy looks like.

After Riley again took over as head coach, he led the Heat to victory in the 2006 NBA Finals.

Van Gundy had a winning percentage of .605 with the Heat (112-73).

[edit] Orlando Magic

In May 2007, Van Gundy received an offer to replace the fired Rick Carlisle as head coach of the Indiana Pacers. Van Gundy turned down the offer, but began interviewing for other head coaching jobs. He was considered a lead candidate to become head coach of the Orlando Magic and also the Sacramento Kings. However, the Magic hired Billy Donovan. Shortly thereafter, Donovan decided he wanted to back out of the deal and return to the University of Florida. Finally on June 5, 2007, the Magic released Donovan and offered another contract to Van Gundy. ^[3] ESPN SportsCenter has reported that the Heat allowed Van Gundy to coach the Magic in exchange for a 2nd round draft pick in 2007 and the right to swap 1st round picks in 2008 or another 2008 2nd round draft pick and cash.

In Van Gundy's first season with the Magic, he guided them to a 52-win season, earning the third-best record in the Eastern Conference. Orlando defeated the Toronto Raptors 4-1 in the first round of the playoffs, advancing to the Eastern Semifinals for the first time in twelve seasons. They were later defeated in the Eastern Semifinals by the Detroit Pistons 4-1.

[edit] Coaching record

[edit] References

1. ^ Castleton State College men's basketball records starting (HTML). Castleton State College. Retrieved on 2006-06-03.
2. ^ FanNation | Truth&Rumors | Reporter: Shaq ran Van Gundy off
3. ^ Reports: Donovan Almost Out, Van Gundy Almost In for Magic, NBA.com. Retrieved on June 5, 2007.