Chuck Daly passed away today in Jupiter, Florida, with his family at his side, after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 78. Chuck coached basketball, and he did it as well as anyone in the history of the game. He coached with great success at every level. He started his coaching career in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, coaching high school basketball there for seven years. He moved up to the college level as an assistant at Duke University in 1963, then became a head coach at Boston College for two years and at the University of Pennsylvania. He guided UPenn to four Ivy League titles and four consecutive 20 win seasons. He was 151-62 in 8 seasons in the NCAA. He then coached 14 seasons in the NBA, compiling a 638-437 regular season record (9th best in NBA history in winning percentage) and a 76-51 playoff record (4th most wins in NBA history) at the highest level. He also coached the “Dream Team” in the Barcelona Olympics, winning a gold medal with the team which featured Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird among others. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1994, and is the ONLY Hall of Fame coach who won both an NBA championship and an olympic gold medal.
Yet, despite this long road in coaching, and all of his success at many levels of competition, Chuck Daly will forever be remembered as the leader of the Detroit Pistons, whom he coached for 9 seasons. Under “Daddy Rich”, as he was affectionately called, the Pistons won 46 or more games and qualified for the playoffs 9 consecutive years; they won 50+ games 5 times. Daly led the Pistons to 3 straight NBA Finals in 1988-1990, winning the 1989 and 1990 NBA championships.
Even more amazing than the fact that he won so frequently, was HOW he won. In the 1980’s the NBA exploded, and salaries for players (and coaches) soared to new levels. Watching NBA games over the last 20 years, it is disheartening to see how players routinely tune out coaches. In huddles, players are rarely attentive when their coach is trying to diagram a play or inspire them. There is a disconnect between players and coaches which is often profound. As evidence, you need to look no further than the Detroit Pistons organization. In the 17 years since Chuck Daly left, the Pistons have made the playoffs 12 times and the Eastern Conference Finals 6 times. Yet, they have had 9 different head coaches in that period.
Daly coached the Pistons for 9 years, and his players not only respected him and listened to him, most of them loved him. This was because Daly truly cared about his players and tried to get to know each and every one of them. He coached one of the most diverse cast of characters in the history of sports in his Pistons teams. Isiah Thomas was the most talented player on those teams and had an ego to match. Bill Laimbeer was moody. John Salley was flashy and vociferous. Joe Dumars was reserved. But maybe the greatest example of how Daly could relate to and reach just about anyone was not his work melding the egos of the Dream Team. It actually was the job he did working with a young player named Dennis Rodman. Rodman was a tortured soul by some accounts from the get-go in the NBA, after he was drafted in the 2nd round by the Pistons. But Daly mentored Rodman and got the most out of him on the court. Rodman, who had been adopted as a child and had a splintered youth, loved Daly so much that when Daly left the team in 1992, he fell apart. He was traded to the Spurs in 1993 after being involved in many bizarre incidents, including a stand-off with police in the Palace parking lot as he sat in his pick-up truck with a shot-gun in his lap, supposedly threatening to kill himself. We are all familiar with the path Rodman has traveled since.
Former Pistons coach Dick Vitale says about Daly, “He made everyone he met feel like the most important person in the world.” Chuck Daly was a gifted coach with a unique ability to connect with players from different backgrounds and with various personalities. From all accounts, he possessed the same gift off of the basketball court, making him just as successful in the game of life. I’m honored that Chuck Daly is a part of the Detroit family. It’s funny, the guy lived an amazing 78 years, living, working and thriving in several parts of the country, but he has been and forever will be remembered as a part of Detroit lore first and foremost. Chuck once said, “You know, there isn’t a city in this country where if I go through the airport, at least one person says to me, ‘Hey, I don’t remember your name, but you coached the Bad Boys’, or something to that effect.”
They’ll always remember your name, coach Daly. And you’ll always be a Detroit Piston. Thank you for all of the memories.
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