Lewis Joseph "Dan" D’Antoni II (born July 9, 1947) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

former

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player and current head coach for the

Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball The Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball team represents Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. They compete in the NCAA Division I as a member of the Sun Belt Conference. Marshall has advanced to the NCAA tournament five times ...

team. He was previously an assistant coach under his younger brother,

Mike D'Antoni Michael D'Andrew D'Antoni (born May 8, 1951) is an Italian-American professional basketball coach and former player who is a coaching advisor for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). While head coach of the Ph ...

, with the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

, and

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

Playing career

Born in

Mullens, West Virginia Mullens is a city in Wyoming County, West Virginia. The population was 1,475 at the time of the 2020 census. Located in a valley along the Guyandotte River within a mountainous region of southern West Virginia, the town was nearly destroyed by f ...

, D'Antoni played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

Marshall University Marshall University is a public research university in Huntington, West Virginia. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. The university is currently composed of nine colleges: L ...

from 1966–1970. He was the Thundering Herd's starting

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

from 1968–70. He led the Herd with a 17.5 scoring average in 1968–69. In 1990, he was inducted into the Marshall University Athletics Hall of Fame.

Coaching career

High school

After D'Antoni graduated from

, he joined the Herd's coaching staff as the head coach of the freshman basketball team coaching his brother Mike, before becoming an assistant coach of the varsity squad. After failing to make the Baltimore Bullets, he became the head basketball coach at

Socastee High School Socastee High School (abbreviated SHS) is a large, three-story public high school with about 1,700 students located in Socastee, South Carolina in the Myrtle Beach metro area. It is run by Horry County Schools. Academics Socastee High Scho ...

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Myrtle Beach is a resort city on the east coast of the United States in Horry County, South Carolina. It is located in the center of a long and continuous stretch of beach known as "The Grand Strand" in the northeastern part of the state. Its y ...

, in 1975. D'Antoni coached for 30 years at Socastee through 2005 and accumulated over 500 wins. He also founded the

Beach Ball Classic The Beach Ball Classic is an annual high school basketball competition hosted in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. History The Beach Ball Classic was founded by Marshall University basketball coach Dan D'Antoni in 1981 in order to bring more high sc ...

, one of the most prestigious high school basketball tournaments in the country during his tenure. In 2016, he was elected into the South Carolina Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame.

NBA

In the summer of 2005, he became an assistant with the

under younger brother Mike. Shortly after Mike accepted the head coaching position with the

, D'Antoni was hired as an assistant with the Knicks. On March 15, 2012, D'Antoni and fellow assistant coach

Phil Webber Phil may refer to: * Phil (given name), a shortened version of masculine and feminine names * Phill, a given name also spelled "Phil" * Phil, Kentucky, United States * ''Phil'' (film), a 2019 film * -phil-, a lexical fragment, used as a root ter ...

stepped down after Mike resigned as Knicks head coach. On November 15, 2012 he became an assistant coach with the

, also under his brother. In addition to being an assistant coach, D’Antoni also served as the head coach of the Knicks’ and Lakers’

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teams.

Marshall

On April 24, 2014, D'Antoni was announced as the new head coach of Marshall University Thundering Herd men's basketball program, 43 years after he was an assistant with the Herd. He led the Thundering Herd to the Conference USA tournament championship game in 2017, where they were defeated by

Middle Tennessee Middle Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of the U.S. state of Tennessee that composes roughly the central portion of the state. It is delineated according to state law as 41 of the state's 95 counties. Middle Tennessee contains the s ...

, who earned a spot in the NCAA tournament. On March 10, 2018, he led Marshall back to the Conference USA championship game, this time defeating

Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogniz ...

and earning an automatic bid in the NCAA tournament. It was Marshall's first appearance in the NCAA tournament since 1987. On March 16, 2018, the 13th-seeded Herd defeated 4th-seeded

Wichita State Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

81–75 in Marshall's opening game of the 2018 NCAA Tournament. It was the team's first-ever win in the tournament. In Round 2, Marshall lost 94–71 to

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...

, finishing the season with a 25–11 record. In 2019, he led Marshall to the CIT Championship.

Personal life

D'Antoni graduated from Marshall in 1970 with a degree in Speech and Physical Education and also earned a master's degree in Principles of Guidance from Marshall in 1972. Dan D'Antoni
Herdzone.com. Retrieved March 11, 2017. His father, Lewis, was a high school basketball coach in

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

and

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, and was inducted into West Virginia's Sports Hall of Fame in May 2004. D'Antoni is the father of three sons, all of whom played collegiate basketball: Matt played at

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model used ...

; Andrew attended

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

and later served 3½ years in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

, rising to the rank of Major in the U.S. Army and is the current Executive Officer of the East Carolina University Army ROTC program; and Nick attended William & Mary, where he was captain of the basketball team. Dan and wife Vanessa are also parents of daughter Morgan.

Head coaching record

References

External links

NBA.com bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:D'Antoni, Dan 1947 births Living people American men's basketball players American people of Italian descent Basketball coaches from West Virginia Basketball players from West Virginia High school basketball coaches in South Carolina Los Angeles Lakers assistant coaches Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball coaches Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball players New York Knicks assistant coaches People from Mullens, West Virginia Phoenix Suns assistant coaches Point guards