Daniel Hugh Nee (born June 18, 1945) is an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

coach. He served as the head men's basketball coach at

Ohio University Ohio University is a public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation and subseq ...

from 1980 to 1986, the

University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a public land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the Morrill Act of 1862, the school was known as the Univers ...

from 1986 to 2000,

Robert Morris University Robert Morris University (RMU) is a private university in Moon Township, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1921 and is named after Robert Morris, known as the "financier of the mericanrevolution." It enrolls nearly 5,000 students and offers 60 b ...

in 2000–01,

Duquesne University Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit ( or ; Duquesne University or Duquesne) is a private Catholic research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded by members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit , image = Holy Gh ...

from 2001 to 2006, and the

United States Merchant Marine Academy The United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA or Kings Point) is a United States service academy in Kings Point, New York. It trains its midshipmen (as students at the academy are called) to serve as officers in the United States Merchant ...

from 2010 to 2014, compiling a career

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 ...

coaching record of 461–433.

Early life

Born Daniel Hugh Nee, Danny Nee grew up in his native

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. His father Patrick immigrated to the U.S. from Ireland. "Rough is what I grew up knowing, and it's what I still know," said Nee in an interview with ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

'' in 1991. Nee played high school basketball at

Power Memorial Academy Power Memorial Academy (PMA) was an all-boys Catholic high school in New York City that operated from 1931 through 1984. It was a basketball powerhouse, producing several NBA players including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Len Elmore, Mario Elie, Chris M ...

alongside future NBA Hall of Famer

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem (alternatively spelled Karim or Kerim) ( ar, کریم) is a common given name and surname of Arabic origin that means "generous", "noble", "honorable". It is also one of the Names of God in Islam in the Quran. Given name Karim * Karim A ...

. After his junior year in 1963, Nee was expelled from Power Memorial for participating in a gang fight. For his senior year, Nee transferred to Fort Hamilton High School and was recruited to

Marquette University Marquette University () is a private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Martin Henni, the first Bishop of the diocese of M ...

Al McGuire Alfred James McGuire (September 7, 1928 – January 26, 2001) was an American college basketball coach and broadcaster, the head coach at Marquette University from 1964 to 1977. He won a national championship in his final season at Marquette, a ...

. Nee was captain of the freshman team but dropped out of Marquette after one year. In 1967, Nee enlisted in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

. With the Marines, Nee served in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

and was honorably discharged in 1968. Resuming his college education in the U.S., Nee earned a bachelor's degree in English and physical education from St. Mary of the Plains College in 1971 and an

M.S. A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

in physical education from

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

in 1972, his master's thesis being titled ''Intramural programs in the Big Eight universities''.

Coaching career

High school and assistant in college

After earning his degrees, Nee coached high school basketball in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, first at

Red Bank Regional High School Red Bank Regional High School (often abbreviated RBR) is a comprehensive regional four-year public high school and school district that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from the boroughs of Little Silver, Red Bank and Shrewsbur ...

from 1972 to 1973 and Brick Township High School from 1973 to 1976 before being recruited as an assistant at Notre Dame by

Digger Phelps Richard Frederick "Digger" Phelps (born July 4, 1941) is an American former college basketball coach, most notably of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish from 1971 to 1991. For 20 years, from 1993 to 2014, he served as an analyst on ESPN. He got the n ...

, where he would coach until hired by Ohio to his first collegiate head coaching appointment.

Ohio

Nee served as head coach of the

Ohio Bobcats The Ohio Bobcats are the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio University, located in Athens, Ohio, United States. Ohio University is a charter member (1946) of the Mid-Amer ...

men's basketball team for seven years (1980–1986), where he helped rebuild the program which had suffered through several losing seasons, and led the team to two MAC Tournament titles (

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

and

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

), two NCAA tournament appearances (

and

), and one

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...

appearance (

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

). In 1993 he was inducted into the

Kermit Blosser Ohio Athletics Hall of Fame The Kermit Blosser Ohio Athletics Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for Ohio Bobcats athletes and athletic personnel. Since 1965, selectees to the Hall are inducted during annual ceremonies, including recognition at halftime of a home college footba ...

Nebraska

Following Nee's tenure at Ohio, he became the coach of the

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference, and the Cornhuskers compete in NCAA Divis ...

from 1986 to 2000. Nee took a historically lackluster Husker program to the next level, leading Nebraska to five NCAA Tournament appearances from

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

–

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

and in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

. They won the Big Eight tournament championship in

. His 1996 squad won the NIT Championship. On March 13, 2000, athletic director Bill Byrne fired Nee with three years left on Nee's contract. Nee has since been inducted into the Hall of Fame at the University of Nebraska and still holds the record for most wins in school history.

After Nebraska

After Nebraska, Nee went to

for the 2000-2001 season. In the spring of 2001, he was named head coach of

Duquesne Dukes The Duquesne Dukes are the athletic teams of Duquesne University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Dukes compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association as members of the Atlantic 10 Conference. Football and bowling, however ...

. Nee officially resigned as head coach after the season's final game on March 4, 2006. Nee spent the next two years as a scout for the NBA's

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...

. In September 2008, Nee joined Fred Hill's staff at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

as Director of Player Development. In July 2009,

Towson University Towson University (TU or Towson) is a public university in Towson, Maryland. Founded in 1866 as Maryland's first training school for teachers, Towson University is a part of the University System of Maryland. Since its founding, the university h ...

hired Nee as an assistant coach on Pat Kennedy's staff.

Merchant Marine

On October 4, 2010, the

named Nee its head men's basketball coach. He was suspended for the final 12 games of the 2013-14 season for a locker room temper tantrum and subsequently fired. In four years, he managed a record that was one game over .500.

Back to high school

In 2015, Nee joined the staff at Gateway High School in

Monroeville, Pennsylvania Monroeville is a Home rule municipality (Pennsylvania), home rule municipality in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. It is located about 10 miles east of Pittsburgh. Monroeville is a suburb with mixed residential and commercial developments. As ...

as an assistant coach. The same year, he also became head coach of the Basketball Stars of America AAU club. He now works as the coach of the South Fayette Freshman Team.

Head coaching record

Nebraska was awarded a forfeit victory over Texas Tech during the 1996–97 season. Nebraska originally lost that game, 87–74. This game is not reflected in the totals below. Duquesne was awarded a forfeit victory over St. Bonaventure during the 2002–03 season. Duquesne originally lost that game, 86–78. This game is not reflected in the totals below.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nee, Danny 1945 births Living people American people of Irish descent Basketball coaches from New York (state) Basketball players from New York City College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Duquesne Dukes men's basketball coaches Fort Hamilton High School alumni High school basketball coaches in the United States Merchant Marine Mariners men's basketball coaches Nebraska Cornhuskers men's basketball coaches Ohio Bobcats men's basketball coaches Robert Morris Colonials men's basketball coaches Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's basketball coaches Sportspeople from Brooklyn Towson Tigers men's basketball coaches