James Francis Lynam (born September 15, 1941) is an American former college and professional

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 ...

coach. He coached at the college level for

Fairfield University Fairfield University is a private Jesuit university in Fairfield, Connecticut. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1942. In 2017, the university had about 4,100 full-time undergraduate students and 1,100 graduate students, including full-time ...

from 1968 to 1970,

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

from 1973 to 1978, and

St. Joseph's University Saint Joseph's University (SJU or St. Joe's) is a private Jesuit university in Philadelphia and Lower Merion, Pennsylvania. The university was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1851 as Saint Joseph's College. Saint Joseph's is the seventh olde ...

from 1978 to 1981. In the

National Basketball Association 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 S ...

(NBA), Lynam coached the San Diego / Los Angeles Clippers from 1983 to 1985, the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...

from 1987 to 1992, and the

Washington Bullets The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...

from 1995 to 1997. Lynam compiled a 158–118 record at the college level, and 328–392 in the NBA. He was also Philadelphia's

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

from 1992 to 1994.

Playing career

After graduating from

West Catholic High School West Catholic High School is a private Catholic college preparatory secondary school in Grand Rapids, Michigan (U.S.). It opened in 1962 with loans from Kenowa Hills Public Schools. It is located within the Catholic Diocese of Grand Rapids. ...

, he went to

Saint Joseph's University Saint Joseph's University (SJU or St. Joe's) is a private Jesuit university in Philadelphia and Lower Merion, Pennsylvania. The university was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1851 as Saint Joseph's College. Saint Joseph's is the seventh olde ...

. With the

Hawks Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica. * The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. This subfamily ...

, he was a three-year starter. In 1961, Lynam was a key player on a Hawks team that advanced to the 1961 Final Four. The Hawks defeated

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

in a four-overtime game for third place. Lynam won the team MVP award after Jack Egan was expelled for his participation in the 1961 point shaving scandal. Lynam played with the Hawks until 1963. That year, he was named the MVP of the

Big 5 Big Five may refer to: Animals * the Big Five, large African wild animals said to be most difficult to hunt: lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant and Cape buffalo * Big Five animals of the Kaziranga National Park, Assam, India: Indian rhinocero ...

in his senior year.

Coaching career

He began his coaching career with the Fairfield Stags in 1968 where he coached two years. In 1973, he took the reins at

in 1973, where he coached for five years. He coached the Eagles to one finals appearance in the East Coast Conference tournament. In 1978, he returned to his alma mater. He coached St. Joseph's to an upset victory over #1 ranked DePaul by a score of 49–48 in the second round of the 1981 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. In their opening game his 9th seeded Hawks topped #8th seed Creighton 59–57. They would win their third tournament game over #5 seed Boston College 42-41 before falling to the National Champion, Indiana at a game on their home floor in Bloomington. Had they won that game Lynam's Hawks would have been in the Final Four at ''The Spectrum'' in their home town of Philadelphia. Lynam has also served as an assistant coach for several teams, most notably the Sixers and the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

, the latter for head coach

Maurice Cheeks Maurice Edward Cheeks (born September 8, 1956) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who serves as assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has also served as head coach of t ...

. When Cheeks was hired as Philadelphia's coach for the 2005–06 season, Lynam was named an assistant. During the preseason, however, he was forced to leave the team due to an undisclosed medical condition. In January, 2006, Lynam retired from coaching. However, on September 29, 2006 it was announced that Lynam, along with NBA hall of famer

Moses Malone Moses Eugene Malone (March 23, 1955 – September 13, 2015) was an American professional basketball player who played in both the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1974 through 1995. A cen ...

would be rejoining the 76ers as an assistant coach. In July 2010,

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 185 ...

reported that Lynam was among candidates for an assistant coaching job in Portland. On January 24, 2011, the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

announced that Lynam would be joining the club as a part-time basketball operations consultant, evaluating pro personnel on the Wolves roster and throughout the NBA. Starting in the 2011–12 season, Lynam serves as a pre-game and post-game analyst for the

NBC Sports Philadelphia NBC Sports Philadelphia is an American regional sports network owned by the NBC Sports Group unit of NBCUniversal, which in turn is owned by locally based cable television provider Comcast (and owns a controlling 75% interest), and the Philadelp ...

Personal

Lynam's daughter, Dei, is a former anchor/reporter for NBC Sports Philadelphia for the Sixers. She once served as a sideline reporter for 76ers telecasts. She also worked as a Sideline Reporter for TNT's coverage of the NBA Playoffs from 2010 to 2015. Now she helps call the 76ers G-League team, the

Delaware Blue Coats The Delaware Blue Coats are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Wilmington, Delaware, and are affiliated with the Philadelphia 76ers. The Blue Coats play their home games at Chase Fieldhouse. The team was founde ...

games. He is also a grandfather to ten grandchildren. Lynam is known for his distinct

Philadelphia accent Philadelphia English is a variety or dialect of American English native to Philadelphia and extending into Philadelphia's metropolitan area throughout the Delaware Valley, including southeastern Pennsylvania, counties of northern Delaware (espec ...

Head coaching record

College

NBA

, - , align="left" , SDC , align="left" , , 82, , 30, , 52, , .366, , align="center" , 6th in Pacific, , —, , —, , —, , — , align="center" , Missed Playoffs , - , align="left" ,

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, align="left" , , 61, , 22, , 39, , .361, , align="center" , (fired), , —, , —, , —, , — , align="center" , — , - , align="left" ,

PHI Phi (; uppercase Φ, lowercase φ or ϕ; grc, ϕεῖ ''pheî'' ; Modern Greek: ''fi'' ) is the 21st letter of the Greek alphabet. In Archaic and Classical Greek (c. 9th century BC to 4th century BC), it represented an aspirated voicele ...

, align="left" , , 39, , 16, , 23, , .410, , align="center" , 4th in Atlantic, , —, , —, , —, , — , align="center" , Missed Playoffs , - , align="left" , PHI , align="left" , , 82, , 46, , 36, , .561, , align="center" , 2nd in Atlantic, , 3, , 0, , 3, , .000 , align="center" , Lost in

first round First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

, - , align="left" , PHI , align="left" , , 82, , 53, , 29, , .646, , align="center" , 1st in Atlantic, , 10, , 4, , 6, , .400 , align="center" , Lost in Conf. Semifinals , - , align="left" , PHI , align="left" , , 82, , 44, , 38, , .537, , align="center" , 2nd in Atlantic, , 8, , 4, , 4, , .500 , align="center" , Lost in Conf. Semifinals , - , align="left" , PHI , align="left" , , 82, , 35, , 47, , .427, , align="center" , 5th in Atlantic, , —, , —, , —, , — , align="center" , Missed Playoffs , - , align="left" , WSH , align="left" , , 82, , 21, , 61, , .256, , align="center" , 7th in Atlantic, , —, , —, , —, , — , align="center" , Missed Playoffs , - , align="left" , WSH , align="left" , , 82, , 39, , 43, , .476, , align="center" , 4th in Atlantic, , —, , —, , —, , — , align="center" , Missed Playoffs , - , align="left" , WSH , align="left" , , 46, , 22, , 24, , .478, , align="center" , (fired), , —, , —, , —, , — , align="center" , — , -class="sortbottom" , align="left" , Career , , , 720, , 328, , 392, , .456, , , , 21, , 8, , 13, , .381

References

External links

BasketballReference.com: Jim Lynam

NBA.com coach file: Jim Lynam

St. Joseph's biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynam, Jim 1941 births Living people American Eagles men's basketball coaches American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Pennsylvania Basketball players from Philadelphia College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Fairfield Stags men's basketball coaches Los Angeles Clippers head coaches National Basketball Association general managers Philadelphia 76ers assistant coaches Philadelphia 76ers executives Philadelphia 76ers head coaches Portland Trail Blazers assistant coaches Saint Joseph's Hawks men's basketball coaches Saint Joseph's Hawks men's basketball players San Diego Clippers head coaches Washington Bullets head coaches