Joseph E. Meyer (born April 2, 1949) is an American professional

basketball coach Basketball coaching is the act of directing and strategizing the behavior of a basketball team or individual basketball player. Basketball coaching typically encompasses the improvement of individual and team offensive and defensive skills, as wel ...

and former men's college basketball coach. He was the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of the

Fort Wayne Mad Ants The Fort Wayne Mad Ants are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and are affiliated with the Indiana Pacers. The team plays their home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. The M ...

, the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first esta ...

' affiliate in the

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

. He is currently the circuit's all-time victories leader."Mad Ants Name Joey Meyer Head Coach," Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Wednesday, June 3, 2009.
/ref> He was previously the head basketball coach of the

DePaul Blue Demons The DePaul Blue Demons are the athletic teams that represent DePaul University, located in Chicago, Illinois. The Blue Demons participate in NCAA Division I and are a member of the Big East Conference. DePaul’s Athletic Director is DeWayne ...

from 1984 to 1997.2010-11 DePaul Men's Basketball Media Guide, pp. 148-152.
He currently provides color commentary on radio broadcasts of Northwestern University basketball games on WGN AM in Chicago. He currently provides color commentary on radio broadcasts of Northwestern University Men's Basketball games on WGN-AM in Chicago.

DePaul Blue Demons

Meyer was an assistant coach at DePaul for eleven seasons under his father,

Ray Meyer Raymond Joseph Meyer (December 18, 1913 – March 17, 2006) was an American men's collegiate basketball coach from Chicago, Illinois. He was well known for coaching at DePaul University from 1942 to 1984, compiling a 724–354 record. Meyer ...

."Following Father, Meyer Falters A Bit," Stephen A. Smith, Philadelphia Inquirer, Saturday, January 4, 1997. Ray Meyer coached DePaul from 1942 to 1984, winning 724 games and leading the Blue Demons to winning records in 37 of his 42 seasons., including seven

NCAA men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...

appearances in his last nine seasons. When Ray Meyer retired in 1984, Joey Meyer was promoted to head coach.2010-11 DePaul Men's Basketball Media Guide, p. 100.
/ref> Joey Meyer led DePaul to seven NCAA Tournament appearances in his first eight seasons, including back-to-back Sweet Sixteen appearances in his second and third seasons. In the 1986 tournament, #12-seeded DePaul—led by freshman guard

Rod Strickland Rodney Strickland (born July 11, 1966) is an American basketball coach and former professional basketball player. He is currently the head coach at Long Island University. Prior to LIU, he served as the program manager for the NBA G League's profe ...

(14.1 ppg season average) and junior

Dallas Comegys Dallas Alonzo Comegys (born August 17, 1964) is an American former professional basketball player. College career Comegys played collegiate basketball for the DePaul Blue Demons in the NCAA Division I from 1983 to 1987. Professional career Co ...

(13.8 ppg) -- upset #5-seeded

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and #4-seeded

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

in the East regional before losing to top-seeded

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

74-67. In 1987, the Blue Demons—again led by Comegys (17.5 ppg) and Strickland (16.3 ppg) -- finished the regular season 26-2 and received a #3 seed in the Midwest regional of the 1987 tournament. They defeated #14-seeded

Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activi ...

and #6-seeded St. John's before losing to #10-seeded

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

. Meyer was honored as the Chevrolet Coach of the Year in 1987.2010-11 DePaul Men's Basketball Media Guide, p. 117.
/ref> Besides seven NCAA tournament appearances, Meyer led the Blue Demons to three appearances in the

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 ...

. In both

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

and

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

, DePaul reached the second round of the NCAA tournament, but they were on a downward trajectory. In 1992, the Blue Demons were co-champions of the newly formed

Great Midwest Conference The Great Midwest Conference was an NCAA Division I athletics conference that existed from 1991 to 1995. History It was formed in 1990 with six members: Cincinnati and Memphis State (now Memphis) from the Metro Conference, UAB from the Sun Belt ...

but made their last NCAA tournament appearance under Meyer. In 1996, they finished 11-18, their first losing season since 1971, and the next year, a young DePaul team finished 3-23. Meyer was dismissed on April 28, 1997 and succeeded by

Pat Kennedy Joseph Patrick Kennedy (born January 5, 1952) is an American former college basketball coach and player. He was previously the men's basketball coach at Towson University, Iona College, Florida State University, DePaul University, Pace Universi ...

just over six weeks later.

American Basketball Association

Meyer began his professional basketball head coaching career with the

Chicago Skyliners (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

of the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...

, leading them to a 29-11 record and the Western Conference championship in 2000-01. The Skyliners lost the championship game to the Detroit Dogs 107-91.

NBA Development League

In 2001, he joined the

NBA D-League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Dev ...

with the

Asheville Altitude Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad River, French Broad and Swannanoa River, Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and ...

, winning back-to-back league championships in 2004 and 2005. After the

franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

moved to

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

following its second title, Meyer continued to coach the team through the 2007-08 campaign. He was named the head coach of the

on June 3, 2009. During his first two seasons with the Mad Ants, the ballclub went 22–28 in 2009–10 and 24–26 in 2010–11. The team's 5–10 start to the 2011–12 campaign led to his dismissal on January 6, 2012.Warden, Steve. "Joey Meyer, Mad Ants 'part ways,'" ''The Journal Gazette'' (Fort Wayne, IN), Friday, January 6, 2012.
/ref> His son Brian was a National Basketball Association (NBA)

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, sectio ...

with the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

."Ants Extend Coach Joey Meyer's Contract," Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Wednesday, July 6, 2011.
/ref>

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meyer, Joey 1949 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Asheville Altitude coaches Basketball coaches from Illinois Basketball players from Illinois Buffalo Braves draft picks DePaul Blue Demons men's basketball coaches DePaul Blue Demons men's basketball players Fort Wayne Mad Ants coaches Tulsa 66ers coaches