Robert John Staak (born December 22, 1947 in Darien, Connecticut) is a former American

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 ...

and professional basketball coach.

Early life

Staak attended

Darien High School Darien High School is the single public high school serving the town of Darien, Connecticut, in the United States. Background In 2014, Darien High School had the highest SAT scores in the state. In the 2004–2005 school year, Darien had the s ...

Darien, Connecticut Darien ( ) is a coastal town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. With a population of 21,499 and a land area of just under 13 square miles, it is the smallest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast. It has the youngest population of any ...

, where he played basketball and became the all-time leading scorer with 1,166 points, a mark that still stands. He graduated in 1966, and he was recruited by about 100 universities.

College career

Staak attended St. John's University as a freshman, taking business courses. However, living off-campus didn't provide the atmosphere he was looking for, and when he decided that he wanted to someday be a basketball coach and St. John's didn't offer the academic concentration he sought, he transferred to the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

. Due to transfer rules, he had to sit out a year before playing basketball for UConn. He played three years of varsity basketball for the Huskies, ending his career as the school's fourth all-time leading scorer. He was named All-New England and All-

Yankee Conference The Yankee Conference was a collegiate sports conference in the eastern United States. From 1947 to 1976, it sponsored competition in many sports, but was a American football, football-only league from mid-1976 until its dissolution in 1996. It is ...

. A two-year co-captain, he was named UConn's Most Valuable Player his senior year and he earned the UConn Club Award as the Outstanding Senior Athlete. He graduated in 1971.

Professional career

After graduating, he signed to play professional basketball with the

Pittsburgh Condors The Pittsburgh Condors were a professional basketball team in the original American Basketball Association (ABA). Originally called the Pittsburgh Pipers, they were a charter franchise of the ABA and captured the first league title. The team pla ...

of the American Basketball Association (ABA), but was cut in preseason. He returned to Connecticut and played in the New York State Pro League on weekends for a year while also coaching at

East Hartford High School East Hartford High School is a public high school of the East Hartford, Connecticut Public Schools. East Hartford High Schools shares its campus and many of its programs with the Connecticut International Baccalaureate Academy (CIBA), an honors ...

. The following year, he was invited to tryout for the ABA's Kentucky Colonels, but they had a contract dispute and Staak decided to end his playing career.

Coaching career

Staak became an assistant coach at UConn for two years under his college coach

Dee Rowe Dee may refer to: People Surname * Dee, an alternate spelling of the Welsh surname Day * Dee, a romanization of several Chinese surnames, including: ** Those listed at Di (surname) ** Some Hokkien pronunciations of the surname Li () * Di Re ...

. He then served as an assistant for one season at the

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III ...

in Virginia. He then served as an assistant at the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight school ...

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

under future Hall-of-Famer Chuck Daly. In 1979, the Quakers advanced to the NCAA Final Four. After their tournament run, Staak got his first college basketball head coaching job when he was named head coach/athletic director at

Xavier University Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati and Evanston (Cincinnati), Ohio. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier has an undergraduate enrollment of 4,860 stud ...

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, where he coached from 1979 to 1985. Staak compiled an 88-86 record (.506) in six seasons as the Musketeers head coach. He worked to rebuild, compiling a 28-54 (.341) record in his first three years and a 60-32 (.652) record in his final three years. He then became head coach at

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the un ...

from 1985 to 1989, where his teams posted a 45-69 record in four seasons. For the next 12 seasons he was an assistant coach and/or scout 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 St ...

(NBA), for the

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

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The club plays its home games at FT ...

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 ...

, Golden State Warriors, and

Memphis Grizzlies The Memphis Grizzlies (referred to locally as the Grizz) are an American professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference ...

. He spent two years (2003–05) as a referee observer with the NBA followed by one season as a scout for the Boston Celtics. He then spent seven-plus seasons with the Orlando Magic from January 2005 to July 2012.http://www.linkedin.com/pub/bob-staak/35/b3b/315

Personal life

Staak was inducted into the Xavier Athletic Hall of Fame in 1990, the Greater Cincinnati Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002, the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009, and the UConn Fairfield County Sports Hall of Fame in 2010. He is married to Donna (Durant) and Staak has a grown son and stepdaughter.

References

External links

* Career coaching statistics fro
Basketball-Reference.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Staak, Robert John 1947 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Canada American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Connecticut Basketball players from Connecticut Golden State Warriors assistant coaches Los Angeles Clippers assistant coaches Memphis Grizzlies assistant coaches Miami Heat assistant coaches Penn Quakers men's basketball coaches People from Darien, Connecticut Shooting guards Small forwards UConn Huskies men's basketball coaches UConn Huskies men's basketball players Vancouver Grizzlies assistant coaches Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's basketball coaches Washington Bullets assistant coaches Washington Bullets head coaches William & Mary Tribe men's basketball coaches Xavier Musketeers athletic directors Xavier Musketeers men's basketball coaches Darien High School alumni