Gordon Chiesa is American basketball coach: he served as the assistant coach for the
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), ...
for 16 seasons from 1989–90 to 2004–05.
Early life
Gordon Chiesa is a native of
Union City, New Jersey
Union City is a city in the northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. According to the 2020 United States Census the city had a total population of 68,589,"Gordon Chiesa"
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 ...
.com. Retrieved August 30, 2013.
As a college student, Chiesa played point guard and left St. Thomas Aquinas as the school's all-time leader in career assists (448) and assists average (8.1 apg). He led the Spartans to a 21–6 record and a postseason bid his senior year.
Career
Chiesa's career began as the athletic director and head basketball coach at his alma mater of St. Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkill, N.Y. At St. Thomas Aquinas, he guided the Spartans to three 20-win seasons and several postseason tournaments.
Following his tenure at St. Thomas Aquinas, Chiesa served as an assistant coach at Dartmouth from 1979 to 1981. He then accepted the head coaching position at Manhattan College, where he coached from 1981 to 1985 and was named the Metro Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 1983. Chiesa joined Rick Pitino's staff at Providence as an assistant coach from 1985 to 1987, before becoming head coach for the 1987–88 season.
He joined the
Orlando Magic
The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was establ ...
on August 30, 2012 as special consultant to the head coach. He previously served as a consultant for 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 ...
for the previous two seasons (2010–12). During his coaching career, Chiesa served as an assistant coach for two Hall of Fame coaches – Jerry Sloan and Rick Pitino.
Chiesa was an assistant coach with the
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), ...
, for 16 seasons from 1989–90 to 2004–05. During his tenure, he helped guide Utah to a pair of Western Conference crowns, three Midwest Division championships, a regular season record of 809–471 (.632) and 14 consecutive postseason appearances, including 149 playoff games. Chiesa has also been an assistant coach with New Jersey, Seattle and Memphis, and was the Grizzlies’ director of pro scouting.
Chiesa is one of a select few assistant coaches to serve in both the
NBA Finals
The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awa ...
(1997 and 1998) and the NCAA Final Four (1987).
Chiesa was inducted into the Hudson County, New Jersey Sports Hall of Fame in January 2001 for his achievements as a college and professional basketball coach. He was also inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in September 2009.
Personal life
Chiesa and his wife, Nancy, have two sons, Matthew and Craig.