Kevin O'Neill (basketball)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kevin O'Neill (born January 24, 1957) is a basketball coach in the NCAA and the NBA. After tenures at North Country Community College (Saranac Lake, New York), Marycrest College (Davenport, Iowa), Marquette, Tennessee and Northwestern he became an assistant coach under Jeff Van Gundy with the New York Knicks. Later he joined the Detroit Pistons since 2001 under former head coach Rick Carlisle. As a coach for Marquette, O'Neill led the Warriors to two 20+ win season, two NCAA tournament appearances, and a Great Midwest Conference Championship. O'Neill played a prominent role in the 1994 Oscar-nominated documentary, Hoop Dreams.
The McGill University graduate returned to Canada in June 2003 as the head coach of the Toronto Raptors. His tenure was marked by inconsistency among his players, but the team was 25-25 after 50 games and in a position to return to the playoffs. However, injuries to key players resulted in the team going 8-24 to finish the season three games out of a playoff spot. General Manager Glen Grunwald was dismissed on 1 April, 2004. On April 17, 2004, O'Neill was fired in the aftermath of a disappointing 2003-2004 season after making some remarks which were taken to question the team's commitment to winning.
In the 2004-2005 season he has been hired as an assistant coach for the Indiana Pacers where he rejoined their head coach Rick Carlisle.
| Preceded by Bob Dukiet |
Marquette University Head Basketball Coach 1989–1994 |
Succeeded by Mike Deane |
| Preceded by Wade Houston |
University of Tennessee Head Basketball Coach 1994–1997 |
Succeeded by Jerry Green |
| Preceded by Ricky Byrdsong |
Northwestern University Head Basketball Coach 1997–2000 |
Succeeded by Bill Carmody |
| Preceded by Lenny Wilkens |
Toronto Raptors Head Coach 2003–2004 |
Succeeded by Sam Mitchell |
[edit] External links
- Kevin O'Neill profile @ NBA.com
