Jeff Van Gundy (born January 19, 1962 in Hemet, California) is aformer A merican basketball head coach, most recently with theNational Basketba ll Association's Houston Rockets. Van Gundytransferred to Menlo Colleg e and ultimately graduated from NazarethCollege (New York) (1985) afte r he was cut from Yale University'sbasketball team.
Career
Van Gundy began his basketball coaching career at McQuaid Jesuit HighS chool in Rochester, New York. The following year, he became agraduate a ssistant under Rick Pitino at Providence College, helpingthe Friars ad vance to the Final Four. In his second season atProvidence, he was pro moted to assistant coach under Gordon Chiesa.The next season, Van Gund y became an assistant coach under Bob Wenzelat Rutgers.
On July 28, 1989, Jeff Van Gundy became assistant coach for the NewYor k Knicks. The next six-and-a-half seasons would be spent providingsupp ort to Stu Jackson (1989-1990), John MacLeod (1990-1991) , PatRiley (1 991-1995) and Don Nelson (1995-1996). The Knicks neverfinished lower t han third in the Atlantic Division, won threedivision titles, and qual ified for the playoffs in every year of histenure as an assistant coac h. The Knicks would advance to the EasternConference Finals in 1993 an d the NBA Finals vs. the Houston Rocketsin 1994.
From March 8, 1996 to his resignation on December 8, 2001, Van Gundywa s the head coach of the New York Knicks. He led the Knicks to theplayo ffs six times, including an appearance in the 1999 NBA Finals.He is th e brother of Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy.
Van Gundy was hired by the Rockets in 2003. On May 18, 2007, Van Gundyw as fired from his position as head coach of the Houston Rocketsafter t heir seven-game first-round playoff loss to the Utah Jazz.Later that n ight, Van Gundy was a guest analyst for ESPN's broadcastof the Utah Ja zz-San Antonio Spurs game in San Antonio, Texas and hassince helped co ver the playoffs for ESPN in the broadcast booth.
Player Commentary
He is known as a particular fan of numerous NBA players including YaoM ing and Brandon Roy, whom he has described as "a genuine 6'7" withreal p ace". His quote discussing on the Houston sports radio 610station with t he radio hosts about the star of the Greek NationalTeam, Vassilis Span oulis, saying he was "The T-Mac of Greece," hasbecome something of lor e amongst Houston Rockets fans and fans of theGreek National Team and S panoulis' club team Panathinaikos BC. Thisdespite the fact that Spanou lis never actually made the claim, as VanGundy's quote of Spanoulis wa s due to a Greek to English translationerror. Nevertheless, this state ment became one of the most famous VanGundy ever made regarding a play er.
