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Jeff Van Gundy New York Knicks Houston Rockets

March 20, 2012 by · Comments Off on Jeff Van Gundy New York Knicks Houston Rockets 

Jeff Van Gundy New York Knicks Houston Rockets, Jeffrey William “Jeff” Van Gundy (born January 19, 1962) is a former American basketball head coach. He coached most recently with the National Basketball Association’s Houston Rockets. Van Gundy attended Yale University before transferring to Menlo College and ultimately graduated from New York’s Nazareth College in 1985.

Van Gundy was born in Hemet, California. He grew up in the town of Brockport N.Y. He was the son of a basketball coach, Bill Van Gundy, the former head coach at Brockport State University in Western New York. His older brother Stan Van Gundy is the current head coach of the NBA’s Orlando Magic.

Van Gundy began his basketball coaching career during the 1985-86 season at McQuaid Jesuit High School in Rochester, New York. The following year he became a graduate assistant under Rick Pitino at Providence College, helping the Providence Friars advance to the Final Four. In his second season with the Friars he was promoted to assistant coach under Gordon Chiesa. The next season, Van Gundy became an assistant coach under Bob Wenzel at Rutgers.

On July 28, 1989, Jeff Van Gundy became assistant coach for the New York Knicks. The next six-and-a-half seasons were spent providing support to Knicks coaches Stu Jackson (1989-1990), John MacLeod (1990-1991), Pat Riley (1991-1995) and Don Nelson (1995-1996). During his tenure as an assistant coach the Knicks won three Atlantic Division titles, never finished lower than third in the division, and qualified for the playoffs in every year. The Knicks advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals in 1993 and the NBA Finals versus the Houston Rockets in 1994.

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