During the Tim Floyd era, Don Haskins was frequently credited with the head coach's success. The Glory Road protagonist was Floyd's mentor at UTEP and close confidante throughout his career.
Over a coaching journey that just entered its fifth decade, USC men's basketball head coach Kevin O'Neill has played the role of sponge to all the basketball minds along the winding road.
"I have really stolen a lot from a lot of different people," said O'Neill, who still spends his offseason going to coaches' clinics, watching tapes and reading books looking for new nuggets of information.
The first two names that come to mind for O'Neill are current NBA analyst Jeff Van Gundy (photo right) and Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle.
"I learned a lot of basketball from both those guys," credited O'Neill, who assisted Carlisle in Detroit and Indiana.
O'Neill spent just one season (2001) under Van Gundy with the New York Knicks, but he made a permanent impression on USC's head coach.
"He was as focused and driven as anyone I've ever been around," O'Neill said about Van Gundy. "If I was picking one guy to coach a game for my life, I'd pick Jeff. That's the best compliment I could give any coach."
At every break in practice, O'Neill refuels his intensity on his drink of choice, Diet Coke, which was also a staple of Van Gundy's diet.
"The year I was with Jeff, I think he drank more Diet Coke and ate more chocolate chip cookies than any human I ever saw," O'Neill joked.
Of course, O'Neill did not get his start in the NBA. He originally learned the game on the streets of Malone, New York.
"I kind of just did it on my own," O'Neill remembered. "I was in this little small town. There was nothing to do there, so I played basketball all the time."
He was good enough to play college ball in Montreal at McGill University, but he knew his future was not as an athlete.
He took his first coaching gig running the JV program at Hammond High School in New York.
"I thought I'd end up coaching high school basketball my whole life, making $40,000 a year in my hometown and hanging out with my prison guard friends," said an always honest O'Neill.
"I never dreamed I could be so fortunate to coach at all the levels and places I have."
While he has certainly surpassed that scenario, he is never satisfied.
"There's a lot of times that I am still disappointed in the things that I do coaching wise," O'Neill said about himself. "You want to coach the perfect game. If you are constantly evaluating and critiquing yourself, that helps you become a better coach."
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Over a coaching journey that just entered its fifth decade, USC men's basketball head coach Kevin O'Neill has played the role of sponge to all the basketball minds along the winding road.
"I have really stolen a lot from a lot of different people," said O'Neill, who still spends his offseason going to coaches' clinics, watching tapes and reading books looking for new nuggets of information.
The first two names that come to mind for O'Neill are current NBA analyst Jeff Van Gundy (photo right) and Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle."I learned a lot of basketball from both those guys," credited O'Neill, who assisted Carlisle in Detroit and Indiana.
O'Neill spent just one season (2001) under Van Gundy with the New York Knicks, but he made a permanent impression on USC's head coach.
"He was as focused and driven as anyone I've ever been around," O'Neill said about Van Gundy. "If I was picking one guy to coach a game for my life, I'd pick Jeff. That's the best compliment I could give any coach."
At every break in practice, O'Neill refuels his intensity on his drink of choice, Diet Coke, which was also a staple of Van Gundy's diet.
"The year I was with Jeff, I think he drank more Diet Coke and ate more chocolate chip cookies than any human I ever saw," O'Neill joked.
Of course, O'Neill did not get his start in the NBA. He originally learned the game on the streets of Malone, New York.
(Photo by Jon SooHoo)
"I kind of just did it on my own," O'Neill remembered. "I was in this little small town. There was nothing to do there, so I played basketball all the time."He was good enough to play college ball in Montreal at McGill University, but he knew his future was not as an athlete.
He took his first coaching gig running the JV program at Hammond High School in New York.
"I thought I'd end up coaching high school basketball my whole life, making $40,000 a year in my hometown and hanging out with my prison guard friends," said an always honest O'Neill.
"I never dreamed I could be so fortunate to coach at all the levels and places I have."
While he has certainly surpassed that scenario, he is never satisfied.
"There's a lot of times that I am still disappointed in the things that I do coaching wise," O'Neill said about himself. "You want to coach the perfect game. If you are constantly evaluating and critiquing yourself, that helps you become a better coach."
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