College - Marshall
Assistant Coach

Dan D’Antoni, whose distinguished basketball career has spanned both decades and miles, has found a home in the world’s greatest hoop city.

“I love the place where I live. I just got a new house, and I’m coaching like hell to stay where I am,” says Dan. “I like the organization, I like the area, I like playing in the Garden. There’s nothing that doesn’t want me to play and work and coach as hard as I can.”

Dan is currently in his third season on the Knicks’ staff and his sixth overall NBA coaching campaign. The older brother of Head Coach Mike D’Antoni, Dan, 63, officially joined the Knicks on Jun. 20, 2008. He came to New York following three seasons (2005-06 through 2007-08) as an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns, helping to guide Phoenix to Pacific Division titles in 2006 and 2007.

Dan coached the Knicks squad at the 2010 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, and recognizes the challenges that come with dealing with a new-look roster.

“It’s really like coming here for the first time,” says Dan. “Hopefully we’ll have a stable roster that we can go with and grow with. It’s going to be a very young team. Amar’e looks like the senior statesman. It’s going to be more of developing players instead of managing and coaching them. That takes a little bit of time, but we’re willing to put the time and the work in. I hope that the fans will stick with us and root for this team as they grow.”

“He has a wealth of knowledge,” says Head Coach Mike D’Antoni of his older brother. “He’s been coaching now for 35 years and developed a lot of players. Just as a bench and developmental coach, he’s very, very good.”

Prior to joining the Suns in 2005, D’Antoni accumulated over 500 wins as head coach of Socastee HS in Myrtle Beach, SC, a position he had held for three decades beginning in 1975. Dan is also the founder of the Beach Ball Classic, the prestigious South Carolina high school Christmas basketball tournament that has showcased the likes of Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, Grant Hill, Rasheed Wallace and future Knick Raymond Felton (whom D’Antoni coached for two years in AAU ball). The Classic - which began as an eight-team affair in 1981 - has evolved into a 16-team national competition, with a girl’s tournament added in 1998.

Dan was a point guard at Marshall University and as a senior in 1969-70, he served as the head coach of the Thundering Herd’s freshman team that included brother Mike. Dan played for Marshall in two National Invitation Tournaments at Madison Square Garden; at the Old Garden on 49th Street in 1967 and at the current Garden in 1968. He also played at the Old Garden in Marshall’s loss to Houston on Feb. 1, 1968, just 12 days after Houston’s fabled Astrodome victory over UCLA. He led the Herd with a 17.5 scoring average in 1968-69.

D’Antoni graduated from Marshall in 1970 with a degree in Speech and Physical Education, and also earned a Master’s degree in Principles of Guidance from Marshall in 1972. In 1970-71, he was as an assistant coach for Marshall’s varsity team.

Dan was inducted into the Marshall University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1990 (brother Mike was inducted in 1997). After a tryout stint with the NBA’s Baltimore Bullets, D’Antoni returned to coaching full-time at Socastee HS in 1975.

Basketball is a way of life for the D’Antoni family. In addition to brother Mike, father Lewis is a legendary high school basketball coach in West Virginia and Ohio, and was inducted into West Virginia’s Sports Hall of Fame in May 2004.

Born in Mullens, WV on Jul. 9, 1947, Dan is the father of three sons, all of whom played collegiate basketball: Matt played at Brown University; Andrew attended West Point Academy and later served 3½ years in Iraq, rising to the rank of captain in the U.S. Army; and Nick attended William and Mary, where he was captain of the basketball team.

Dan and wife Vanessa are also proud parents of daughter Morgan (13). The D’Antoni family resides in Mount Kisco, NY.