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Kevin O'Neill, 52, was named the new
USC men's basketball head coach on
June 20, 2009, replacing Tim Floyd who
resigned on June 9, 2009 after four
strong seasons of leading the Trojans.
O'Neill brings 13 years of collegiate
and NBA head coaching experience and
has worked in the coaching ranks for
30 years. Last year, he served as an
assistant coach and special assistant
to the general manager of the NBA's
Memphis Grizzlies.
He has extensive knowledge of the
Pac-10 and West Coast basketball as he
served as an assistant at Arizona from
1987-89 when the Wildcats compiled an
82-19 record and went to three
straight NCAA Tournaments, reached one
Final Four and posted two first-place
and one second-place finish in the
Pac-10. He then served as the Arizona
interim head coach for the 2007-08
season when Lute Olson took a leave of
absence. O'Neill guided Arizona to a
19-15 record and into the NCAA
Tournament despite directing a team
with four of its top five players
being freshmen or sophomores.
O'Neill began his NCAA Division I
collegiate head coaching career at
Marquette, where he went 86-62 (.581)
in five seasons (1990-94) and had
three postseason appearances. His
initial team in 1990 went 15-14 and
played in the NIT, the school's first
winning season and postseason trip
since 1987. His 1993 squad was 20-8
(Marquette's first 20-win season since
1985) and captured the school's first
NCAA berth since 1983. That season, he
was named the Great Midwest Conference
Co-Coach of the Year, Basketball
Weekly Midwest Coach of the Year and
National Association of Basketball
Coaches District 11 Coach of the Year
and he was a finalist for Associated
Press National Coach of the Year.
Marquette then went 24-9 in 1994 to
earn its first-ever league title and
he guided the Warriors to their first
NCAA Sweet Sixteen berth since 1979.
O'Neill was selected as the 1994 Great
Midwest Coach of the Year and the NABC
District 11 Co-Coach of the Year. His
final two Marquette teams led the
nation in defensive field goal
percentage. While at Marquette, he was
featured in the 1994 Oscar-nominated
documentary, "Hoop Dreams."
He then became Tennessee's head coach
for three seasons (1995-97),
inheriting a team that had won just
five games in 1994 and getting the
Volunteers into the NIT by his second
season.
O'Neill then served as the head coach
at Northwestern for three seasons
(1998-2000), where he went 30-56. The
1999 Wildcats team was 15-14 (its
first winning season since 1994) and
played in the NIT, just the third
postseason appearance in school
history.
He then moved on to the NBA as an
assistant coach, spending the 2001
season with the playoff-bound New York
Knick and then two seasons (2002-03)
with the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons
won 50 games, were the Central
Division champs and appeared in the
playoffs both seasons (advancing to
the Eastern Conference Finals in 2003)
and were regarded among the NBA's
premier defensive teams.
O'Neill served as the Toronto Raptors'
head coach in 2004. His team started
out 25-25 and was in position to make
the NBA playoffs, but then injuries
struck and the team finished with a
33-49 record, just missing a playoff
spot.
He spent the next three years
(2005-07) with the Indiana Pacers, the
first two as an assistant as the club
made the NBA playoffs both seasons and
the third as a consultant.
O'Neill began his coaching career as
the head coach at Central High in
Hammon, N.Y. in 1980, then spent the
next two years (1981-82) as the head
coach at North Country Coummunity
College in Saranac Lake, N.Y. Within
two seasons the program earned a berth
in the Region III junior college
playoffs. In 1983 he served as the
head coach at the NAIA's Marycrest
College in Davenport, Ia.
He then became an assistant coach at
Delaware for two seasons (1984-85),
Tulsa in 1986 and Arizona (1987-89)
before landing the head coaching job
at Marquette. The Tulsa team went
23-9, won the 1986 Missouri Valley
Conference tournament and made the
NCAA Tournament.
O'Neill was a three-year basketball
letterman at McGill University in
Montreal (1976-79), helping the Redmen
to a 52-35 (.598) mark in his career.
In his 1978 junior season, McGill
posted a school-record 28 wins and
advanced to the Canadian
Interuniversity Sport national
championship tournament.
He received his bachelor's degree in
education from McGill in 1979 and his
master's degree in secondary education
from Marycrest in 1983.
O'Neill was born on Jan. 24, 1957, in
Malone, N.Y. His wife's name is
Roberta. He has a son, Sean. |