PHILADELPHIA BIG 5: Philly is a breeding ground for elite coaches

1977 was just Jack Ramsay's second season as coach of the NBA's hard-luck Portland franchise. The Trail Blazers had struggled for prosperity since their inception just seven years earlier, and Ramsay was determined to orchestrate a reversal of fortune. With a dominant center named Bill Walton on board, fans in Rip City eagerly awaited success. Jack Ramsay brought them just that. He coached Portland to its first and only NBA championship. Three years later, basketball fans in Los Angeles had reason to celebrate. The Lakers had drafted a highly-touted rookie named Earvin Johnson, and suddenly the pieces were falling in place. As the season got underway, expectations rose rapidly in Hollywood. It was coach Paul Westhead's less-than-enviable job to meet them. Westhead went above and beyond those expectations. Despite philosophical differences with Magic that would later cost him his job, he coached the Lakers to the NBA title. In 1989, Chuck Daly continued to labor as coach of the Detroit Pistons. Daly had been in Motown for six years. Six long years of watching the Sixers and Celtics represent the East in the finals. But age had begun to take its toll in Philly and Beantown, and the Pistons found themselves with an opportunity. Daly seized it. He already had a strong backcourt, but now he brought defense to the forefront. His "Bad Boys," including Dennis Rodman and Bill Laimbeer, beat down opponents and climbed to the top of the NBA as two-time champions. The years, cities and methods were different. But for Jack Ramsay, Paul Westhead and Chuck Daly, the end result was the same -- an NBA championship ring. The pinnacle of basketball success. Oddly enough, however, these three coaching legends have more in common than just jewelry. They share the past, they share the tradition and they share the history that is Philadelphia Big 5 basketball. Ramsay played for St. Joseph's in the 1940s and went on to coach the Hawks from 1955 to 1966. Westhead played for Ramsay on Hawk Hill from 1959 to 1961 and then coached La Salle from 1970 to 1979. Daly coached at Penn from 1971 to 1977. They are not alone in having roots in the Big 5, however. While most fans think only of great players, the City of Brotherly Love has seen as much wisdom on the sidelines as it has seen talent on the court. Countless men have started their coaching careers amidst the intensity that defines a Palestra doubleheader and then gone on to achieve greatness elsewhere. "You've got to realize that a lot of coaches that are in the NBA today are either from the Big 5, or they are extensions of Big 5 coaches," said former Temple star Guy Rodgers, who played for the legendary Harry Litwack from 1955-58. "There were just some great coaches, some unbelievable coaches." Unbelievable indeed. Witness the Pennsylvania career of John Engles, who wore the Red and Blue from 1973 to 1976. While Engles played at the Palestra, he was fortunate enough to toil for head coach Daly and two spectacular assistants also destined for coaching glory. "At Penn, I had three coaches," said Engles, who earned all-Ivy and all-Big 5 honors in 1976. "One of my coaches [Daly] ended up winning the NBA championship twice. Another one of my coaches, Rollie Massimino, won the NCAA Tournament [in 1985 with Villanova]. Bob Weinhauer brought Penn to the Final Four [as head coach in 1979]. What a great array of coaches, and that's just my personal experiences." The multitude of similar experiences is truly astounding. Beside Ramsay, Westhead and Daly, seven other Big 5 coaches have gone on to become NBA coaches -- recent examples include Penn's Dick Harter, currently an assistant with Portland, and St. Joe's Jim Lynam, the current Washington Bullets coach. Some Big 5 coaches achieved national exposure and success without leaving. Massimino, of course, took an unranked Villanova team to the 1985 title. Further back in the record books is the name Tom Gola. As a player, Gola led La Salle to the 1954 championship. After an NBA career he returned to the Explorers as coach. His 1968-69 team, which included Penn coach Fran Dunphy, finished 23-1 and ranked second nationally. "I played for Tom Gola my junior and senior years, and he was a great influence on me," Dunphy said. "It was mostly his approach to the game, and how he handled his players. He was a player's coach and he understood the game of basketball." Dunphy took that understanding and has used it to become part of the interlocking Big 5 coaching puzzle that spans Philadelphia. He was an assistant at La Salle under Explorers coach Speedy Morris, who once coached current St. Joe's coach John Griffin at Philly's Roman Catholic High. Meanwhile, Dunphy also has an assistant, Fran O'Hanlon, who played at Villanova, and a point guard, Matt Maloney, whose father Jim is a Temple assistant. "It's the type of place where people look out for each other," Dunphy said. It is also the type of place where legends start. Those legends include not only the people who run the plays, but the men who diagram them. Such men must comprehend not just the game, but also the players and their emotions as that game unfolds. It is a rare breed, but the Big 5 has certainly seen its share. "The list is very long," former Penn player Corky Calhoun said. "That web of Philadelphia basketball stretches out around the country and around the world." But it will always start -- and end -- with the Big 5.

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