Stan Albeck

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stan Albeck is a former professional basketball coach. Albeck has coached for several teams in the ABA and NBA, including the Denver Rockets, the San Diego Conquistadors (often subbing for an absent Wilt Chamberlain, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the San Antonio Spurs, the New Jersey Nets, and the Chicago Bulls.

Albeck began his head coaching career as the head basketball coach at Northern Michigan University.

Albeck was the head coach of the Denver Rockets during most of the 1970-1971 season. The Rockets had begun the season under head coach Joe Belmont, but Belmont was fired after the team lost 10 of its first 13 games. Albeck replaced Belmont as the Rockets' head coach.^[1] The Rockets went 27-44 under Albeck to finish the season with a record of 30 wins and 54 losses. They tied the Texas Chaparrals for fourth place in the Western Division (28 games behind the Indiana Pacers and on April 1, 1971 lost a one game playoff to the Chaparrals, 115-109, to determine who would advance into the ABA Western Division semifinals.^[2] During the season Denver's average home attendance dropped to 4,139 fans per game from 6,281 the year before.^[3] One week after the playoff loss, on April 8, 1971, Albeck was replaced by Alex Hannum as Denver's head coach. Hannum resigned as coach of the San Diego Conquistadors to become the Rockets' head coach, general manager and president.^[4]

During the 1972-1973 season Albeck was an assistant coach for the San Diego Conquistadors under head coach Wilt Chamberlain. Chamberlain missed a few games, during which Albeck filled in as the Conquistadors' head coach, winning all of them.^[5]

Albeck was an assistant coach for the Kentucky Colonels during the 1974-1975 season in which the team won the ABA championship.^[6] Albeck returned as an assistant coach with the Colonels during their final season in 1975-1976.^[7]

Albeck was head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, 1979-1980.

Albeck was the San Antonio Spurs' head coach for three seasons, from 1980 to 1983.

After the Spurs job, Albeck was the head coach of the New Jersey Nets from 1983 to 1985.

Next, Albeck was head coach of the Chicago Bulls, 1985-1986.

From 1986 through 1991 Albeck was head coach for Bradley University.

Albeck was serving as an assistant coach for the Toronto Raptors in 2001 when he suffered a debilitating stroke, which left him partially paralyzed. He has been in rehabilitation since then.

Preceded by Joe Belmont	Denver Rockets Head Coach 1970–1971	Succeeded by Alex Hannum
Preceded by Bill Fitch	Cleveland Cavaliers Head Coach 1979–1980	Succeeded by Bill Musselman
Preceded by Bob Bass	San Antonio Spurs Head Coach 1980–1983	Succeeded by Morris McHone
Preceded by Bill Blair	New Jersey Nets Head Coach 1983–1985	Succeeded by Dave Wohl
Preceded by Kevin Loughery	Chicago Bulls Head Coach 1985–1986	Succeeded by Doug Collins
Preceded by Dick Versace	Bradley Head Men's Basketball Coach 1986 – 1991	Succeeded by Jim Molinari

[edit] External links

• BasketballReference.com: Stan Albeck
• San Antonio Business Journal: Letters on Albeck column reveal intriguing connections