Daly, "Chuck" (Charles J.)
Basketball
b. July 20, 1930, St. Mary's, PA
d. May 9, 2009
After playing basketball at St. Bonaventure University and Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, State College, Daly was a high school coach for seven years, then became an assistant at Duke University. He spent two years as head coach at Boston College, compiling a 26-24 record, before going to the University of Pennsylvania in 1971. Daly guided Penn to four Ivy League championships and two second-place finishes in six years.
In 1978, Daly joined the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers as an assistant coach. During the 1981 season, he was hired as head coach by the Cleveland Cavaliers, but had just a 9-32 record and was fired before the season ended. He then returned to the 76ers as a broadcaster.
The Detroit Pistons of the NBA hired Daly in 1983. The Pistons got into the playoffs every year he was there and reached the NBA finals three years in a row, winning two consecutive championships, in 1989 and 1990.
Daly was coach of the U. S. "Dream Team" that swept to an easy gold medal at the 1992 Olympics. He had resigned from the Detroit job and was hired by the NBA's New Jersey Nets that fall.
After two seasons with the Nets, Daly retired. However, he returned to coaching in 1997 with the Orlando Magic. Daly spent two more seasons in Orlando before retiring permanently.