The former UConn men’s basketball student manager took home the award after leading Oklahoma City to the No. 1 seed in the West.
Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault has been voted the National Basketball Coaches Association’s NBA Coach of the Year after leading the Thunder to the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. It’s an incredible achievement for the 39-year old coach who had the youngest team in NBA history this season, averaging 24 years old. Every NBA head coach votes for one of their peers to take home the award and Daigneault beat out Cleveland’s J.B. Bickerstaff, Minnesota’s Chris Finch, Boston’s Joe Mazzulla and Orlando’s Jamahl Mosley.
Daigneault served as a student manager for UConn under Jim Calhoun from 2003-2007, a period in which the Huskies went a combined 104-32. During this time period the program made an appearance in the Round of 32 (2005), Elite Eight (2006), and won their second national championship in 2004.
The UConn alum is in his third season as the head man in OKC and has seen remarkable improvement each year. The Thunder were 24-58 in the first year of Daigenault’s tenure, but boasted a 57-25 record this season, tied for second league-wide.
After graduating from UConn, Daigneault went back to his home state of Massachusetts, where he spent three seasons as an assistant at Holy Cross. He then accepted a graduate assistant job under legendary coach Billy Donovan at the University of Florida, right after the Gators had just won back to back national titles, the last men’s team to do it before UConn these past two seasons.
Daigneault worked closely with Donovan over the next four seasons, working his way up to assistant to the head coach in this final year. He then decided to jump to the NBA after being offered the head coaching job for the Thunder’s D-league affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue. Less than a year later, Donovan was hired as the head coach of the Thunder, where he lead the franchise for five seasons, amassing a 243-157 record. Donovan left for the Chicago Bulls in the fall of 2020, and that opened the door for Daigneault to fill the head coaching position after multiple successful seasons coaching the Blue.
Known as a great player-coach and innovator on offense, Daigneault has the Thunder in position to be a serious contender in a stacked Western Conference for years to come. He humbely gave credit to his players when asked about the award.
“Our team’s success this season has been driven by a group of talented players, whose commitment and competitiveness has been uncommon,” Daigneault said. “Coaching them is a privilege.”