Zags select Daniels as assistant coach
Few hires experienced coach from UCLA
UCLA assistant coach Donny Daniels will replace Leon Rice on Gonzaga’s men’s basketball staff.
Daniels has been an assistant for Ben Howland at UCLA for the last seven seasons. Daniels was the head coach at Cal State Fullerton, his alma mater, from 2001-03.
Rice, a Bulldogs assistant coach for 11 seasons, accepted the head coaching job at Boise State last week.
“We lost a phenomenal coach and a phenomenal person and we just gained a phenomenal coach and a phenomenal person,” Gonzaga head coach Mark Few said. “Donny has been as good an assistant coach as there’s been in college basketball. He’s been on the bench for four Final Fours.”
Daniels isn’t expected to have Rice’s associate head coach title. That designation would probably go to Tommy Lloyd, who just concluded his ninth season at Gonzaga, but no decision has been made.
Daniels played on Cal State Fullerton’s first two NCAA Division I teams, coached by Bobby Dye, in 1975 and 1976. Daniels began his coaching career at CSF as a volunteer assistant in 1978-79. He also coached at Los Angeles’ Verbum Dei High, his alma mater, and he was head coach at Los Angeles Harbor College in the mid-1980s.
Daniels assisted at Utah from 1990-2000 on Rick Majerus’ staff and was considered the chief recruiter of guard Andre Miller, who is in his 10th NBA season, and Keith Van Horn, according to his UCLA bio. Utah lost to Kentucky in the 1998 NCAA championship game.
“Donny and I have had some great recruiting battles through the years,” Few said.
“And you’d always walk away, even when you lost, respecting the job he did. We’ve ended up recruiting a lot of the same guys, going back to when I was an assistant and even as a head coach. When Donny walked into the gym it was, ‘Uh oh, we have our hands full now.’
“He’s just a great guy, a fun-loving guy and he’s good at every aspect – player development, recruiting, scouting. Our guys are going to love him.”
In 2004, Rivals.com listed Daniels as one of the top 25 recruiters in college basketball. Daniels helped put together recruiting classes that were instrumental in UCLA’s three consecutive trips to the Final Four from 2006-08.
“Donny did a terrific job for me and this program for seven years,” Howland told the Los Angeles Times. “He was a key impetus behind all the success we enjoyed. I wish him the very best. He is going to another outstanding program with good tradition and history. It’s not UCLA, but it’s a pretty special place.”
Attempts to reach Daniels, who had three wisdom teeth pulled Tuesday, were unsuccessful.