Remembering a Daly delight

May 9 - Legendary college, professional and Olympic coach Chuck Daly, who steered Penn to four Ivy League and Big 5 titles in his six seasons at the helm, died Saturday after a bout with pancreatic cancer. He was 78.

Though perhaps best known for directing the Detroit Pistons "Bad Boys" teams to back-to-back NBA championships in 1989 and 1990 and earning Olympic gold with the "Dream Team" at the 1992 Barcelona games, Daly will forever be remembered in West Philadelphia for his successes on the Palestra's vaunted hardwood.

Owner of a .767 winning percentage as Penn's coach from 1971 to 1977, Daly was especially proficient against Ancient Eight foes, against whom he triumphed in 74 of 84 career games. In his first season, Daly's Quakers plowed through a 13-1 Ivy League slate en route to the NCAA East Regional Final. The St. Mary's, Pa., native also assembled the recruiting class that formed the core of Penn's Final Four team in 1979.

Daly passed away with family by his side in Jupiter, Fla, his primary place of residence since retiring from coaching.

"As long as I knew him, Chuck was the same good coach and good guy," said Penn athletic director Steve Bilsky, who suited up for the Red and Blue from 1969 to 1971. "That was true whether he was coaching high school, college, the pros or" the Olympics.

"I speak for the entire Penn basketball community when I say that we are saddened to hear the news of his passing," current coach Glen Miller said. "He coached this program to some of its greatest successes, and whenever he spoke of Penn and the Philadelphia basketball community, he spoke of it fondly."

Indeed, through his final days, Daly never ceased in his devotion to the Big 5. In March, though weakened from chemotherapy, Daly diagrammed a play for Villanova coach Jay Wright to use against North Carolina in the Final Four matchup, delivering the note through his good friend and former Villanova coach Rollie Massimino.

But for all his wizardry with the clipboard, Daly's best asset was his mastery of "the total package," according to 76ers general manager Ed Stefanski, who played for Daly at Penn.

"He's won on any level he's been on, and he's won the biggest prizes," Stefanski said last year. "What I really learned from Chuck was how well-rounded you need to be as a head coach: how you handle not just the X's and O's - which obviously he did a great job with - but how you handle players, how you handle the alumni, how you handle the press."

Many of Daly's finest coaching moments were marked by his unique ability to foster strong team chemistry under the unlikeliest of circumstances. Notoriously outsized personalities like Dennis Rodman and Isiah Thomas found peace in Detroit under Daly's steady hand, and the '92 Olympic team - featuring Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, among others - set aside its dueling egos to buy into Daly's defensive-minded system, dominating all international comers with one blowout win after another.

"It's a player's league," the Hall of Fame coach once said of the NBA. "They allow you to coach them, or they don't. Once they stop allowing you to coach, you're on the way out."

In honor of Daly, NBA coaches have worn lapel pins initialed "CD" throughout the playoffs this year. The National Basketball Coaches' Association has also created the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award, to be dispensed annually.

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