 Albeck in 1952 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1931-05-17)May 17, 1931 Chenoa, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | March 25, 2021(2021-03-25) (aged 89) San Antonio, Texas, U.S. |
| Listed height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Chenoa (Chenoa, Illinois) |
| College | Bradley (1950–1952, 1954–1955) |
| NBA draft | 1955:undrafted |
| Position | Guard |
| Coaching career | 1956–2002 |
| Career history | |
Coaching | |
| 1956–1957 | Adrian |
| 1957–1968 | Northern Michigan |
| 1968–1970 | Denver |
| 1970–1973 | Denver Rockets (assistant) |
| 1970–1971 | Denver Rockets (interim HC) |
| 1972–1974 | San Diego Conquistadors (assistant) |
| 1974–1976 | Kentucky Colonels (assistant) |
| 1976–1979 | Los Angeles Lakers (assistant) |
| 1979–1980 | Cleveland Cavaliers |
| 1980–1983 | San Antonio Spurs |
| 1983–1985 | New Jersey Nets |
| 1985–1986 | Chicago Bulls |
| 1986–1991 | Bradley |
| 1995–1996 | New Jersey Nets (assistant) |
| 1997–2000 | Atlanta Hawks (assistant) |
| 2000–2002 | Toronto Raptors (assistant) |
| Career highlights | |
As head coach:
| |
Charles Stanley Albeck (May 17, 1931 – March 25, 2021) was an American professionalbasketball coach. Albeck coached for several teams in theAmerican Basketball Association (ABA) andNational Basketball Association (NBA), including theDenver Rockets, theSan Diego Conquistadors (often subbing for an absentWilt Chamberlain), theCleveland Cavaliers, theSan Antonio Spurs, theNew Jersey Nets, and theChicago Bulls.
Albeck was born inChenoa, Illinois, on May 17, 1931, to parents Chad and Ruby Albeck.[1] He attended Chenoa High School in his hometown.[2] Albeck playedcollege basketball for theBradley Braves from 1950 to 1952 and during the 1954–55 season after a two-year stint in theUnited States Army.[3] He obtained a bachelor's degree atBradley University in 1955 and his master's atMichigan State University in 1957.[4]
Albeck began his coaching atAdrian College inAdrian, Michigan.[4] His next head coaching job was atNorthern Michigan University. Albeck was head coach at theUniversity of Denver from 1968 to 1970. He was the head coach of theDenver Rockets during most of the 1970–1971 season. The Rockets had begun the season under head coachJoe Belmont, but Belmont was fired after the team lost 10 of its first 13 games. Albeck replaced Belmont as the Rockets' head coach.[5] The Rockets went 27–44 under Albeck to finish the season with a record of 30 wins and 54 losses. They tied theTexas Chaparrals for fourth place in the Western Division (28 games behind theIndiana 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.[6] During the season Denver's average home attendance dropped to 4,139 fans per game from 6,281 the year before.[5] One week after the playoff loss, on April 8, 1971, Albeck was replaced byAlex Hannum as Denver's head coach. Hannum resigned as coach of theSan Diego Rockets to become the Rockets' head coach, general manager and president. Albeck then became player personnel director for the Rockets.[7] During the 1972–1973 season Albeck was an assistant coach for theSan Diego Conquistadors under head coachK.C. Jones. Albeck also served as director of player personnel for the Conquistadors. During most of the 1973–74 season, he served under 'Qs' head coach Wilt Chamberlain. Chamberlain missed a few games, during which Albeck filled in as the Conquistadors' head coach, winning all of them.[8]
Albeck was an assistant coach for theKentucky Colonels during the 1974–75 season in which the team won the1975 ABA Championship.[9] He returned as an assistant coach with the Colonels during their final season in 1975–1976.[10] Albeck served as assistant coach of theLos Angeles Lakers from 1976 until 1979.
He went on to become head coach of theCleveland Cavaliers from 1979 to 1980. He was theSan Antonio Spurs' head coach for three seasons from 1980 to 1983. During his tenure, he won NBA Coach of the Month in March 1983.[2][11] He elected to leave the Spurs after the 1982–83 season ended, a move that attracted a few weeks of legal wrangling when the Spurs found a way to obtain a restraining order because they claimed Albeck had two years left on an "oral contract". Eventually, Albeck was allowed to coach the Nets after the Spurs received $300,000, the 22nd selection in the second round of the 1983 NBA draft and the rights toFred Roberts (the 27th selection in the 1982 draft).[12] Albeck coached the next two seasons and was perceived to have brought stability to a team that had not won a playoff series since joining the NBA. They beat the defending NBA championPhiladelphia 76ers in the First Round that went the full five games but lost to theMilwaukee Bucks in six games. As it turned out, it would be the only time the Nets won a postseason series for nearly two decades. The Nets reached the postseason in Albeck's second and ultimately last season but lost in a sweep to the Pistons.[13] In the summer of 1985, Albeck was lured to coach theChicago Bulls with a lucrative contract that reportedly would pay him $900,000 over three years while the Bulls also would agree to pay New Jersey to buyout the last year of Albeck's contract with New Jersey and the remaining money that the Nets still owed the Spurs.[14]
Albeck became the eighth fulltime coach of the Bulls since 1978.[2] He and general managerJerry Krause immediately butted heads over issues including his refusal to putPhil Jackson on his coaching staff, not benchingQuintin Dailey for conduct issues, and most of all, not following the minutes restrictions set onceMichael Jordan returned from injury. His exit from Chicago raised eyebrows around the NBA as his replacement, Doug Collins, had been hired by general manager Jerry Krause just 2 months beforehand as a scout. The hire of Collins was kept a secret from Albeck, who was "stunned" by the move and felt that there was "a lack of respect, dignity and sensitivity".[15] At the time of his dismissal, he had the fourth-best record among active NBA coaches.[15] His all-time coaching percentages was .535 in his 7 years as a head coach in the NBA.[2]
Albeck went on to serve as head coach forBradley University, his alma mater, from 1986 through 1991.[16] During his tenure, the team finished the 1988 regular season in first place. They were also champions of theMissouri Valley Conference tournament and advanced to theNCAA tournament that same year.[17] Albeck was a member of theSigma Chi fraternity, as well as a Significant Sig and a member of their Significant Sig Hall of Fame.[18]
After serving as an assistant coach for theAtlanta Hawks, Albeck was an assistant coach for theToronto Raptors.[2] He suffered a debilitatingstroke in December 2001, approximately half an hour before a home game against theMiami Heat.[19] This left him partially paralyzed and forced him to retire. He remained in rehabilitation until his death. He often attended games atAT&T Center with his son.[16]
Albeck married Phyllis L. Mann in 1952. Together, they had five children. They remained married until her death in 2017.[16]
Shortly after being placed in hospice care,[20] Albeck died March 25, 2021, inSan Antonio, Texas, at the age of 89.[1] He had suffered a stroke two weeks prior to his death.[16]
| Regular season | G | Games coached | W | Games won | L | Games lost | W–L % | Win–loss % |
| Playoffs | PG | Playoff games | PW | Playoff wins | PL | Playoff losses | PW–L % | Playoff win–loss % |
| Team | Year | G | W | L | W–L% | Finish | PG | PW | PL | PW–L% | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cleveland | 1979–80 | 82 | 37 | 45 | .451 | 4th in Central | — | — | — | — | Missed Playoffs |
| San Antonio | 1980–81 | 82 | 52 | 30 | .634 | 1st in Midwest | 7 | 3 | 4 | .429 | Lost inConf. semifinals |
| San Antonio | 1981–82 | 82 | 48 | 34 | .585 | 1st in Midwest | 9 | 4 | 5 | 444 | Lost inConf. Finals |
| San Antonio | 1982–83 | 82 | 53 | 29 | .646 | 1st in Midwest | 11 | 6 | 5 | .545 | Lost inConf. Finals |
| New Jersey | 1983–84 | 82 | 45 | 37 | .549 | 4th in Atlantic | 11 | 5 | 6 | .455 | Lost inConf. semifinals |
| New Jersey | 1984–85 | 82 | 42 | 40 | .512 | 3rd in Atlantic | 3 | 0 | 3 | .000 | Lost infirst round |
| Chicago | 1985–86 | 82 | 30 | 52 | .366 | 4th in Central | 3 | 0 | 3 | .000 | Lost infirst round |
| Career | 574 | 307 | 267 | .535 | 44 | 18 | 26 | .409 |
Source:[2]
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adrian Bulldogs(Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association)(1956–1957) | |||||||||
| 1956–57 | Adrian | 16–5 | 3rd | ||||||
| Adrian: | 16–5 (.762) | ||||||||
| Northern Michigan Wildcats()(1957–1968) | |||||||||
| 1957–58 | Northern Michigan | 15–3 | NAIA first round | ||||||
| 1958–59 | Northern Michigan | 16–8 | NAIA first round | ||||||
| 1959–60 | Northern Michigan | 13–5 | |||||||
| 1960–61 | Northern Michigan | 24–3 | NAIA Final Four | ||||||
| 1961–62 | Northern Michigan | 14–9 | |||||||
| 1962–63 | Northern Michigan | 19–8 | NAIA Elite Eight | ||||||
| 1963–64 | Northern Michigan | 12–11 | |||||||
| 1964–65 | Northern Michigan | 19–6 | NAIA first round | ||||||
| 1965–66 | Northern Michigan | 16–6 | |||||||
| 1966–67 | Northern Michigan | 14–10 | |||||||
| 1967–68 | Northern Michigan | 16–8 | |||||||
| Northern Michigan: | 178–177 (.501) | ||||||||
| Denver Pioneers(NCAA Division I independent)(1968–1970) | |||||||||
| 1968–69 | Denver | 2–24 | |||||||
| 1969–70 | Denver | 13–11 | |||||||
| Denver: | 15–35 (.300) | ||||||||
| Bradley Braves(Missouri Valley Conference)(1986–1991) | |||||||||
| 1986–87 | Bradley | 17–12 | 10–4 | 2nd | |||||
| 1987–88 | Bradley | 26–5 | 12–2 | 1st | NCAA First Round | ||||
| 1988–89 | Bradley | 13–14 | 7–7 | 4th | |||||
| 1989–90 | Bradley | 11–20 | 6–8 | 5th | |||||
| 1990–91 | Bradley | 8–20 | 6–10 | 7th | |||||
| Bradley: | 75–71 (.514) | ||||||||
| Total: | 284–288 (.497) | ||||||||
National champion Postseason invitational champion | |||||||||