Joe Mullaney
Joe Mullaney (1924-2000)
Teams coached: Providence Friars, Los Angeles Lakers, Kentucky Colonels, Utah Stars, Memphis Sounds, Spirits of St. Louis, Buffalo Braves, Brown Bears
Providence record: 290-147 (.664)
Brown record: 29-49 (.372)
Overall record^: 319-196 (.619)
Career Accomplishments:
- NCAA National Championships: 0
- NCAA Tournament Appearances: 3 (1964, 1965, 1966)
- NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen: 1 (1965)
- NCAA Tournament Final Four: 0
- NIT Championships: 2 (1961, 1963)
- NIT Appearances: 6 (1959, 1969, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1967)
Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):
| 1981-1985 | Providence |
| 1978-1981 | Brown |
| 1976-1977 | Buffalo Braves |
| 1975-1976 | Spirits of St. Louis |
| 1974-1975 | Memphis Sounds |
| 1973-1974 | Utah Stars |
| 1971-1973 | Kentucky Colonels |
| 1969-1971 | Los Angeles Lakers |
| 1955-1969 | Providence |
| 1954-1955 | Norwich |
Joe Mullaney Facts
- Joseph Alexander Mullaney
- Born November 17, 1924
- Died March 8, 2000
- Hometown: Long Island, New York
- Alma Mater: College of the Holy Cross (BA, 1949)
- After graduating from Chaminade HS in Mineola, NY, Mullaney served in the US Air Force during WWII
- Played for head coaches Doggie Julian and Buster Sheary at Holy Cross
- Was teammates with Bob Cousy and George Kaftan on the Crusaders’ 1946-47 NCAA Championship team; Mullaney was the captain that year and a starter ahead of the freshman Cousy
- Drafted in the third round of the 1949 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics, playing briefly for the team in 1949-50
- Started his coaching career in 1954 with a one-year stint as the head coach at Norwich University in Vermont
- Arrived at Providence in 1955 for his first stint as the Friars’ head coach, spending the next fourteen seasons there
- Went to the postseason nine times (three NCAA, six NIT), including a trip to the Elite Eight in 1965
- Left Providence in 1969 and spent the next eight years coaching a variety of professional teams, including the Los Angeles Lakers team that won the Western Conference in 1970
- Also coached the Kentucky Colonels, Utah Stars, Memphis Sounds and the Spirits of St. Louis, all members of the ABA, and one season with the Buffalo Braves, a former NBA franchise
- Named the Co-ABA Coach of the Year in 1975 after coaching the Stars to a runner-up finish in the ABA Championship
- Returned to the college ranks in 1978, spending three seasons as the head coach at Brown before doing a second four-year stint at Providence at the end of his coaching career
- As the head coach at Providence in the 1980s, the Friar played in the new Big East Conference under commissioner Dave Gavitt, a former assistant to and protégé of Mullaney
- Inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1970, recognizing his lifetime achievements as a native of Rhode Island
- Passed away in 2000 due to complications from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at age 75
- Survived by his wife, Jane, four sons and a daughter
Joe Mullaney Coaching Tree
- Elgin Baylor (New Orleans Jazz)
- Zelmo Beaty (Virginia Squires)
- Bill Carmody (Holy Cross, Northwestern, Princeton)
- M. L. Carr (Boston Celtics)
- Wilt Chamberlain (San Diego Conquistadors)
- Don Chaney (New York Knicks, Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers)
- Billy Donovan (OKC Thunder, Florida, Marshall)
- Johnny Egan (Houston Rockets)
- Larry Finch (Memphis)
- Dave Gavitt (Dartmouth, Providence)
- Dan Issel (Denver Nuggets)
- Jim Larrañaga (Miami FL, George Mason, Bowling Green, American Intl)
- Jim O’Brien (Emerson, Ohio State, Boston College, St. Bonaventure)
- Mike Pratt (Charlotte)
- Pat Riley (Miami Heat, New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers)
- John Shumate (Phoenix Mercury, SMU, Grand Canyon)
- John Thompson (Georgetown)
- Jerry West (Los Angeles Lakers)
- Lenny Wilkens (New York Knicks, Toronto Raptors, Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Seattle SuperSonics, Portland Trail Blazers)
^ overall record includes head coaching positions at the NCAA Division I level only