Pete Newell

Pete Newell (1915-2008)

Teams coached: San Francisco Dons, Michigan State Spartans, California Golden Bears
San Francisco record: 70-37 (.654)
Michigan State record: 45-42 (.517)
California record: 119-44 (.730)
Overall record: 234-123 (.655)

Career Accomplishments:

• NCAA National Championships:  1  (1959)
• NCAA Tournament Appearances:  4  (1957, 1958, 1959, 1960)
• NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen:  2  (1959, 1960)
• NCAA Tournament Final Four:  2  (1959, 1960)
• NIT Championships:  1  (1949)
• NIT Appearances:  2  (1949, 1950)
• Pac-12 Regular Season Champion:  4  (1957, 1958, 1959, 1960)
• Helms Foundation National Championships:  1  (1959)

Awards:

• NABC Coach of the Year:  1  (1960)
• Henry Iba Award:  1  (1960)
• UPI Coach of the Year:  1  (1960)
• NABC Golden Anniversary Award (1991)
• Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (inducted 1979)
• National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame (inducted 2006)

Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):

1954-1960	California
1950-1954	Michigan State
1946-1950	San Francisco

Pete Newell Facts

• Peter Francis Newell
• Born August 31, 1915 in Vancouver, British Columbia
• Died November 17, 2008
• Hometown: Los Angeles, California
• Alma Mater: Loyola Marymount University (BA, 1939)
• In high school, served as a ball boy at Loyola Marymount alongside fellow future HOF coaches Phil Woolpert and Tex Winter
• Played basketball for head coach James Needles at LMU and then served in the US Navy from 1942-1946
• Became the head coach at San Francisco in 1954, winning 70 games in four years; USF were the 1949 NIT Champions
• Headed to the Midwest in 1950 to become head coach at Michigan State and returned to the West Coast four years later as head coach at Cal
• Had a very successful tenure at Cal, winning four PCC titles and going to the NCAA Tournament in each of those four seasons
  • The Golden Bears won the NCAA National Championship in 1959 and returned to the Final Four a year later
• Coached Team USA to a gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome
  • Team included future Hall of Famers Walt Bellamy, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West and Jerry Lucas
  • Often considered the best amateur team ever assembled, the squad was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2010
• On the advice of his doctors, Newell stepped away from coaching in 1960 and instead served as Cal’s AD for the next eight years
• Later spent time in the NBA, including stints as the GM of the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers
• Outside of coaching, also organized an annual training camp for forwards and centers called the “Big Man Camp”
  • Attendees included Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon and Bill Walton
  • The NABC has awarded the Pete Newell Big Man Award to the top D-I low-post player each year since 2000
• The floor at Cal’s Haas Pavilion was named Pete Newell Court in 1987 in his honor
• Along with his late wife, Florence, had four sons

Pete Newell Coaching Tree

• John E. Benington (Michigan State, Saint Louis, Drake)
• Ross Giudice (San Francisco)
• Sonny Means (Western Michigan)
• Stan Morrison (San Jose State, USC, Pacific)
• Gordon C. Stauffer (Nicholls State, Geneva, IPFW, Indiana State, Washburn)
• Bob Stevens (Oklahoma, South Carolina)