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)
