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Basketball coach Michael Andrew "Mike" D'Antoni, born May 8, 1951, in Mullens, Wyoming County, is one of four children of longtime high school coach Lewis D'Antoni and wife Betty Jo.

Mike D'Antoni was a standout basketball player at Mullens High School and at Marshall University. He spent three seasons with the former Kansas City Kings and later played for the Spirits of St. Louis (in the American Basketball Association) and the San Antonio Spurs. He also played and coached basketball in Italy. D'Antoni—whose grandfather emigrated to America from Italy in 1908—now holds dual citizenship. His first head coaching job in the National Basketball Association came in 1997 with the Denver Nuggets. He was also head coach for the Portland Trail Blazers, the Phoenix Suns, and the New York Knicks. D’Antoni became head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers in 2012. After two seasons with the Lakers, he resigned in April 2014. On December 18, 2015, he signed with the Philadelphia 76ers to work as the associate head coach.

Brother Dan D'Antoni also played basketball for Mullens High and Marshall. After a long career as a high school basketball coach, he joined his brother as an assistant, with the Phoenix Suns, the New York Knicks, and the Lakers. In April 2014 he was named the men’s basketball coach for Marshall University. The third D'Antoni brother, Mark, is a lawyer in Charleston, and their sister, Kathy, is an educator.

Their father, Lewis, excelled as a point guard at Mullens High School and played at Concord College. He coached basketball at Pineville and Mullens high schools and in Ohio, finally leaving the game with 450 wins and 200 losses. In 2004, the elder D'Antoni was inducted into the West Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.

The four children credit their parents for their success. Mike D'Antoni said, "I think the whole atmosphere, how to compete and how to interact with other people, how to lose . . . it was just something that was instilled, that was just the way our family grew up."

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"Mike D'Antoni." e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. 08 February 2024. Web. Accessed: 22 December 2024.

08 Feb 2024