Mike D’Antoni- The Man Behind the Moustache

As I was watching Mike D’Antoni give some pregame pointers on last nights MSG telecast, I came to the sudden realization that he has a pretty thick southern twang. This also made me realize that I don’t really know much about Coach D. So I did some research.



• Michael Andrew D'Antoni was born on May 8, 1951, and is from Mullens, West Virginia. This small town looks to be in the middle of nowhere, between a bunch of mountains and trees. It features a Dairy Queen, a couple pizza places, and that’s about it.

Looks like they have a Rite Aid as well

• Mike played hoops for Marshall, was drafted in the 2nd round of the 1973 NBA draft, and earned all-rookie 2nd team honors for the KC/Omaha Kings.

• He found great success upon crossing the Atlantic and heading to Olimpia Milano, where he spent 13 seasons. He played alongside the likes of Bob Mcadoo and of course the legendary Boselli twins. Unfortunately he retired a bit too early to play with Gregor “Uncle” Fučka.
• D'Antoni’s Milan team is now Armani Jeans Milan, which is also Danilo Gallinari’s former team.

• Mike is a legend in Italy, and for good reason. He won 5 Italian league titles as a player and 2 as a coach, and 2 Euroleague titles as a player. He was also named one of the Euroleague’s top 35 all time players.

• Mike is 6’3”

• Some of the most common used nicknames by Knicks fans for D’Antoni are : D’Andummy, ‘Antoni (no D). In Europe he was known as Arsene Lupin (a thief and a gentleman apparently) during his playing days, for his ball hawking abilities.

• He was an assistant of Mike Krzciewszki’s (did i spell that right, didn't check...dang nope it is actually "Krzyzewski")for Team USA, who took home gold in Beijing. Popular opinion says that all the big stars like LeBron James loved playing for the man with the mustache.

• He has the Knicks storming up the standings after starting the season 1-9. The Knicks are now on the cusp of breaking into the top 8 in the east, are playing stellar defense and smart efficient offense, and are gelling into a cohesive unit. He won the Coach of the year in 2004 and hopefully is on his way to another one this season, after the Knicks claim the 5th seed in the East.