Utah Player Development Director Donny Daniels Retiring After Season
Mar 6, 2021, 7:08 PM | Updated: 7:09 pm
Assistant coach Donny Daniels tells to his players during the Jimmy V Classic college basketball game against the Villanova Wildcats at Madison Square Garden on December 5, 2017 in New York City. The Wildcats won 88-72. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
(Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Utah basketball director of player development Donny Daniels announced that he will be retiring at the end of the 2020-21 season.
Donny Daniels is finishing his second season in his current role with Utah basketball. He came back to Utah after a long and successful career as an assistant coach. Daniels was an assistant coach under Rick Majerus from 1990-00, helping the Runnin’ Utes reach the NCAA Tournament eight times, including the National Championship game appearance in 1998.
While assisting Majerus, Daniels was the key recruiter for Keith Van Horn and Andre Miller.
After leaving Utah following his first stint, Daniels was an assistant coach at Cal State Fullerton, UCLA and Gonzaga. He spent nine seasons in Spokane with the Bulldogs.
Utah honored Daniels on Saturday as a part of senior day as the Utes beat Arizona State 98-59. After the win, Daniels spoke with the media about why he decided to come back to Utah for two seasons before retiring.
“It’s the only place I would have come back to,” Daniels said. “I’ve always enjoyed my time here. The people were outstanding. We won when we were here. So we had a great time with the Final Four, championships. I’ve always had a special place in my heart for Salt Lake City, and the people of Salt Lake City.”
.@mikaeljantunen with 1️⃣5️⃣pts & 7️⃣reb vs ASU today!💪🇫🇮 #GoUtes🏀🔴 #Pac12Hoops pic.twitter.com/aBACIPIBhU
— Utah Basketball🏀 (@UtahMBB) March 7, 2021
Runnin’ Utes head coach Larry Krystkowiak had a long quote for what Daniels has meant to him and the Utah basketball program.
“I’m not sure if you can measure it,” Krystkowiak said. “He’s one of the finest human beings I’ve come across in the game and many years that we weren’t on the same staff together. But you cross paths in the recruiting circles, he always has time for everybody. He’s got one of the biggest hearts that I’ve come across in coaching. He’s got a remarkable family. That’s ultimately, the most important thing is his family. But he’s always been a father figure. Having him in our program, he’s been able to speak to everybody. He’s been around a bunch of great players.
“He can speak from experience, and he speaks from the heart,” Krystkowiak added. “That sounding board with our players and the relationships that he’s developed, it’s really immeasurable. The fact that he wanted to come back and help this school, he’s always had Utah very close to his heart and this is where he’ll retire and the fact that he wanted to come back here and lend a hand, I think is pretty dang cool. We can’t speak to how much everybody values his friendship and his basketball acumen and everything. I could sit here and keep rambling because really there’s not enough time and not enough words, but it’s real. Everybody that Donny Daniels knows that he’s real and I think he’s got a lot of the characteristics that a lot of us basketball coaches that would like to have.”
Utah will head to the Pac-12 Tournament at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. They will face No. 10 Washington as the No. 7 seed. The first round matchup will take place on Wednesday, March 10 at 5 p.m. MT on the Pac-12 Network.
Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Crimson Corner podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports. You can download and listen to the podcast, here.
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