Jack McKinney
Offensive Mastermind | Saint Joseph’s Legend | NBA Champion | Architect of “Showtime” Offense
Jack McKinney was an American basketball coach who held several head coaching positions on the High School, College, and NBA levels. McKinney was known for his offensive philosophies and direction, which highly contributed to the Portland Trail Blazers winning the 1997 NBA Championship where he was part of the team as an assistant coach under Jack Ramsay.
Relationship with Jack Ramsay
McKinney attended St. James High School in Pennsylvania, where he played on the basketball team coached by Jack Ramsay. He later attended Saint Joseph’s University and played 3 seasons on their men’s basketball team; the Hawks, which were also coached by Jack Ramsay. Together, they made it to the Big 5’s inaugural title and the school’s first postseason appearance in the 1956 National Invitation Tournament.
McKinney would return to Saint Joseph’s in 1960, joining the coaching staff under Ramsay and would coach together until 1965, that’s when McKinney became the head coach of the Philadelphia Textile Rams for 1 season.
McKinney and Ramsay would later reunite in 1976 when Ramsay became the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, choosing McKinney as an assistant coach. In their first season with the team, they won the 1977 NBA Championship. Ramsay credited McKinney with being the architect of the offense. McKinley’s wife Claire said McKinney considered his tenure with the Blazers the highlight of his career.
McKinney remained on the team until 1979, afterwards, he became the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, his first NBA head coaching job.
Coaching Career
In 1966, McKinney returned to Saint Joseph’s, replacing Ramsay as head coach. He led the Hawks to four more NCAA tournaments between 1969 and 1974. McKinney later became a member of the Saint Joseph’s in 1980 and the Philadelphia’s Big 5 Halls of Fame in 1990.
Coach McKinney was named the Eastern Coach of the Year by Philadelphia sportswriters for his 1973–74 season when the Hawks were predicted to have a poor year after graduating Mike Bantom to the NBA and Pat McFarland to the American Basketball Association (ABA). Despite this, he was fired after a first-round loss in the 1974 NCAA Division I basketball tournament. His dismissal prompted a demonstration by over 500 students.
Shortly after his surprising dismissal, McKinney would spend 2 seasons as an assistant coach under Larry Costello for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Due to the extensive background and history of McKinney’s tenure with the Lakers, we have put all related information in this section to make the page more readable.
In 1979, McKinney became the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, his first NBA head coaching job, hired by ownership to install a running offense. The Lakers had just drafted Magic Johnson and was highly recommended by Jerry West to turn him into a forward, but McKinney gave Johnson a shot at being the Point Guard.
On November 8, 1979, McKinney suffered a near fatal head injury after falling while bicycling. Assistant coach Paul Westhead, who also worked under McKinney at St. Joseph’s, was named the interim head coach, nobody knew at the time McKinney would coach his last game for L.A.
Westhead continued to use McKinney’s offense, a creative and spontaneous offense that came to be known as “Showtime”. Winning 5 total championships, 1 under Westhead and 4 with Pat Riley, who was also on McKinney’s coaching staff in L.A.
Norm Nixon praised McKinney crediting McKinney for creating Showtime and Pat Riley even admitted if it wasn’t for McKinney’s accident, he would be the coach with those championships. McKinney argued that “I just put in some ideas that were accepted, and the rest was up to Paul and Pat and some great players,”
In 1980, McKinney returned to coaching as the head coach of the Indiana Pacers, in his first season, led the team to a 44-38 regular season record, made the playoffs for the first time since Indiana Pacers joined the NBA in 1976, resulting in him winning Coach of the Year. However, this would be the first and last time they’d reach the postseason under McKinney.
In 1984, McKinney would become the head coach of the Kansas City Kings, but would resign after a 1-8 record, citing ongoing issues with his memory and no longer feeling passionate about the profession. This was McKinney’s last coaching job in his career.
In 2005, McKinney co-authored a book about his experiences at Saint Joseph’s and donated 10 percent of its proceeds to the school.
In Memoriam
Jack McKinney passed away on September 25, 2018, in Bonita Springs, Florida.