By LARRY O'ROURKE
Of The Morning Call
02/10/01
The name-recognition factor that Darryl Dawkins provides would be enough, by itself, for most minor-league basketball franchises to make the announcement.
And maybe that name recognition had something to do with the association the first time around in 1998.
In re-signing Dawkins as coach for the 2001 United States Basketball League season on Friday, however, the Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs got more than just a well-dressed, recognizable former NBA player to guide their fortunes.
Dawkins has a 38-19 regular season record in two seasons as the ValleyDawgs coach. Included is a 20-10 record and the USBL's Northern Division championship last season.
"When I first started coaching, I think people thought I was just fooling around," Dawkins said. "Now, I think they know I'm serious."
However, Dawkins -- who averaged 12 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.4 blocked shots per game over 14 NBA seasons with Philadelphia, Utah, Detroit and New Jersey -- also knows when to have fun.
"Sure, Darryl has been very good with our guys as far as getting a consistent
effort every night, but we also are a very fan-friendly operation and Darryl
goes out of his way to spend time with the kids and fans after games,"
ValleyDawgs general manager Mike Sweet said. "Darryl goes above and beyond.
Some coaches run through a two-hour practice and show up for games and then
they're gone. Darryl interacts with our fans."
But he also has interacted well with most of the players who have been ValleyDawgs since the team's inception in 1998.
"I've learned to be a coach you have to be part doctor, part psychologist, part lawyer," Dawkins said.
Dawkins, who lives in South Belmar, N.J., was available for comment Friday because he recently quit as coach of the Tampa Bay Thunder Dawgs in the ABA 2000 league. Dawkins said he was unhappy with the way the Tampa franchise operated, and that the team was fearful he would bolt late in its winter season to rejoin the ValleyDawgs of the summertime USBL.
"It was a gamble to go down there," Dawkins said. "Everybody is worried what it [leaving] will mean to my career. But what I tell people is, 'They'll say they fired me, and I'll say we reached an agreement. Either way, I won't be the first coach to be fired.'"
Dawkins, who hopes one day to join former playing contemporaries such as
Dave Wohl, Paul Silas and Doc Rivers as current or former NBA head coaches,
also is worried about the perception people will have of him in the wake of
the incident in which ValleyDawgs players, returning from theUSBL playoffs,
were escorted off a Delta Airlines flight after allegedly harassing flight
attendants and defying the cockpit
crew's instructions.
"It bothers me, and I was still in Kansas City when it happened," Dawkins said. "It was two players involved, but all of [theValleyDawgs personnel] on the flight were asked to leave. I think people wanted to use the incident to illustrate air rage."
The incident cost at least two ValleyDawgs a chance to return to the team for 2001.
But Sweet and Dawkins expect Ace Custis, a veteran of both previous ValleyDawgs
seasons, to return along with Larry Abney, the former Fresno State forward
who was the ValleyDawgs' first pick in the 2000 USBL Draft and runner-up in
the league's Rookie of the Year voting, to be back with the 'Dawgs in 2001.
Contract talks continue with Custis, who averaged 19.9 points and 9.4 rebounds
in 18 games before
suffering a knee injury. Abney already has re-signed.
"Larry Abney is a great player who can run the floor and plays hard," Dawkins said. "If he works on his shot, he has a chance [to play in the NBA] because he rebounds and plays tenacious defense."
The ability to make such an assessment of a player's strengths and weaknesses is another thing Dawkins said he has learnedfrom coaching the ValleyDawgs.
"You have to be able to look past a guy's 30-point game and see if he plays well in back-to-back games or when you have three games in three nights," Dawkins said. "You have to see if, when he's missing shots, he's selfish and keeps shooting."