In Memoriam: HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel interviews Dan Lynch Jr. about his father Daniel

Daniel Lynch did it all at St. Francis as both a player/coach. As a player he led his team in scoring for 4 years in a row and was captain of the 1937 team. A decade after graduating he became head coach at his alma mater and over the next 20 years he made 3 trips to the NIT and won the 1951 National Catholic Invitational Tournament. He remains the winningest basketball coach in school history and also coached the varsity baseball team for several years. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Daniel’s son Dan Jr. about his father’s success in several different roles. Today marks the 40th anniversary of Daniel’s passing on October 30, 1981 so we take this time to honor his life/legacy.

Your father was captain of the basketball team at St. Francis (NY): what made him such a good leader? We came from the same area of Brooklyn as Red Auerbach! Very few people went to college back then but he ended up getting a couple of master degrees and serving in WWII. He was the 1st in our family to do a bunch of things: he was very self-driven.

He led the team in scoring during each of his 4 years: what was his secret for being a great scorer? He was a tremendous shooter with a 2-hand set-shot but only scored about 8 PPG because it was a low-scoring era.

A decade after graduating he became head coach at his alma mater: why did he take the job? He actually coached a high school team while he was still in college himself, then later coached at St. Francis Prep for several years.

What are your memories of the 1954 NIT (NIT MVP Togo Palazzi scored 25 PTS in a win by eventual champion Holy Cross)? I remember that Holy Cross was 1 of the premier teams in the country back then.

In the 1956 NIT Al Innis had a school-record 37 REB in a win over Lafayette: was it just a situation where Al grabbed every single rebound because he was “in the zone”? I think that remains the record for the most rebounds by anyone in NIT history. That team remained close to my father long after they graduated.

In the 1963 NIT Mike McCoy scored 29 PTS including the game-winning layup in a 1-PT win by Miami: where does that rank among the most devastating losses of his career? I was at that game: McCoy came in averaging about 8-9 PPG but had a huge game and was making shots from 25 feet away. It was 1 of the only times that Rick Barry was ever held to single-digits.

He later worked as athletic director/professor of physical education: how did he like being an administrator/faculty member as opposed to being a coach? I am sure that he liked coaching the most but he also liked the camaraderie he formed with the other coaches while meeting with them as AD. He only taught toward the end of his career but really got into it and enjoyed it a lot. He was a pioneer in women’s sports after the advent of Title IX and was an early advocate of the 3-PT line: they even played 1 game against Siena after painting a 3-PT line on the court!

He remains the winningest coach in school history: what made him such a good coach, and do you think anyone will ever break his record? They had a lot of homegrown guys and played a tough schedule. I remember reading articles that always described them as “tough kids from Brooklyn” who did not even have a real gym to practice in. I do not think that his record will be broken unless there is a coach who stays there for a long time: it is a lot harder to get high-quality players right now.

You also attended St. Francis: how big of an influence was he on your own college decision? There was never any doubt: I went to almost every single home game even while I was still in the womb. From Day 1 I knew that I would go there, although I was more of a baseball player than a basketball player.

When people look back on his career, how do you think that he should be remembered the most? Every single person who met him, from the ticket-takers to the opposing head coaches, considered him a very down-to-earth person who treated everyone the same. He drummed into me the idea that if you have to tell someone who you are, then you are not. He never held a grudge once the game was over: he was a great leader and a great friend. We were at a bar once when an interview with my dad was being shown on TV. The bartender looked at the TV, then looked at my dad sitting at the bar, and was just stunned!