Former UNCP men's basketball assistant coach Jim O'Brien was recently hired as the new head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers

By Nathan Walls
Editor

Former UNCP men’s basketball assistant Jim O’Brien was announced as the new head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers April 21. He takes over for interim head coach Chris Ford, who was 12-18 after replacing Randy Ayers on Feb. 10.

O’Brien paced the Pembroke sidelines during the 1975-76 season, working for former head coach Joe Gallagher, who is now an assistant with the Boston Celtics.

O’Brien was head coach of the Celtics from Jan. 8, 2001 until Jan. 27, 2004, when he resigned after having “philosophical differences” with general manager Danny Ainge.

O’Brien was an assistant to Rick Pitino in Boston from 1997-2001 before guiding the Celtics to a 139-119 record as head court boss and a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2002.

O’Brien, a Philadelphia native, is looking forward to his new endeavor.

“I am thrilled to be back in Philadelphia and it’s a great honor to join a franchise that I’ve been following since I was a little boy,” O’Brien said in a press release. “I’ve been a fan of Philadelphia for many, many years. Obviously I wasn’t a fan the last seven years, but I know what the tradition is here, I know what the expectations of the people in Philadelphia are. I know it’s a tough town from a fan standpoint because I’ve been a fan rooting for every franchise here, and we all expect winners.”

Philadelphia president and general manager Billy King likes O’Brien’s defensive oriented style of play and wants O’Brien to get the 76ers back to playing better defense.

“There are a lot of intangibles that I can talk about or can’t talk about because it’s just from observing him over the years when we played his teams,” King said in a press release. “I admired how hard they played, how prepared they were, and I just think that he did a great job there and I felt it was the perfect fit for us.”

Ford will remain a member of the 76ers organization, although his position has yet to be determined.

The 76ers finished this season at 33-49.