Don Beck
Beck coaching Toyama Grouses in 2018
Personal information
Born (1953-06-02) June 2, 1953 (age 70)
New York City, New York, United States
PositionCoach
Coaching career1978–present
Career history
As coach:
1978–1979Santa Barbara CC (assistant)
1979–1980Santa Barbara CC (women)
1981–1985Bentley (assistant)
1985–1986Rutgers (assistant)
1986–1990Fresno State (assistant)
1990Fresno State (interim co-head coach)
1992–1994Oostende
1994–2001TVG Trier
2001–2007EWE Baskets Oldenburg
2002Luxembourg
2007–2009Euphony Bree
2009–2010EiffelTowers Den Bosch
2010–2015Toyota Alvark
2015–2018Toyota Antelopes
2018–2020Toyama Grouses
2021–2022Kumamoto Volters
2023–presentGladiators Trier
Career highlights and awards

Don Beck (born June 2, 1953)[1] is an American professional basketball coach.

Career

A 1975 Quinnipiac University graduate,[2] Beck began his career on the sideline as assistant coach at Santa Barbara City College in 1978, before taking his first head coach position at Santa Barbara City College in 1979, where he coached the women's team during the 1979-80 season.[3] Other assistant coach stints came at Bentley College (1981-85),[4] Rutgers University (1985-86)[2] and Fresno State University (1986-90). In March 1990, when head coach Ron Adams was released, Beck and Frank Carbajal were named Fresno State's interim co-head coaches for the remainder of the 1989-90 campaign.[5]

In 1992, Beck was named head coach of Sunair Oostende, a first-division team from Belgium.

During his seven-year tenure at German Basketball Bundesliga side TVG Trier (1994–2001), Beck guided the team to two German Cup titles (1998 and 2001) and a trip to the Bundesliga semifinals in 1998.[6] In 2001, Beck took the reins at fellow Bundesliga team EWE Baskets Oldenburg, where he worked until May 2007. In the summer of 2002, he served a four-month stint as head coach of the Luxembourg men's national team.[7]

After parting ways with Oldenburg, Beck was named head coach of Euphony Bree of Belgium in 2007, where he stayed until January 2009[8] and served as head coach of the Eiffel Towers Den Bosch,[9] a member of the Dutch top-flight Eredivisie, from January 2009 to April 2010, winning the Dutch cup competition in 2009.[10]

From 2010 to 2015, Beck was at the helm of Japanese side Toyota Alvark. He received JBL Coach of the Year honors in the 2011–12 season after guiding the team to a championship title and led Alvark to a second-place finish in 2014–15.[11] He served as head coach of the Toyota Antelopes in the Women's Japan Basketball League from 2015 to 2018 and then accepted the head coaching job with the Toyama Grouses of Japan's B.League in July 2018.[12] He coached the Toyoma team until 2020. In May 2021, he was named head coach of the Kumamoto Volters of Japan's B2 league.[13] Beck coached the team in the 2021-22 season.[14]

On May 11, 2023, German ProA side Gladiators Trier announced the appointment of Don Beck as the club's new head coach. Beck returned to the town, where he had worked from 1994 until 2001.[15]

Head coaching record

Legend
Regular season G Games coached W Games won L Games lost W–L % Win–loss %
Playoffs PG Playoff games PW Playoff wins PL Playoff losses PW–L % Playoff win–loss %
Team Year G W L W–L% Finish PG PW PL PW–L% Result
Toyota Alvark 2010–11 36 23 13 .639 3rd in JBL - - - – -
Toyota Alvark 2011–12 42 29 13 .690 2nd in JBL 6 5 1 .833 JBL champions
Toyota Alvark 2012–13 42 32 10 .762 2nd in JBL 3 1 2 .333 3rd place
Toyota Alvark 2013–14 54 45 9 .833 2nd in NBL-E 5 2 3 .400 3rd place
Toyota Alvark 2014–15 54 40 14 .741 3rd in NBL-E 9 5 4 .556 Runners-up in NBL
Toyama Grouses 2018–19 60 32 28 .533 3rd in Central 2 0 2 .000 Lost in 1st round
Toyama Grouses 2019–20 41 17 24 .415 3rd in Central - - - – -

References

  1. ^ "Don Beck". FIBA Europe. Retrieved 2023-04-26.
  2. ^ a b "Perrin, Beck supply FSU with youthful coaching". The Daily Collegian. 1986-10-23. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
  3. ^ "Women's Basketball Yearly Records". Santa Barbara City College. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
  4. ^ "They coached them". Bentley University Men's Basketball History & Record Book. 2014. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
  5. ^ "Adams out as head men's hoop coach". The Daily Collegian. 1990-03-01. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
  6. ^ "Serie zum TBB-Jubiläum: Der amerikanische Trainer Don Beck als Glücksfall für die "Germanen"". www.volksfreund.de (in German). Retrieved 2017-02-11.
  7. ^ "Ehemaliger FLBB-Coach wird Alex Laurents Trainer". Luxemburger Wort (in German). 2023-05-11. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
  8. ^ "Don Beck verlaat Bree voor Den Bosch". De Standaard (in Flemish). Retrieved 2017-02-11.
  9. ^ "Don Beck (ex-Bree) aan de slag bij EiffelTowers Den Bosch". HLN. 2009-01-07. Retrieved 2017-02-11.
  10. ^ "Eredivisie 2008-2009". eurobasket.com. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
  11. ^ Nagatsuka, Kaz (2015-10-18). "Beck, Oga looking to change women's basketball culture". The Japan Times Online. ISSN 0447-5763. Retrieved 2017-02-11.
  12. ^ Odeven, Ed (2018-07-05). "Globetrotting Rick Rickert reaches end of the line after 15 seasons as pro player". The Japan Times Online. ISSN 0447-5763. Retrieved 2018-07-27.
  13. ^ "B. League Teams Make Coaching Moves". japan-forward.com/. 2021-05-23. Archived from the original on 2021-05-23. Retrieved 2021-11-11.
  14. ^ "Don Beck". Asia-basket.com. Retrieved 2023-03-27.
  15. ^ "Don Beck is back! Erfolgreichster Trainer der Trierer Basketballgeschichte kehrt zurück". 5vier.de (in German). 2023-05-11. Retrieved 2023-06-19.

External links

Japanese B.League head coaches
Heroes Den Bosch – managers
Authority control databases
Categories