Part Comedy Central roast, part interview.
That’s perhaps the best way to describe what it’s like to speak with people who’ve known Stan Van Gundy the longest, as they recall Stan the aspiring athlete. Forty-plus years ago, the current New Orleans Pelicans head coach was an eager freshman guard at NCAA Division III school SUNY Brockport, near Rochester, N.Y.
“Stan was not athletic in any way,” said Bill Van Gundy, Brockport’s head coach in the late 1970s, who is also Stan’s father. “He wasn’t tall, wasn’t long. He was not quick. But he was strong enough for his size.