Having played at Pitt in the late 1980s and early 1990s, UA coach Sean Miller said he became aware of Dan Majerle when he played for the 1988 U.S. Olympic team.
So did everyone else, apparently.
“As the story goes, 103 players tried out and I was the 103rd," Majerle said of the Olympic tryouts. Assistant “coach (George) Raveling didn’t even know my name. He kept calling me “Major-lee. But I kept pushing and every cut I survived and survived. Then they said I was the token white guy but I ended up playing the most minutes. It was just a great experience.”
Phoenix Suns fans also booed the selection of Majerle during the 1988 draft -- and he became a three-time NBA all-Star.
Now he’s coaching a team aiming to go from Division II to the Top 25 of Division I as fast as possible, and borrowing some philosophies from that 1988 Olympic coach, John Thompson, as well as NBA coaches Cotton Fitzsimmons (Suns) and Pat Riley (Heat) that he played under.
“I take a lot from every coach I’ve had, but you gotta be true to yourself,” Majerle said. “I coach like I played – I’m very fiery and I get after it. The way Cotton handled players, and John Thompson, just his intensity and how much he demanded from you. He pushed us. I get a lot of that from coach Riley, too.”
