Jeff Bzdelik FILE
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DEACON COACHING STAFF THE JEFF BZDELIK FILE BACKGROUND • Born — December 1, 1952 JEFF • Hometown — Mount Prospect, Illinois FAMILY • Wife — Nina • Children — son Brett (21), daughter Courtney (19) EDUCATION • University of Illinois-Chicago — 1976 BZDELIK B.S. in Physical Education Head Coach • High School: Prospect HS (Mount Prospect, IL) PLAYING HISTORY 2nd Year • Illinois-Chicago, 1976 • University of Illinois-Chicago — 1972-76 Lettered four seasons at UIC, earning team MVP Lauded for his coaching ability on both the collegiate and Prior to Colorado, Bzdelik served two seasons as the honors as a senior; holds the Flames’ the professional levels, Jeff Bzdelik is in his second season at head coach at the Air Force Academy where he guided the single-season record for free throw percentage the helm of the Wake Forest basketball program in 2011-12. Falcons to a 50-16 record (.758 winning percentage) from (88.1%) and ranks among the program’s all-time Bzdelik (pronounced “buzz-DELL-ick”) was named the 2005-07. leading scorers. 21st head coach in Wake Forest history on April 14, 2010, The 50 wins marked the most successful two-year bringing 32 years of coaching experience to the Demon period in school history. Bzdelik is the only coach in Academy COACHING HISTORY Deacon bench. history to have won 24 or more games in consecutive • Davidson College — 1978-80 (2 seasons) In his first season at the helm of the Deacons, Bzdelik seasons. Bzdelik also guided the Falcons to a 31-1 home Assistant Coach inherited the ACC’s youngest squad as seven of the team’s record, including a 15-0 mark in 2005-06 and a 16-1 record • Northwestern University —1981-86 (6 seasons) 10 scholarship players were underclassmen. With as many in 2006-07. Assistant Coach as three freshmen in its starting lineup, Wake Forest finished He returned to the college game in 2005-06 after 17 • Maryland-Baltimore County — 1987-88 (2 seasons) the year 8-24 overall. Despite the subpar record, there were seasons as a coach and scout in the NBA. Bzdelik made Head Coach a number of accomplishments worth noting. nine playoff appearances during his tenure in the league. • Washington Bullets — 1989-94 (6 seasons) As a team, Wake Forest ranked second in the ACC and Bzdelik’s success in the NBA translated immediately to Assistant Coach 16th nationally with 5.4 blocks per game. The Deacons’ 174 the college game, as he led the Falcons to a 24-7 record • New York Knicks — 1995 (1 season) total blocks is the fourth-highest total in school history and and the school’s fourth-ever appearance in the NCAA Lead Scout • Miami Heat — 1996-2001 (6 seasons) just eight behind the school record of 182 set in 1997. Tournament in his first season in Colorado Springs. Assistant Coach/Director of Scouting The Deacons were one of the best free throw shooting He also led the Falcons to a 12-4 record and second- • Denver Nuggets — 2002 (1 season) teams in the country, ranking second in the ACC and 32nd place finish in the Mountain West Conference in 2005-06. Scout nationally with a mark of 74.6 percent from the line. It was Air Force led the nation in scoring defense (54.7 ppg) and • Denver Nuggets — 2003-05 (3 seasons) the highest Wake Forest ranked in the ACC in free throw finished in the top five in the country in three-point field goal Head Coach percentage since 2002-03. percentage (.404) and fewest turnovers per game (10.8). • Air Force Academy — 2006-07 (2 seasons) Wake Forest also shot well from beyond the arc, ranking In his second year at Air Force in 2006-07, Bzdelik led the Head Coach fifth in the ACC at 35.9 percent--its highest ranking in six Falcons to a school-record 26 wins, a top-25 national ranking • University of Colorado — 2008-10 (3 seasons) seasons. and a berth in the NIT Final Four. Air Force set school records Head Coach Bzdelik also mentored forward Travis McKie, who turned for field goal percentage (.490) and 3-point field goals (316) • Wake Forest — 2011-12 (2nd season) in a stellar freshman season. McKie led the team in both and finished second in the country in both scoring defense Head Coach scoring and rebounding, becoming the 10th player in ACC (56.0 ppg) and in fewest turnovers per game (10.3). history and the fifth in school history to accomplish the feat. He was named to the ACC All-Freshman Team and received Freshman All-America honors from CollegeInsider.com. Bzdelik has been involved in coaching college and professional basketball since 1978, including seven seasons as a college head coach and three seasons as the head coach of the NBA’s Denver Nuggets. The Illinois native came to Wake Forest after spending three seasons as the head coach at the University of Colorado. Bzdelik inherited a 7-20 (3-13 Big 12) team and improved to a game under .500 at 15-16 (6-10) by his third season with the Buffaloes. In his final season in Boulder, Bzdelik coached Big 12 Freshman of the Year Alec Burks, who became the first-ever Buffs player to earn the conference honor. Bzdelik also was instrumental in developing the Colorado program off the court. He helped raise the team’s grade point average to 2.94, and a school-record three Buffaloes were named to the Academic All-Big 12 Team in 2009-10. With the program on the upswing, attendance at Colorado games soared 40 percent during Bzdelik’s tenure in Boulder. Jeff and Nina Bzdelik 24 2011-12 WAKE FOREST BASKETBALL DEACON COACHING STAFF 2011-12 DEACONS BZDELIK YEAR-BY-YEAR 2011-12 - Head Coach Wake Forest 2010-11 - Head Coach Wake Forest 2009-10 - Head Coach, Colorado 2008-09 - Head Coach, Colorado 2007-08 - Head Coach, Colorado 2006-07 - Head Coach, Air Force 2005-06 - Head Coach, Air Force B 2004-05 - Head Coach, Denver Nuggets ASKETBALL 2003-04 - Head Coach, Denver Nuggets 2002-03 - Head Coach, Denver Nuggets 2001-02 - Scout, Denver Nuggets S 2000-01 - Asst. Coach/Dir. of Scouting, Miami Heat TAFF 1999-00 - Asst. Coach/Dir. of Scouting, Miami Heat 1998-99 - Assistant Coach, Miami Heat 1997-98 - Assistant Coach, Miami Heat 1996-97 - Assistant Coach, Miami Heat 1995-96 - Assistant Coach, Miami Heat 2010-11 IN 1994-95 - Lead Scout, New York Knicks 1993-94 - Assistant Coach, Washington Bullets Bzdelik coached the Falcons to nine wins of 30 points In his first season at the helm of the Retrievers, Bzdelik’s 1992-93 - Assistant Coach, Washington Bullets R or greater to lead the country in that category in 2006-07. team was cited by the Sporting News as having “One of 1991-92 - Assistant Coach, Washington Bullets EVIEW Along the way, Air Force crafted double-digit victories over College’s Biggest Turnarounds.” In the two seasons prior 1990-91 - Assistant Coach, Washington Bullets Colorado, George Washington, Stanford, Texas Tech and to Bzdelik’s arrival, UMBC went a combined 11-44 at the Wake Forest. Division II level. He led the Retrievers to a 12-16 record in 1989-90 Assistant Coach, Washington Bullets Prior to returning to the collegiate ranks, Bzdelik was the the school’s inaugural season in Division I and then went 1988-89 - Assistant Coach, Washington Bullets Denver Nuggets head coach for two-and-one-half seasons 13-15 in his second season in 1987-88. 1987-88 - Head Coach, Maryland-Baltimore County from 2002-05. He was named head coach in August of 2002 Bzdelik’s UMBC teams also excelled in the classroom, 1986-87 - Head Coach, Maryland-Baltimore County after spending one year as a scout for the Nuggets. posting a 2.86 grade point average during his tenure. 1985-86 - Assistant Coach, Northwestern S After two seasons at UMBC, Bzdelik made the move Bzdelik engineered one of the biggest turnarounds in ERIES NBA history during his second season in 2003-04, leading to the professional ranks, joining the Washington Bullets 1984-85 - Assistant Coach, Northwestern the Nuggets to the playoffs for the first time since 1994-95 as an assistant coach under Wes Unseld. Bzdelik coached 1983-84 - Assistant Coach, Northwestern H while posting a 43-39 record. The 26-game improvement the Bullets summer league team in 1988 and in 1994, and 1982-83 - Assistant Coach, Northwestern ISTORY over the previous year was the sixth-best turnaround in NBA served as Unseld’s lead assistant during his final season in 1981-82 - Assistant Coach, Northwestern history. Washington in 1993-94. Bzdelik became the first coach in league history, since Bzdelik joined Pat Riley’s New York Knicks staff for the 1980-81 - Assistant Coach, Northwestern the adoption of an 82-game schedule, to guide a team to 1994-95 season, serving as the team’s lead scout. He then 1979-80 - Assistant Coach, Davidson the playoffs the year after winning less than 20 games. In his followed Riley to the Miami Heat where he would spend six 1978-79 - Assistant Coach, Davidson first season, Bzdelik earned NBA-wide praise for Denver’s seasons from 1995-2001. competitiveness, work ethic and never-give-up attitude. Despite having the youngest team in franchise history, Bzdelik’s 2003-04 squad--which was led by rookie Carmelo JEFF BZDelik’s CAREER HIGHLIGHTS AS A COLLEGE HEAD COACH R ECOR Anthony--shattered the franchise record for scoring defense Maryland-Baltimore County (2 seasons, 1986-88) by more than five points per game, giving up only 92.4 per • Led the Retrievers in their first season at the NCAA Division I level in 1986-87.