Sources: Sixers hiring Villanova great Doug West for Nick Nurse’s staff
West ranks fifth in career scoring with the Wildcats. He coached under Nurse in the NBA Development League.
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The 76ers will hire former Villanova standout Doug West as an assistant on Nick Nurse’s coaching staff, two sources said Tuesday.
West is reuniting with Nurse, who was hired on June 1 to replace Doc Rivers. West coached under Nurse with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the Houston Rockets’ NBA G League affiliate, during the 2012-13 season.
The Vipers posted a 35-15 regular-season record and won the title of what was then called the NBA Development League. West remained on the Vipers staff after Nurse accepted an assistant coaching job with the Toronto Raptors following that season.
» READ MORE: A long road leads West back home
A native of Altoona, Pa., West left the Rockets affiliate on July 9, 2015, to become head coach at Penn State Altoona. A year later, he served as head coach of his alma mater, Altoona High School.
The 56-year-old most recently served as the Westtown School girls’ associate head coach and Philadelphia Rise Leadership Team Elite Youth Basketball League coach.
West also spent time as an assistant coach under Hall of Fame coach Jay Wright at Villanova and as an women’s assistant coach at Duquesne.
He is known more in Philadelphia as a member of the Big Five Hall of Fame. West averaged 14.8 points over his four-year career at ‘Nova. The 2,037 career points he scored as a Wildcat from 1985-89 rank fifth in school history. The Minnesota Timberwolves selected the 6-foot-6, 200-pounder 38th overall in the 1989 draft. He has the distinction of being an original member of the Timberwolves franchise, which was founded in 1989.
» READ MORE: Nick Nurse’s first mission: Getting the Sixers to play team ball
West went on to average 9.6 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 676 career games during a 12-year NBA playing career with the Timberwolves and Vancouver Grizzlies.
After retiring in 2001, West worked for two seasons as an assistant boys’ basketball coach at Canon-McMillan High School in Canonsburg, Pa., and two years as athletic director at Mount de Chantal Visitation Academy in Wheeling, W. Va.
The Inquirer previously learned that the Sixers also will add assistants Bobby Jackson and Rico Hines to Nurse’s staff.
In other news, Nurse is no longer the head coach of the Canadian national basketball team. Nurse held the job since 2019 while serving as the Toronto Raptors coach. But Sacramento Kings associate head coach Jordi Fernandez has now replaced Nurse as the national team coach.