O'Koren in December 2006
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Personal information | |||||||||||||
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Born |
Jersey City, New Jersey |
February 7, 1958 ||||||||||||
Nationality | American | ||||||||||||
Listed height | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | ||||||||||||
Listed weight | 207 lb (94 kg) | ||||||||||||
Career information | |||||||||||||
High school |
Hudson Catholic (Jersey City, New Jersey) |
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College | North Carolina (1976–1980) | ||||||||||||
NBA draft | 1980 / Round: 1 / Pick: 6th overall | ||||||||||||
Selected by the New Jersey Nets | |||||||||||||
Playing career | 1980–1988 | ||||||||||||
Position | Small forward | ||||||||||||
Number | 31, 25 | ||||||||||||
Coaching career | 1999–present | ||||||||||||
Career history | |||||||||||||
As player: | |||||||||||||
1980–1986 | New Jersey Nets | ||||||||||||
1986–1987 | Washington Bullets | ||||||||||||
1987–1988 | New Jersey Nets | ||||||||||||
As coach: | |||||||||||||
1999–2003 | New Jersey Nets (assistant) | ||||||||||||
2003–2009 | Washington Wizards (assistant) | ||||||||||||
2009–2010 | Philadelphia 76ers (assistant) | ||||||||||||
2014–2016 | Rutgers (assistant) | ||||||||||||
Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||
Career NBA statistics | |||||||||||||
Points | 3,355 (8.2 ppg) | ||||||||||||
Rebounds | 1,391 (3.4 rpg) | ||||||||||||
Assists | 856 (2.1 apg) | ||||||||||||
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |||||||||||||
Medals
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Michael F. O'Koren (born February 7, 1958) is an American basketball coach and former player and broadcaster originally from Jersey City, New Jersey. O'Koren was last an assistant coach at Rutgers University, serving under head coach Eddie Jordan.
A graduate of The University of North Carolina, where he played under Dean Smith, O'Koren was a first round draft pick of the New Jersey Nets in 1980 and played for the Nets and Washington Bullets in a career that ended in 1988.
After his retirement, O'Koren joined the Nets' broadcast team and remained there until 1999, when he joined Don Casey's staff as an assistant coach. He returned to Washington in 2003 when Eddie Jordan, with whom he had served in New Jersey, hired him to be the associate head coach of the Wizards. O'Koren also served as an assistant under Jordan with the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2009–10 season.
After he was let go by the 76ers, O'Koren returned to broadcasting and called high school games for FiOS1 New Jersey before Jordan hired him to serve on his staff at Rutgers in 2014.
O'Koren attended Hudson Catholic Regional High School in Jersey City.
On a talent-laden 1977 UNC team as a freshman he averaged 13.9 points per game, scored 21 points against Duke in the ACC championship game and had 31 in the NCAA semi-finals against UNLV. As a sophomore his scoring rose to 17.8. He scored in double figures every game and was second nationally with a 64.3 field goal percentage.
In 1979, Carolina was picked to finish third or lower in all the 1979 ACC pre-season polls. But, Dudley Bradley, the nation's best defensive player, and Al Wood, one of the top shooters in the college game, each improved their play on the opposite ends of the court. With O'Koren already proven as a fine all-around player, the Tar Heels posted a 23-6 record, tied for first place in the league's regular-season race, swept the ACC Tournament and finished third nationally in the final coaches' poll.