Wohl was born on November 2, 1949, in Flushing, New York.[2] His father was Jewish and mother Protestant. His father taught Wohl to find the good in people of all backgrounds.[3] He attended East Brunswick High School, in East Brunswick, New Jersey. He was a quarterback on the school's football team, and was named first-team All-Middlesex County in 1966, for both his running and passing ability. He averaged 10.7 yards per carry, ran for 14 touchdowns and led the county in scoring, passed for nine touchdowns, and had over 2,000 yards in total offense. The other first-team All-County quarterback that year was future NFL quarterback Joe Theismann.[4][5] This was the second year Wohl had been named first-team All-County in football.[6] He was honorable mention Associated Press (AP) All-State in 1966.[7]
In 1966-67, as a 6 ft (1.83 m) 165 lb (74.8 kg) senior guard, the left-handed Wohl was a unanimous selection as first-team All-Middlesex County in basketball as well. As a senior, he set school records for points in a season (499) and total career points (976). He also set school season records for foul shooting, assists and steals. This was his second season being named first-team All-County in basketball.[8][6]
In May 1967, he was selected Middlesex County's Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the county's coaches. In addition to his football and basketball prowess, academically Wohl graduated 16th in a class of 401 students; and was an A- student and a member of the National Honor Society. Wohl was also a member of the track and field team, participating in the pole vault, high jump and long jump.[6]
College career
Wohl attend the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). He played one year on the freshman basketball team, and played varsity basketball at Penn from 1968 to 1971.[9] As a guard on Penn's freshman basketball team (1967-68), he averaged 12.5 points per game, second highest on the team. Wohl's freshman coach, Digger Phelps, considered Wohl one of Penn's best defensive players and would assign him to defend the opposing team's toughest guard.[10]
As a sophomore (1968-69), Wohl led Penn with a 16.1 points per game average, followed by fellow sophomore guard Steve Bilsky at 14.5 points per game.[11] He was named first-team All-Ivy League.[12] He was also an honorable mention All-Big Five.[13] As a junior (1969-70), Wohl's scoring average was 14 points per game. With the addition of sophomore forwards Corky Calhoun and Bob Morse to the 1969-70 team, Wohl took less shots as a junior (11.8 per game) than he did as a sophomore (15.2 per game).[14][13] The team also went from third in the Ivy League in 1968-69, with a 10–4 conference record,[15] to first; with a perfect 14–0 conference record.[16] The 1969-70 Penn team had a 25–2 overall record. They lost to Niagara in the first round of the 1970 NCAA tournament, 79–69. Wohl had 11 points and five rebounds in that game.[17] Penn finished the season ranked No. 13 by the Associated Press.[18]
As a senior (1970-71), Wohl was second on the team in scoring (15.3 points per game) to Morse (15.4 points per game). Penn again had a perfect Ivy League record (14–0) and went into the 1971 NCAA tournament undefeated (26–0).[19] Penn defeated Duquesne in the first round of 70–65, with Wohl scoring 19 points.[20] The Quakers then defeated South Carolina in the East Regional Semifinals, 79–64, with Wohl scoring 20 points.[21] Penn then suffered a shocking loss to Villanova University in the East Regional Final, 90–47, their only loss of the year.[22][23] Villanova reached the 1971 NCAA championship game, losing to UCLA, 68–62.[24] Penn finished the season ranked No. 3 by the Associated Press.[25] Wohl was named first-team All-Ivy League, along with teammate Calhoun.[26]
Over his 81 game career at Penn, Wohl averaged 15.1 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.[27] The Quakers' won-loss record during his three varsity seasons, under head coach Dick Harter, was 68–13.[28]
Professional career
The Philadelphia 76ers drafted Wohl in the third round of the 1971 NBA draft, 46th overall.[29] Wohl started 32 of the 79 games in which he played for the 76ers during his rookie season (1971-72), under head coach Jack Ramsay. On the season, he averaged 20.6 minutes, 8.1 points, 2.9 assists and 1.9 rebounds per game.[30] On October 2, 1972, before the start of the 1972-73 season, he was traded by the 76ers (now coached by Roy Rubin) to the Portland Trail Blazers for Dale Schlueter.[31][32] Through that trade, Wohl avoided being on a 9–73 76ers team that is often considered the worst team in NBA history.[33][34][35]
After playing in 22 games as a backup point guard for the Trail Blazers, in December 1972 he was acquired by the Buffalo Braves on waivers. Jack Ramsay, now with Buffalo, would once again be his head coach. The Braves intended to use Wohl as a backup point guard.[36][37] He played 27.5 minutes per game over 56 games for the Braves that season, averaging 8.8 points, 4.6 assists and 1.6 rebounds per game.[38] In the 1973-74 season, he averaged about 15 minutes of play per game in 41 games with the Braves,[39] when he was traded in February 1974, along with 7 ft (2.13 m) center Kevin Kunnert, to the Houston Rockets for Jack Marin and Matt Goukas.[40][41] In 26 games as the Rockets backup point guard that season, he averaged 6.0 points, 4.2 assists, and 1.7 steals in 17.3 minutes per game.[42]
Wohl generally continued as a backup point guard during his career in Houston, but also was a stater for the Rockets in the 1974-75 season. In that first full season with the Rockets, he played in 75 games, averaging 23 minutes, 6.5 points, 4.5 assists and 1.5 rebounds per game. The next season (1975-76) he only played in 50 games, averaging 14 minutes per game.[43][44][3] Wohl began the 1976-77 season with the Rockets, but only played in 14 games, averaging less than five minutes of playing time per game, when he was traded to the New York Nets for future draft considerations.[45][46] He played in 37 games for the Nets, averaging 25 minutes, 7.4 points, 3.4 assists and 2.1 rebounds per game.[47] He played his final NBA season in 1977-78 with the now New Jersey Nets, appearing in ten games.[2] The Nets released him on November 19, 1977.[48]
Over his seven-year NBA playing career, Wohl played in 410 games, averaging nearly 20 minutes per game, principally as a backup point guard. He averaged 6.2 points, 3.4 assists and 1.4 rebounds per game.[2]
He was hired next as an assistant coach by the Milwaukee Bucks, where he worked from 1979 to 1982. He coached under future Hall of Fame head coach Don Nelson.[53][54][55] He was an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Lakers from 1982 to 1985, under future Hall of Fame head coach Pat Riley.[49][56][57] While with the Lakers, he received the nickname "Captain Video" because of his extensive development and use of video systems to help players in practices and in games to improve their understanding and performance.[58][53] He was an assistant coach on the Lakers 1985 NBA championship team.[59][60]
In August 1985, the Nets signed Wohl to a three-year contract as their new head coach, to replace Stan Albeck. He became the sixth head coach over the Nets past five seasons.[48] He understood that the Nets franchise had a recent history of instability at many levels, but believed his experience provided him with the ability to develop stability in coaching and in the team’s play.[53] He was considered an able, inventive and knowledgeable assistant coach, and technically skilled at diagramming plays.[61][62][63][58] At the time, Riley said Wohl had been a tremendous asset for the Lakers, and had a great basketball mind.[58] The Nets original choice was the 1984–85 Villanova Wildcats NCAA championship men's basketball team head coach Rollie Massimino, who backed out of taking the job after the Nets thought they had an agreement to bring him on as their new coach. He decided not to take the job just hours before the news conference scheduled to introduce him as the Nets new head coach.[58][64]
He led the Nets to the playoffs in his first season (1985-86).[65] In December 1987, now into his third season, the Nets fired Wohl after 15 games. The Nets teams during his tenure were noted for player personnel problems on and off the court that were independent of Wohl. Arguably the most notable problem came with the suspension of star player Michael Ray Richardson in the 1985-86 season for drug use.[66][67] By the end of his tenure, his relationship with some of the other Nets players also was deteriorating. On his firing, one New Jersey columnist wrote "Wohl is lucky. He's free".[61][62][68][63]
Wohl served as a scout for the Miami Heat before the team's first season,[69] and later became an assistant coach with the Heat from 1988 to 1991. After that he was an assistant coach with the Sacramento Kings (1992-93) and the Los Angeles Clippers (1993-94). During this time period, he was also a radio and television color analyst for the Heat (1991-92).[49]
In February 1995, during the 1994-95 NBA season, the 45-year old Wohl was hired as the executive vice president of basketball operations for the Miami Heat. New Heat owner Micky Arison had fired his front office personnel and head coach Kevin Loughery, on the same day he hired Wohl. Wohl, unsolicited, had sent Arison a 10-page outline that impressed Arison sufficiently to have hired Wohl, both for his knowledge and aggressiveness in pursuing the position. Wohl had to tell Loughery, who had given Wohl his first NBA assistant coaching job and had been his teammate in Philadelphia, that Loughery was fired as coach but could stay on with the team as an executive vice president of personnel. Wohl held the job until 1997.[70][69][71][30]
Wohl later became the pro scouting director for the Los Angeles Clippers. On June 16, 2014, Wohl was made the Clippers' general manager; working under Clippers coach Doc Rivers, who was made the Clippers president of basketball operations at the same time (with Kevin Eastman named vice president of basketball operations).[77][73][78] Although Wohl had the title of general manager, he served mostly in an advisory role to Rivers, who as president of basketball operations had the final say on all basketball matters.[citation needed] Less than two weeks later, the Clippers took C. J. Wilcox in the first round of the 2014 NBA draft, 28th overall. Wilcox played three years in the NBA as a reserve guard.[79][80] They had no draft picks in 2015, and purchased the rights to the New Orleans Pelicans second round pick, Branden Dawson, 56th overall.[81][82] Dawson played six games for the Clippers in his only NBA season.[83]
In 2016, the Clippers selected Brice Johnson with their first pick in the 2016 NBA draft, 25th overall. They then selected Cheick Diallo in the second round of the 2016 NBA draft, 33rd overall, and traded his rights to the New Orleans Pelicans for the rights to David Michineau and Diamond Stone, whom the Pelicans had selected with the 39th and 40th picks in the second round of that draft.[84][85] Johnson played only 12 games for the Clippers and was out of the NBA after two years.[86] Stone played in seven games for the Clippers his rookie season, which was his only NBA season.[87] Guard David Michineau was not signed for the 2016–17 NBA season following a sub-par NBA Summer League performance with the team in Orlando.[citation needed] Diallo played five seasons in the NBA as a reserve forward and center.[88] They had no draft picks in 2017.[89]
On August 24, 2017, owner Steve Ballmer made considerable changes to the Clippers front offices. Ballmer kept Rivers as his coach, but made Lawrence Frank the new president of the team's basketball operations. Wohl was replaced as general manager by former Oklahoma City Thunder assistant general manager Michael Winger. The nearly 68-year old Wohl stayed on with the Clippers as a special adviser to Frank.[90][91][92]
Legacy and honors
Wohl realized as a high school senior that he was not going to be an elite basketball player based on his physical talents; but still wanted to play basketball at the highest levels. He developed a focus on more intangible factors, and worked on growing his basketball IQ, being a great teammate and hard worker, and getting in top physical shape with a high level of stamina so he could always play hard.[3]
In becoming a head coach, Wohl recognized he was a marginal NBA player, but was able to play seven years in the NBA “because I was a fairly smart player. I always tried to find a role on the team and fit it. Getting the most out of available material is what coaching is all about. It helps to know when you have players who are not so gifted that there is a place for them to fit in and make a contribution”.[53]
Former NBA coach and executive Eddie Donovan said Wohl “was born to coach … He played like a coach on the court. He loved and had a feeling for the game”.[53]
In 1975, Wohl was inducted into the Big Five Hall of Fame.[93] In 2016, his 1970-71 Penn Quaker team was inducted into the Big Five Hall of Fame.[94] He is also a member of the University of Pennsylvania’s Athletics Hall of Fame.[93][95] On January 19, 1987, East Brunswick and the New Jersey Nets honored Wohl with a Dave Wohl Day.[96] He is a member of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Hall of Fame.[97]
Personal life
As a high school student, Wohl taught swimming to children who had suffered brain injuries.[6]
Since retiring from the NBA as a coach and executive he has hosted a podcast, Dave’s Front Office, where he discusses basketball topics with NBA executives, coaches and agents.[98]
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