The Los Angeles Clippers today named Dean Demopoulos, Marc Iavaroni and Robert Pack as assistant coaches under new head coach Vinny Del Negro. The team also named Dave Severns as Director of Player Development.
Demopoulos comes to Los Angeles after serving five seasons as lead assistant coach with the Portland Trail Blazers. A career coach, Demopoulos came to Portland after a previous four season stint with the Seattle Super Sonics. Demopoulos went to Seattle in 2001 after 18 seasons of college coaching, 17 of those alongside Hall of Famer John Chaney at Temple University. Before Seattle, he served as head coach for one year at University of Missouri-Kansas City. That year, UMKC was ranked in the top 10 nationally in several statistical categories, including fewest turnovers (9.5 per game) and scoring defense (60.5 points per game).
Demopoulos was an assistant under Chaney from 1983-84 through 1998-99. During that span, the Owls became a national basketball powerhouse, amassing a 393-151 (72.2%) record, making it to the NCAA Tournament 16 times and to the Elite Eight on four occasions. The run included 11 consecutive postseason appearances from 1990 to 2000. Temple won seven Atlantic 10 Conference titles and five conference tournament crowns, and in 1987-88, finished 32-2, earning the No. 1 ranking in the final Associated Press, UPI and USA Today/CNN polls. Fourteen Temple players went to the NBA during his tenure at the Philadelphia school. Born March 29, 1954, in Philadelphia, Demopoulos graduated from West Chester State in 1977 with a degree in comprehensive social sciences.
He coached at Kennett, Pa., H.S. for three years before joining John Chaney’s staff.
The veteran Iavaroni brings 13 seasons of NBA coaching experience to the Clippers. He is highly-regarded in NBA circles for his attention to detail, tireless work ethic, competitive drive and hands-on approach to teaching.
Iavaroni spent the 2009-10 campaign as an assistant coach with the Toronto Raptors after serving the previous two seasons as head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies. Prior to his time in Memphis, Iavaroni was an assistant in Phoenix (2002-07), Miami (1999-2002) and Cleveland (1997-99). In his five seasons with the Suns they made four trips to the NBA Playoffs, including two appearances in the Western Conference Finals (2005, 2006), compiling an impressive regular season record of 250-160 (.610).
Over the course of his career, Iavaroni has worked for some of the most prominent coaches in the game. While in Miami, where he also served as Director of Player Development, Iavaroni worked under Hall of Fame coach Pat Riley and in Cleveland he served two seasons under longtime NBA coach Mike Fratello. Iavaroni owes much of his teaching expertise to his lengthy association as a student and instructor under legendary Hall of Fame coach Pete Newell. In 2006 Iavaroni assisted the USA Basketball Men’s Senior National Team in training camp as they prepared for the 2006 FIBA Men’s World Championships in Japan.
His coaching career began as a graduate assistant coach at his alma mater, the University of Virginia, helping the Cavaliers to their first Final Four appearance in 1981. Following his professional playing career, Iavaroni was an assistant coach at Bowling Green State for two seasons from 1992-94 under Jim Larranaga, who led George Mason to the 2006 Final Four.
The 55th overall selection in the 1978 NBA Draft, Iavaroni averaged 4.4 points and 3.2 rebounds over his seven-year NBA career. Iavaroni played professionally overseas for five seasons in Italy and Spain, including three seasons after his college career and two seasons following his NBA career. He was a starter as a rookie on the 76ers’ 1983 World Championship team, voted one of the 10 best NBA teams of all time. Iavaroni’s teams, which also included San Antonio and Utah, qualified for the playoffs every season of his career. Iavaroni concluded his professional career alongside Knicks Head Coach Mike D’Antoni in Milan, Italy before retiring in 1991.
As a collegian, Iavaroni was a four-year starter and finished in 1978 ranked in Virginia’s top 10 in career scoring and rebounding. He gained first-team All-Tournament honors on Virginia’s 1976 ACC Tournament championship team, an accomplishment he still considers among his most satisfying playing achievements.
Born in Jamaica, N.Y., Iavaroni and his wife, Caroline, have three sons, Kenton, McCray and Jackson.
Robert Pack enters his first season as assistant coach with the Clippers after last serving as an assistant coach with the New Orleans Hornets during the 2009-10 campaign. Pack brings with him 13 years of NBA playing experience where in his career he averaged 8.9 points, 4.6 assists and 2.0 rebounds over 552 career games with the Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Hornets, New Jersey Nets and Washington Wizards.
Nicknamed “Pac-Man”, Pack was a member of the 1991-92 Portland team that advanced to the NBA Finals, while with Denver, he was a member of the 1993-94 squad that made NBA history as the first No. 8 seed to defeat a No. 1 seed in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. Pack was also the runner-up in the 1994 NBA All-Star Slam Dunk Contest in Minneapolis.
He enjoyed a standout collegiate career at USC, ranking fourth on the Trojans all-time assists list (319) in just two seasons, while becoming just the fourth player in school history to record back-to-back 100 assist seasons. In two seasons, he averaged 13.4 points and 5.6 assists per game at USC. Prior to USC, he played two seasons at Tyler (Texas) Junior College, earning All-State honors, and leading the Apache to a 50-11 combined record.
Pack attended Lawless H.S. in New Orleans, where he remains the school’s all-time leading scorer.
Director of Player Development Dave Severns comes to the Clippers after having served the past two seasons on Del Negro’s staff with the Chicago Bulls as Assistant Coach for Player Development. Prior to his time with the Bulls, Severns spent 13 years in player development with Nike, working with college players at the All-American Camp, All-Asia Camp, Nike Skills Academies and Jordan Flight School. He also worked at Attack Athletics in Chicago under Tim Grover from 2005-08. Severns spent three years as video coordinator at Fresno State University under head coach Jerry Tarkanian, two years as an assistant coach at Fresno City College and one year as an assistant coach at California State University, Chico. Prior to his time at the collegiate level, Severns spent 12 years as a high school coach in California. He has a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree from California State University-Chico.