ST. PAUL, Min. — The Minnesota Timberwolves may be out of the running for the NBA championship, but two Minnesota coaches still have high stakes in the finals game.
University of St. Thomas men’s basketball head coach Johnny Tauer coached Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Sean Sweeney when he played for the Tommies from 2002 to 2006.
“I’ve known Sean since he was probably 15 or 16 years old. He was actually one of the first two guys I recruited,” said Tauer, who was still in his early volunteer assistant coaching days when Sweeney was on the team. .
As a student, Tauer saw something special in Sweeney.
“He was like a coach on the court. I mean, he always wanted to learn new tactics on offense, and he was always watching basketball, and these are the days before YouTube and all kinds of clips online, so you had to work to get video to get,” Tauer said.
That’s why it’s no surprise to Tauer that Sweeney has reached basketball coaching’s biggest stage.
“It’s one of those things as a coach, it’s kind of a pinch-me moment where, like now, he’s in the NBA Finals, and he plays, you know, a major role in what the Mavericks do,” Tauer said.
WCCO
For Tommie’s past four basketball seasons, Coach Tauer’s partner on the sidelines has been assistant head coach Mike Maker, who also has a connection to a team in the NBA Finals.
“My first recruit at West Virginia in the Big East was Joe Mazulla,” Maker said.
In 2006, Maker coached the now Boston Celtics head coach as a point guard at West Virginia University.
Maker told WCCO that he still sends game day motivation to his former player via text message.
“He said, ‘Thanks coach.’ He still calls me coach, which is great,” Maker said.
Maker, a longtime Celtics fan himself, has so many reasons to be proud of this team and the 64-18 season they had.
“It’s a pretty surreal experience to now have a former player coaching the team you loved as a kid,” Maker said.
The Celtics lead the Finals Series 3-0 over the Mavericks.
The Championship Match 4 is Friday at 7:30 PM CT.
Marielle Mohs
