Donny Daniels Biography

"I'm elated that Donny Daniels accepted the position to be an assistant coach for our UCLA basketball program," New UCLA Bruins head coach Ben Howland said. "He has a distinguished and highly-impressive background. Donny is from Southern California and played at local high school power Verbum Dei."

Howland elaborated further, "He then played for and worked with George McQuarn at Cal State Fullerton. I have great respect for George as a coach and Donny learned a lot from him. Donny then was a long-time assistant at Utah under Rick Majerus and I regard Rick as one of the great teachers and coaches in all of basketball."

"Donny?s experience as a head coach and running his own program will be invaluable to help us build our UCLA program. Donny Daniels has a plethora of talents - from recruiting, to coaching on the floor, to game preparation," Howland went on; "In all aspects of dealing with young student-athletes and helping them grow, Donny has continually stressed his players? academic advancement and of course, helped them develop into better basketball players."

Donny Daniels was the head men's basketball coach at Cal State Fullerton for the past three seasons (2000 thru the 2003 season). Daniels, who inherited a program on NCAA probation had given the alumni a reason to hope after his last team showed definite signs of turning the program around. The team had doubled its victory count from the previous season and were just one game from playing .500 ball in conference, giving Cal State the best conference record in ten seasons. The Titans won against every Big West Conference opponent excluding tournamet champ Utah State.

"I am very pleased for Donny, but it's a huge loss for us," said Fullerton Athletic Director Brian Quinn. "I understand the opportunity for him, a Los Angeles guy, to go to UCLA, one of the top programs in the country. I have never worked with a coach that I enjoyed more. He's an outstanding coach. We were very fortunate to have him. He will be a marvelous addition to the UCLA staff."

Daniels played for the Titans for two seasons, 1974-1976. He was named the top defender in his senior season on a team which won the only conference basketball championship in the school's history.

Prior to Daniels stint as Cal States head basketball coach he had been an assistant at Cal State on 3 different occasions for a total of seven seasons starting with the 1978-79' season.

He was an assistant to Rick Majerus at Utah from 1990 to 2000 when he took the Cal State job. During his 11 year tenure at Utah the Utes went to the NCAA Tournament eight times and were the national runnersup in 1998. Daniels, with strong recruiting skills was responsible for NBA standouts Andre Miller and Keith Van Horn becoming Utah Titans.

Donny Daniels brings a lot of experience, desire for his players to do well both on and off the court and just plain basketball savvy to the table. Ben Howland, UCLA and the Bruins fans will be pleased with the results.

Daniels graduated in 1977 from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in criminal justice.

Some of his accomplishments are:

11 year assistant at Utah under Rick Majerus
Utah State to NCAA Tournament 8 years he was there
National runner-up one year while at Utah
Recruited NBA standouts Andre Miller and Keith Van Horn for Utah
Cal State Fullerton head basketball coach - 3 years
Top defender for Cal State Titans his senior season
Member of Cal State team won only conference basketball championship in school's history
Graduated in 1977 from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in criminal justice