Flip Saunders Was at Home in Minnesota

Watching Flip Saunders from a distance, it might be easy to think he was pretentious.

Working the sideline as an NBA coach, he was always immaculately dressed, with perfectly styled hair, always flipping his cuffs during games.

But his life story belied his appearance. Saunders rose in the basketball world despite few built-in advantages. He grew up in Cuyahoga Heights, Ohio, a blue-collar suburb of Cleveland. His father, Walter, was a marine. His mother, Kay, a hairdresser, reportedly nicknamed him after a popular style at the salon.

Philip Daniel Saunders stood less than 6 feet tall, but became the Ohio player of the year in high school and then an accomplished point guard at the University of Minnesota. When a relative said he wished Saunders would grow a few inches, the aspiring basketball star reportedly replied it was just as well – if he were taller, he wouldn't have the incentive to work so hard.

Even as a coach, Saunders took the long road to the top, spending seven years working in the CBA, with stops in Rapid City, S.D., LaCrosse, Wis., and Sioux Falls, S.D.

The most successful head coach in Minnesota Timberwolves history died Sunday at age 60. He was diagnosed this summer with Hodgkin's lymphoma and was expected to have a good chance at recovery. But he contracted pneumonia in September and never improved. The sad news didn't come as a shock to those plugged into NBA circles.

"It's tough. It was a really tough, emotional day because of how much he meant, not only to me, but to the league," Chicago Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said. "You won't find anybody who will say a bad word about him. He's just a great man. This game, this world, will definitely miss him."

During his first stint as head coach of the Timberwolves, from 1995-2005, Saunders took talented high school senior Kevin Garnett and built a team that went to the playoffs eight straight years.

Hoiberg arrived in Minnesota as a player in time for the peak, when the T-wolves advanced to the Western Conference finals in 2004 before losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games. Hoiberg said Saunders' coaching style remains an inspiration.

"The philosophies that I have in my coaching style, a lot of that come from Flip," Hoiberg said. "The communication part of it, trying to stay upbeat, trying to stay positive through tough times, Flip was the best at that."

Asked for an example, Hoiberg's mind drifted back to a flight home from a forgettable road trip.

"I really had a tough game and was sitting in back watching film and Flip came back and just sat by me," Hoiberg said. "He talked for the entire flight. It wasn't where he just came back to see how I was doing, he sat with me for over an hour and just talked to me. Not a lot about the game. It was more to get my mind off it than anything.

"Those are the things you remember. The NBA season is a long grind, a struggle. He tried to keep you positive, keep you upbeat. I think that's a great quality in a leader and Flip had that. He had that as much as anybody I've played for or been around."

In just two seasons with the Timberwolves, Hoiberg experienced the ultimate high and low of Saunders' coaching career. The 58-win, conference finals season of 2003-04 was followed by an implosion. The nucleus of Garnett, Latrell Sprewell and Smn Cassell fell apart and Saunders was fired shortly after midseason.

"We had such unbelievable chemistry and swagger and belief that first year," Hoiberg said. "If we were within 5 points with 5 minutes left, we were going to find a way to win that game. The next year, for whatever reason, we didn't have that. I think that was probably more on the players. Flip tried everything that year to get us back to that level and we just could never get back to it."

Saunders moved onto another good gig, taking over for Larry Brown in Detroit. In three seasons, Saunders and the Pistons lost in the Eastern Conference finals three times. Saunders' three-year stint in Washington from 2009-12 was unsuccessful, best remembered for Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton bringing guns into the locker room. At least Saunders had a sense of humor about it, unofficially changing the name of the Wizards' pregame practice from "shootaround" to "walkthrough."

Saunders returned to Minnesota as head coach last year and was excited about the chance to lead a talented young team featuring the last two No. 1 overall draft picks, Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns. Some thought Saunders would coach a few more years, then turn the reigns over to his son Ryan, a Timberwolves assistant.

Though he grew up in Cleveland, Saunders was at home in Minnesota. In college, he was the forgotten star on a Golden Gophers team that may have been the best in school history but never had the chance to cement its legacy. Minnesota went 24-3 in 1976-77, but was ineligible for postseason play because it was already on probation. Then all 24 of those victories were vacated after a couple of players were accused of selling their complimentary tickets.

The lineup was memorable, though. Saunders at point guard, Mychal Thompson at center, with freshman Kevin McHale at power forward. The Gophers finished second to Michigan in the Big Ten that year, but also beat eventual NCAA champ Marquette 66-59 in Milwaukee early in the season.

"At the time we didn't know how good we really were," Saunders once told The Minnesota Daily. "Afterward we looked and realized, especially after Marquette won that year, that if we would have been in the playoffs we probably could have won a national title."

Thompson was the No. 1 pick of the 1977 NBA Draft, McHale went No. 3 in 1980, but Saunders was voted the team's most valuable player.

That season marked the beginning of a long relationship with McHale, who was responsible for bringing Saunders to the Timberwolves straight from the CBA in 1995.

Now head coach of the Houston Rockets, McHale fondly recalled his Minnesota recruiting visit, with Saunders as his host.

"Never saw the campus," McHale told the Houston Chronicle. "Went fishing, so I didn't know where the hell the building was. But I knew where the good lakes were to fish. We went fishing and drank beer. I said, 'I think I'm going to like school.'

"Flip took me out and we've done a lot of stuff together through the years. We worked together for a lot of years, went fishing, did a lot of stuff together. Just a sad, sad day. Way too young."