Patrick Zipfel

Patrick Zipfel (born October 15, 1967) is an American basketball coach and former college athletics director. He is currently an assistant coach and advance scout for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Philadelphia native was a part of the Suns' Western Conference Championship title and NBA Finals run in 2021. Zipfel worked as assistant coach/advance scout for the Chicago Bulls(NBA)as well as the Minnesota Timberwolves. In October 2015, Zipfel accepted an interim coaching position at Mansfield University, located in Mansfield, Pennsylvania to help restore the program.[1]

Early years

Zipfel earned a bachelor’s degree from Cabrini College in English/communications in 1989.[2]

Coaching career

Zipfel was an assistant men’s basketball coach at NCAA Division I The Citadel from 1989 to 1992. He was awarded his first head coaching job at Bucks County Community College in 1993. In 1994, Zipfel moved on to Centenary College of New Jersey, where he served as their director of athletics and head men’s basketball coach.[3][4]

He worked for the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers as an advance scout, responsible for scouting the Clippers’ upcoming opponents and preparing game plans for coaches and players.[5]

Zipfel spent the 2003-04 season as head coach of the New Jersey Squires of the American Basketball Association, leading the Squires into the quarterfinals, where they were defeated by the Kansas City Knights.[6]

From 2004 to 2007, he was an advance scout for the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers.[2]

From 2007 to 2011, Zipfel was an assistant coach and advance scout for the NBA’s Houston Rockets.[2][7]

Houston General Manager Daryl Morey said Zipfel was a “secret weapon” in the Rockets’ first-round playoff series victory in 2009, their first playoff series win in more than a decade. “We felt like we were a little tick ahead because we had Pat Zipfel on the bench,” said Morey.[8]

Zipfel spent the summer of 2011 serving as the advance scout for the Ukraine National Team under head coach Mike Fratello.[2]

On December 6, 2011 he was hired by the Minnesota Timberwolves as an assistant coach and advance scout.[1]

In Summer of 2012 Zipfel served as the Dominican Republic national basketball team advance scout under head coach John Calipari for this country’s Olympic entrant for Men’s Basketball. The team won a gold medal in Centro Basket, and lost in the pre-Olympic Qualifying tournament.

Zipfel has been called “one of the sharpest strategic minds in the NBA.”[5] ESPN.com says Zipfel’s NBA peers rate him “one of the league's best” advanced scouts.[9]

He currently serves on the NBA Coaches Association technology committee.

References
  1. "Wolves Announce Basketball and Coaching Staffs". Minnesota Timberwolves. 6 December 2011.
  2. Catching Up With: Former Centenary College Men's Basketball Coach Pat Zipfel – Lehigh Valley Express-Times
  3. "Zipfel is set for a homecoming". Intelligencer Journal. February 6, 1996. C4. Accessed through ProQuest.
  4. "Transactions". Salt Lake Tribune. May 11, 1994. D5.
  5. Zipfel an Interesting Possibility – Wilmington Star News Archived 2012-04-25 at the Wayback Machine
  6. "Trail Blazers set scouting staff". The Oregonian. 24 September 2004.
  7. Houston Rockets 2010-11 media guide
  8. Interview with Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey (transcript) - 610 Sports Radio
  9. The Life of an Advance Scout – ESPN.com

https://www.nba.com/suns/directory/staff#

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