Pete Maravich Final season What was the final season? The Utah Jazz began play in the 1979-80 season. Maravich moved with the team to Salt Lake City, but What happened with the Jazz? He appeared in 17 games early in the season, but his injuries prevented him from practicing much, and new coach Tom Nissalke had a strict rule
What was the coaches rule?
What was Tom Nissalke rule at the Utah Jazz?
The Utah Jazz began play in the 1979-80 season. Maravich moved with the team to Salt Lake City, but his knee problems were worse than ever. He appeared in 17 games early in the season, but his injuries prevented him from practicing much, and new coach Tom Nissalke had a strict rule that players who didn't practice were not allowed to play in games. Thus, Maravich was parked on the bench for 24 straight games, much to the dismay of Utah fans and to Maravich himself. During that time, Adrian Dantley emerged as the team's franchise player.  The Jazz placed Maravich on waivers in January 1980. He signed with the Celtics, the top team in the league that year, led by rookie superstar Larry Bird. Maravich adjusted to a new role as part-time contributor, giving Boston a "hired gun" off the bench. He helped the team post a 61-21 record in the regular season, best in the league. And, for the first time since his early career in Atlanta, Maravich was able to participate in the NBA playoffs. He appeared in nine games during that postseason, but the Celtics were upended by Julius Erving and the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference finals, four games to one.  Realizing that his knee problems would never go away, Maravich retired at the end of that season. The NBA instituted the 3-point shot just in time for Maravich's last season in the league. He had always been famous for his long-range shooting, and his final year provided an official statistical gauge of his abilities. Between his limited playing time in Utah and Boston, he made 10 of 15 3-point shots, giving him a career 67% completion rate behind the arc.  During his ten-year career in the NBA, Maravich played in 658 games, averaging 24.2 points and 5.4 assists per contest. In 1987, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and his No. 7 jersey has been retired by both the Jazz and the New Orleans Pelicans, as well as his No. 44 jersey by the Atlanta Hawks. CANNOTANSWER
had a strict rule that players who didn't practice were not allowed to play in games. Thus, Maravich was parked on the bench for 24 straight games,
Peter Press Maravich (; June 22, 1947 – January 5, 1988), known by his nickname Pistol Pete, was an American professional basketball player. Maravich was born in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, and raised in the Carolinas. Maravich starred in college with the LSU Tigers while playing for his father, head coach Press Maravich. He is the all-time leading NCAA Division I scorer with 3,667 points scored and an average of 44.2 points per game. All of his accomplishments were achieved before the adoption of the three-point line and shot clock, and despite being unable to play varsity as a freshman under then-NCAA rules. He played for three National Basketball Association (NBA) teams until injuries forced his retirement in 1980 following a 10-year professional career. 

One of the youngest players ever inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Maravich was considered to be one of the greatest creative offensive talents ever and one of the best ball handlers of all time. He died suddenly at age 40 during a pick-up game in 1988 as a consequence of an undetected heart defect.

Early life
Maravich was born to Peter "Press" Maravich (1915–1987) and Helen Gravor Maravich (1925–1974) in Aliquippa, a steel town in Beaver County in western Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. Maravich amazed his family and friends with his basketball abilities from an early age. He enjoyed a close but demanding father-son relationship that motivated him toward achievement and fame in the sport. Maravich's father was the son of Serbian immigrants and a professional player–turned-coach. He showed him the fundamentals starting when he was seven years old. Obsessively, Maravich spent hours practicing ball control tricks, passes, head fakes, and long-range shots.

Maravich played high school varsity ball at Daniel High School in Central, South Carolina, a year before being old enough to attend the school.  While at Daniel from 1961 to 1963, Maravich participated in the school's first-ever game against a team from an all-black school. In 1963 his father departed from his position as head basketball coach at Clemson University and joined the coaching staff at North Carolina State University. The Maravich family's subsequent move to Raleigh, North Carolina, allowed Maravich to attend Needham B. Broughton High School.  His high school years also saw the birth of his famous moniker.  From his habit of shooting the ball from his side, as if holding a revolver, Maravich became known as "Pistol" Pete Maravich. He graduated from Needham B. Broughton High School in 1965 and then attended Edwards Military Institute, where he averaged 33 points per game. Maravich never liked school and did not like Edwards Military Institute. It was known that Press Maravich was extremely protective of Maravich and would guard against any issue that might come up during his adolescence. Press threatened to shoot Maravich with a 45 caliber pistol if he drank or got into trouble. Maravich was 6 feet 4 inches in high school and was getting ready to play in college when his father took a coaching position at Louisiana State University.

College career
At that time NCAA rules prohibited first-year students from playing at varsity level, which forced Maravich to play on the freshman team. In his first game, Maravich put up 50 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists against Southeastern Louisiana College.

In only three years playing on the varsity team (and under his father's coaching) at LSU, Maravich scored 3,667 points—1,138 of those in 1967–68, 1,148 in 1968–69, and 1,381 in 1969–70—while averaging 43.8, 44.2, and 44.5 points per game, respectively. For his collegiate career, the 6'5" (1.96 m) guard averaged 44.2 points per game in 83 contests and led the NCAA in scoring for each of his three seasons.

Maravich's long-standing collegiate scoring record is particularly notable when three factors are taken into account:
First, because of the NCAA rules that prohibited him from taking part in varsity competition during his first year as a student, Maravich was prevented from adding to his career record for a full quarter of his time at LSU.  During this first year, Maravich scored 741 points in freshman competition.
Second, Maravich played before the advent of the three-point line. This significant difference has raised speculation regarding just how much higher his records would be, given his long-range shooting ability and how such a component might have altered his play. Writing for ESPN.com, Bob Carter stated, "Though Maravich played before [...] the 3-point shot was established, he loved gunning from long range." It has been reported that former LSU coach Dale Brown charted every shot Maravich scored and concluded that, if his shots from three-point range had been counted as three points, Maravich's average would have totaled 57 points per game. And 12 Three Pointer per game.
Third, the shot clock had also not yet been instituted in NCAA play during Maravich's college career. (A time limit on ball possession speeds up play, mandates an additional number of field goal attempts, eliminates stalling, and increases the number of possessions throughout the game, all resulting in higher overall scoring.)

More than 50 years later, however, many of his NCAA and LSU records still stand. Maravich was a three-time All-American. Though he never appeared in the NCAA tournament, Maravich played a key role in turning around a lackluster program that had posted a 3–20 record in the season prior to his arrival. Maravich finished his college career in the 1970 National Invitation Tournament, where LSU finished fourth.

NCAA career statistics

Freshman
At this time, freshmen did not play on the varsity team and these stats do not count in the NCAA record books.

|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1966–67
| style="text-align:left;"| Louisiana State
| 19 || 19 || ... || .452 || ... || .833 || 10.4 || ... || ... || ... || 43.6

Varsity

|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1967–68
| style="text-align:left;"| Louisiana State
| 26 || 26 || ... || .423 || ... || .811 || 7.5 || 4.0 || ... || ... || 43.8
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1968–69
| style="text-align:left;"| Louisiana State
| 26 || 26 || ... || .444 || ... || .746 || 6.5 || 4.9 || ... || ... || 44.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1969–70
| style="text-align:left;"| Louisiana State
| 31 || 31 || ... || .447 || ... || .773 || 5.3 || 6.2 || ... || ... || 44.5
|-
| style="text-align:left;" colspan=2|Career
| 83 || 83 || ... || .438 || ... || .775 || 6.5 || 5.1 || ... || ... || 44.2

Professional career

Atlanta Hawks

The Atlanta Hawks selected Maravich with the third pick in the first round of the 1970 NBA draft, where he played for coach Richie Guerin.  He was not a natural fit in Atlanta, as the Hawks already boasted a top-notch scorer at the guard position in Lou Hudson.  In fact, Maravich's flamboyant style stood in stark contrast to the conservative play of Hudson and star center Walt Bellamy.  And it did not help that many of the veteran players resented the $1.9 million contract that Maravich received from the team—a very large salary at that time.

Maravich appeared in 81 games and averaged 23.2 points per contest—good enough to earn NBA All-Rookie Team honors.  And he managed to blend his style with his teammates, so much so that Hudson set a career high by scoring 26.8 points per game.  But the team stumbled to a 36–46 record—12 wins fewer than in the previous season.  Still, the Hawks qualified for the playoffs, where they lost to the New York Knicks in the first round.

Maravich struggled somewhat during his second season.  His scoring average dipped to 19.3 points per game, and the Hawks finished with another disappointing 36–46 record.  Once again they qualified for the playoffs, and once again they were eliminated in the first round.  However, Atlanta fought hard against the Boston Celtics, with Maravich averaging 27.7 points in the series.

Maravich erupted in his third season, averaging 26.1 points (5th in the NBA) and dishing out 6.9 assists per game (6th in the NBA).  With 2,063 points, he combined with Hudson (2,029 points) to become only the second set of teammates in league history to each score over 2,000 points in a single season. The Hawks soared to a 46–36 record, but again bowed out in the first round of the playoffs.  However, the season was good enough to earn Maravich his first-ever appearance in the NBA All-Star Game, and also All-NBA Second Team honors.

The following season (1973–74) was his best yet—at least in terms of individual accomplishments.  Maravich posted 27.7 points per game—second in the league behind Bob McAdoo—and earned his second appearance in the All-Star Game.  However, Atlanta sank to a disappointing 35–47 record and missed the postseason entirely.

New Orleans Jazz
In the summer of 1974, an expansion franchise was preparing for its first season of competition in the NBA.  The New Orleans Jazz were looking for something or someone to generate excitement among their new basketball fans. With his exciting style of play, Maravich was seen as the perfect man for the job. Additionally, he was already a celebrity in the state due to his accomplishments at LSU.  To acquire Maravich, the Jazz traded two players and four draft picks to Atlanta.

The expansion team struggled mightily in its first season.  Maravich managed to score 21.5 points per game, but shot a career-worst 41.9 percent from the floor. The Jazz posted a 23–59 record, worst in the NBA.

Jazz management did its best to give Maravich a better supporting cast. The team posted a 38–44 record in its second season (1975–76) but did not qualify for postseason play, despite the dramatic improvement.  Maravich struggled with injuries that limited him to just 62 games that season, but he averaged 25.9 points per contest (third behind McAdoo and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and continued his crowd-pleasing antics. He was elected to the All-NBA First Team that year.

The following season (1976–77) was his most productive in the NBA.  He led the league in scoring with an average of 31.1 points per game.  He scored 40 points or more in 13 games, and 50 or more in 4 games. His 68-point masterpiece against the Knicks was at the time the most points ever scored by a guard in a single game, and only two players at any position had ever scored more: Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor. Baylor was head coach of the Jazz at that time.

Maravich earned his third all-star game appearance and was honored as All-NBA First Team for the second consecutive season.

The following season, injuries to both knees forced him to miss 32 games during the 1977–78 season. Despite being robbed of some quickness and athleticism, he still managed to score 27.0 points per game, and he also added 6.7 assists per contest, his highest average as a member of the Jazz.  Many of those assists went to new teammate Truck Robinson, who had joined the franchise as a free agent during the off-season. In his first year in New Orleans, he averaged 22.7 points and a league-best 15.7 rebounds per game. His presence prevented opponents from focusing their defensive efforts entirely on Maravich, and it lifted the Jazz to a 39–43 record—just short of making the club's first-ever appearance in the playoffs.

Knee problems plagued Maravich for the rest of his career. He played in just 49 games during the 1978–79 season. He scored 22.6 points per game that season and earned his fifth and final All-Star appearance. But his scoring and passing abilities were severely impaired. The team struggled on the court, and faced serious financial trouble as well. Management became desperate to make some changes. The Jazz traded Robinson to the Phoenix Suns, receiving draft picks and some cash in return. However, in 1979, team owner Sam Battistone moved the Jazz to Salt Lake City.

Final season
The Utah Jazz began play in the 1979–80 season.  Maravich moved with the team to Salt Lake City, but his knee problems were worse than ever.  He appeared in 17 games early in the season, but his injuries prevented him from practicing much, and new coach Tom Nissalke had a strict rule that players who didn't practice were not allowed to play in games.  Thus, Maravich was parked on the bench for 24 straight games, much to the dismay of Utah fans and to Maravich himself.  During that time, Adrian Dantley emerged as the team's franchise player.

The Jazz placed Maravich on waivers in January 1980.  He signed with the Celtics, the top team in the league that year, led by rookie superstar Larry Bird.  Maravich adjusted to a new role as part-time contributor, giving Boston a "hired gun" off the bench. He helped the team post a 61–21 record in the regular season, best in the league.  And, for the first time since his early career in Atlanta, Maravich was able to participate in the NBA playoffs.  He appeared in nine games during that postseason, but the Celtics were upended by Julius Erving and the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference finals, four games to one.

Realizing that his knee problems would never go away, Maravich retired at the end of that season. The NBA instituted the 3-point shot just in time for Maravich's last season in the league. He had always been famous for his long-range shooting, and his final year provided an official statistical gauge of his abilities. Between his limited playing time in Utah and Boston, he made 10 of 15 3-point shots, giving him a career 66.7% completion rate behind the arc.

During his ten-year career in the NBA, Maravich played in 658 games, averaging 24.2 points and 5.4 assists per contest.  In 1987, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and his No. 7 jersey has been retired by both the Jazz and the New Orleans Pelicans, as well as his No. 44 jersey by the Atlanta Hawks.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1970–71
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 81 || ... || 36.1 || .458 || ... || .800 || 3.7 || 4.4 || ... || ... || 23.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1971–72
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 66 || ... || 34.9 || .427 || ... || .811 || 3.9 || 6.0 || ... || ... || 19.3
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1972–73
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 79 || ... || 39.1 || .441 || ... || .800 || 4.4 || 6.9 || ... || ... || 26.1
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1973–74
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 76 || ... || 38.2 || .457 || ... || .826 || 4.9 || 5.2 || 1.5 || .2 || 27.7
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1974–75
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 79 || ... || 36.1 || .419 || ... || .811 || 5.3 || 6.2 || 1.5 || .2 || 21.5
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1975–76
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 62 || ... || 38.3 || .459|| ... || .811 || 4.8 || 5.4 || 1.4 || .4 || 25.9
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1976–77
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 73 || ... || 41.7 || .433 || ... || .835 || 5.1 || 5.4 || 1.2 || .3 ||style="background:#cfecec;"|  31.1*
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1977–78
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 50 || ... || 40.8 || .444 || ... || .870 || 3.6 || 6.7 || 2.0 || .2 || 27.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1978–79
| style="text-align:left;"| New Orleans
| 49 || ... || 37.2 || .421 || ... || .841 || 2.5 || 5.0 || 1.2 || .4 || 22.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1979–80
| style="text-align:left;"| Utah
| 17 || ... || 30.7 || .412 || .636 || .820 || 2.4 || 3.2 || .9 || .2 || 17.1
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1979–80
| style="text-align:left;"| Boston
| 26 || 4 || 17.0 || .494 || .750 ||.909 || 1.5 || 1.1 || .3 || .1 || 11.5
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career
| 658 || ... || 37.0 || .441 || .667 || .820 || 4.2 || 5.4 || 1.4 || .3 || 24.2
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| All-Star
| 4 || 4 || 19.8 || .409 || ... || .778 || 2.0 || 3.8 || 1.0 || 0.0 || 10.8

Playoffs

|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1971
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 5 || ... || 39.8 || .377 || ... || .692 || 5.2 || 4.8 || ... || ... || 22.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1972
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 6 || ... || 36.5 || .446 || ... || .817 || 5.3 || 4.7 || ... || ... || 27.7
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1973
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
| 6 || ... || 39.0 || .419 || ... || .794 || 4.8 || 6.7 || ... || ... || 26.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1980
| style="text-align:left;"| Boston
| 9 || ... || 11.6 || .490 || .333 || .667 || .9 || .7 || .3 || .0 || 6.0
|-
| style="text-align:center;" colspan=2|Career
| 26 || ... || 29.1 || .423 || .333 || .784 || 3.6 || 3.8 || ... || ... || 18.7
|-

Later life and death
After injuries forced his retirement from the game in the fall of 1980, Maravich became a recluse for two years. Through it all, Maravich said he was searching "for life". He tried the practices of yoga and Hinduism, read Trappist monk Thomas Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain and took an interest in the field of ufology, the study of unidentified flying objects. He also explored vegetarianism and macrobiotics, adopting a vegetarian diet in 1982.  Eventually, he became a born-again Christian, embracing evangelical Christianity.  A few years before his death, Maravich said, "I want to be remembered as a Christian, a person that serves Him [Jesus] to the utmost, not as a basketball player."

On January 5, 1988, Maravich collapsed and died of heart failure at age 40 while playing in a pickup basketball game in the gym at First Church of the Nazarene in Pasadena, California, with a group that included evangelical author James Dobson. Maravich had flown out from his home in Louisiana to tape a segment for Dobson's radio show that aired later that day. Dobson has said that Maravich's last words, less than a minute before he died, were "I feel great." An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a rare congenital defect; he had been born with a missing left coronary artery, a vessel that supplies blood to the muscle fibers of the heart. His right coronary artery was grossly enlarged and had been compensating for the defect. 

Maravich died the year after his father's passing and a number of years after his mother, who had died of suicide with a self-inflicted gunshot. Maravich is buried at Resthaven Gardens of Memory and Mausoleum in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Legacy
Maravich was survived by his wife Jackie and his sons Jaeson, who was 8 years old at the time of his death, and Josh, aged 5. Only the previous year, Maravich had taken Jaeson to the 1987 NBA All-Star Game in Seattle, Washington, and introduced him to Michael Jordan.

Since Maravich's children were very young when he died, Jackie Maravich initially shielded them from unwanted media attention, not even allowing Jaeson and Josh to attend their father's funeral. However, a proclivity to basketball seemed to be an inherited trait. During a 2003 interview, Jaeson told USA Today that, when he was still only a toddler, "My dad passed me a (Nerf) basketball, and I've been hooked ever since ...  My dad said I shot and missed, and I got mad and I kept shooting. He said his dad told him he did the same thing."

Despite some setbacks coping with their father's death and without the benefit that his tutelage might have provided, both sons eventually were inspired to play high school and collegiate basketball—Josh at his father's alma mater, LSU.

On June 27, 2014, Governor Bobby Jindal proposed that LSU erect a statue of Maravich outside the Assembly Center, which already bore the basketball star's name. Former coach Dale Brown opposed such a monument, but Maravich's widow, Jackie McLachlan, said that she had been promised a statue after the passing of her husband. McLachlan said that she has noticed how fans struggle to get the Maravich name on the Assembly Center into a camera frame.

In February 2016, the LSU Athletic Hall of Fame Committee unanimously approved a proposal that a statue honoring Maravich be installed on the campus.

A street in Belgrade, Serbia, is named after Pete Maravich.

Memorabilia
Maravich's untimely death and mystique have made memorabilia associated with him among the most highly prized of any basketball collectibles. Game-used Maravich jerseys bring more money at auction than similar items from anybody other than George Mikan, with the most common items selling for $10,000 and up and a game-used LSU jersey selling for $94,300 in a 2001 Grey Flannel auction. The signed game ball from his career-high 68-point night on February 25, 1977, sold for $131,450 in a 2009 Heritage auction.

Honors, books, films and music
In 1987, roughly a year before his death, Maravich co-authored an award-winning (Gold Medallion) autobiography with Darrel Campbell titled Heir to a Dream that devoted much focus to his life after retirement from basketball and his later devotion to Christianity. 
In 1987, Maravich and Darrel Campbell produced the four-episode basketball instructional video series Pistol Pete's Homework Basketball. 
In 1988, Frank Schroeder and Darrel Campbell produced the documentary based on Pete Maravich's college career titled,  Maravich Memories: The LSU Years. 
After Maravich's death, Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer signed a proclamation officially renaming the LSU home court the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
In 1991, a biographical film written and produced by Darrel Campbell dramatizing his 8th-grade season entitled The Pistol: The Birth of a Legend was released.
In 1996, he was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History by a panel made up of NBA historians, players, and coaches. He was the only deceased player on the list. At the 1997 All-Star Game in Cleveland, he was represented by his two sons at halftime.
In 2001, a comprehensive 90-minute documentary film debuted on CBS entitled Pistol Pete: The Life and Times of Pete Maravich.
In 2005, ESPNU named Maravich the greatest college basketball player of all time.
In 2007, two biographies of Maravich were released: Maravich by Wayne Federman and Marshall Terrill and Pistol by Mark Kriegel. Also in 2007, to promote Mark Kriegel's book "Pistol", Fox Sports conducted a contest to find "Pete Maravich's Biggest Fan". The winner was Scott Pollack of Sunrise, FL.
In 2021, he was named one of the members of the NBA 75th Anniversary Team by a panel made up of NBA historians, players and coaches. He was one of the deceased players on the list.
In 1970, during his LSU days, Acapulco Music/The Panama Limited released "The Ballad of Pete Maravich by Bob Tinney and Woody Jenkins. 
 The Ziggens, a band from Southern California, wrote a song about Maravich entitled "Pistol Pete".

Collegiate awards
 The Sporting News College Player of the Year (1970)
 USBWA College Player of the Year (1969, 1970)
 Naismith Award Winner (1970)
 Helms Foundation Player of the Year (1970)
 UPI Player of the Year (1970)
 Sporting News Player of the Year (1970)
 AP College Player of the Year (1970)
 The Sporting News All-America First Team (1968, 1969, 1970)
 Three-time AP and UPI First-Team All-America (1968, 1969, 1970)
 Led the NCAA Division I in scoring with 43.8 ppg (1968); 44.2 (1969) and 44.5 ppg (1970)
 Averaged 43.6 ppg on the LSU freshman team (1967)
 Scored a career-high 69 points vs. Alabama (); 66 vs. Tulane (); 64 vs. Kentucky (); 61 vs. Vanderbilt ()
 Holds LSU records for most field goals made (26) and attempted (57) in a game against Vanderbilt on 
 All-Southeastern Conference (1968, 1969, 1970)
 #23 Jersey retired by LSU (2007)
 In 1970, Maravich led LSU to a 20–8 record and a fourth-place finish in the National Invitation Tournament

Collegiate records
 Points, career: 3,667 (three seasons)
 Highest scoring average, points per game, career: 44.2 (3,667 points/83 games)
 Points, season: 1,381 (1970)
 Highest scoring average, points per game, season: 44.5 (1,381/31) (1970)
 Games scoring 50 or more points, career: 28
 Games scoring 50 or more points, season: 10 (1970)
 Field goals made, career: 1,387
 Field goals made, season: 522 (1970)
 Field goal attempts, career: 3,166
 Field goal attempts, season: 1,168 (1970)
 Free throws made, game: 30 (in 31 attempts), vs. Oregon State,  
Tied by Ben Woodside, North Dakota State, on

NBA awards

NBA All-Rookie Team
All-NBA First Team (1976, 1977)
All-NBA Second Team (1973, 1978)
Five-time NBA All-Star (1973, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1979)
Led the league in scoring (31.1 ppg) in 1977, his career best
Scored a career-high 68 points against the New York Knicks on February 25, 1977
#7 jersey retired by the Utah Jazz (1985)
#7 jersey retired by the Superdome (1988)
NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team (1996)
 NBA 75th Anniversary Team (2021)
#7 jersey retired by the New Orleans Hornets (now Pelicans) (2002), even though he never played for them—one of only four players to have a number retired by a team they did not play for; Maravich did play professionally for the New Orleans Jazz, however, and has remained a greatly admired figure amongst New Orleans sports fans ever since.
#44 jersey retired by the Atlanta Hawks (2017)

NBA records
Free throws made, quarter: 14, Pete Maravich, third quarter, Atlanta Hawks vs. Buffalo Braves, 
Broken by Vince Carter on 

Free throw attempts, quarter: 16, Pete Maravich, second quarter, Atlanta Hawks at Chicago Bulls, 
Broken by Ben Wallace on 

Second pair of teammates in NBA history to score 2,000 or more points in a season: 2, Atlanta Hawks () 
Maravich: 2,063 
Lou Hudson: 2,029

Third pair of teammates in NBA history to score 40 or more points in the same game: New Orleans Jazz vs. Denver Nuggets,  
Maravich: 45 
Nate Williams: 41 
David Thompson of the Denver Nuggets also scored 40 points in this game.

Ranks 4th in NBA history – Free throws made, none missed, game: 18–18, Pete Maravich, Atlanta Hawks vs. Buffalo Braves, 

Ranks 5th in NBA history – Free throws made, game: 23, Pete Maravich, New Orleans Jazz vs. New York Knicks,  (2 OT)

See also
List of individual National Basketball Association scoring leaders by season
List of National Basketball Association players with most points in a game
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball players with 60 or more points in a game
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball season scoring leaders
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball career scoring leaders
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball career free throw scoring leaders
List of National Basketball Association annual minutes leaders

Further reading

 Campbell, Darrel (2019). Hero & Friend: My Days with Pistol Pete. Percussion Films. .

Brown, Danny (2008). Shooting the Pistol: Courtside Photographs of Pete Maravich at LSU. Louisiana State University Press

References

External links

NBA Historical Bio
ESPN bio

Pete Maravich's Greatest Achievement
‘68 All College MVP - 4 Days with Pistol Pete

Pete Maravich Bio LSU Tigers Athletics

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Utah Jazz players
This is a list of NBA All-Star Game head coaches. The National Basketball Association All-Star Game is an annual basketball exhibition game held during the National Basketball Association (NBA) regular season. From 1951-2017, the All-Star Game was played between the Western Conference All-Stars and the Eastern Conference All-Stars, where the head coach for each All- Star team was the coach of the NBA team with the best record from their respective conference.

To ensure that a different coach represents their conference each year, there is a rule against a head coach making a consecutive appearance. Instead, the coach with the next best record is selected. This rule is known as the "Riley Rule" and was introduced in the early 1990s after the dominance of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers team in the Western Conference, which was coached by Pat Riley. For the 2018 NBA All-Star Game, the format of the game changed. The starters and reserves were chosen as usual, but the two captains (one from each conference) draft their team from those starters and reserves. The coaches are also selected as usual, and matched with the captain from their respective conference. 

Only Lenny Wilkens (SuperSonics, Cavaliers, and Hawks) and Alex Hannum (Hawks, Warriors, and 76ers) have represented three separate teams as the All-Star Game coach. Red Auerbach, the head coach for the Boston Celtics between 1950-1966, coached the most All-Star Games with 11 appearances.

Key

Eastern Division / Conference (1951–2017)

Western Division / Conference (1951–2017)

 Red Auerbach stepped down from the Boston Celtics' head coaching position at the end of the .

Unconferenced format (2018–present)

Most selections

References

National Basketball Association coaches
Head coaches
All-Star Game head coaches The Rooney Rule is a National Football League policy that requires league teams to interview ethnic-minority candidates for head coaching and senior football operation jobs. It is an example of affirmative action, even though there is no hiring quota or hiring preference given to minorities, only an interviewing quota.  It was established in 2003, and variations of the rule are now in place in other industries.

History and origin

The rule is named after Dan Rooney, the former owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers and former chairman of the league's diversity committee.

It was created as a reaction to the 2002 firings of head coaches Tony Dungy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Dennis Green of the Minnesota Vikings, at a time when Dungy had a winning record and Green had just had his first losing season in ten years. Shortly afterwards, U.S. civil rights attorneys Cyrus Mehri and Johnnie Cochran released a study showing that black head coaches, despite winning a higher percentage of games, were less likely to be hired and more likely to be fired than their white counterparts. Former NFL players Kellen Winslow and John Wooten then put together an affinity group of minority scouts, coaches, and front-office personnel, to advocate for the rule's creation.

Its purpose was to ensure that minority coaches, especially African Americans, would be considered for high-level coaching positions. Fritz Pollard was the first minority head coach in NFL history (which was during the league's early years in the 1920s) and by the time the rule was implemented, only Tom Flores, Art Shell, Dennis Green, Ray Rhodes, Tony Dungy, and Herman Edwards had ever held head coaching jobs. (Only Dungy and Edwards were actively head coaching at the time of the rule's implementation, though Shell and Green would later return to head coaching). Dungy in particular had struggled for years before getting a head coaching job; he was often promoted as a head coaching candidate by Chuck Noll when Dungy was an assistant under Noll in the 1980s with the Steelers, but he would not become a head coach until 1996 when he took over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Another former Steelers assistant, Marvin Lewis, also struggled to find a head coaching position despite immense success as the Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator and would not find a head coaching position until being hired by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2003, the year the Rooney Rule went into effect.

Impact

Since the Rooney Rule was established, several NFL franchises have hired African-American head coaches, including the Steelers themselves, who hired Mike Tomlin before their 2007 season. (The Steelers, however, had already interviewed Ron Rivera, who is ethnically Hispanic, to fulfill the requirement before interviewing Tomlin, and Rooney himself contends that Tomlin's hiring did not result from the Rule.) At the start of the 2006 season, the overall percentage of African-American coaches had jumped to 22%, up from 6% prior to the Rooney Rule.

In the next 12 seasons under the rule, the NFL added 14 non-white head coaches, although many lost their jobs after a few seasons.

For the 2019 season, eight NFL teams had head coaching vacancies to fill. However, only one team, the Miami Dolphins, hired a non-white coach, Brian Flores, who was then fired after three seasons (the final two of which were winning seasons).

, the NFL has three African-American head coaches, the same number as in 2003 when the Rooney Rule was adopted.

Application

The rule does not apply if an assistant coach has language in his contract guaranteeing him the head coaching job in case of an opening. For example, this was the case when Mike Martz took over as head coach of the St. Louis Rams before the 2000 season.  Also, the requirement does not apply if the assistant coach taking over the head position is a minority, as was the case with Mike Singletary and the San Francisco 49ers in late 2008.

, Rooney Rule requirements apply to all searches for senior football operations positions within the NFL, regardless of a team's title for that position. It now also includes all ethnic minorities, not just African Americans.

, two of the 32 head coaches in the NFL are African-American, with one Hispanic head coach. Recently, some legal scholars have advocated for extending the Rooney Rule to college football, where the number of minority head coaches hovers around 6%, well below the 12.6%  of the total US population which is African-American.

Detroit Lions case, 2003

In 2003, the NFL fined the Detroit Lions $200,000 for failure to interview African-American candidates for the team's vacant head coaching job. After Marty Mornhinweg was fired, the Lions immediately hired former San Francisco 49ers head coach Steve Mariucci to replace him without interviewing any other candidates. The Lions claimed they attempted to interview other candidates but that the African-American candidates withdrew from interviews, believing Mariucci's hiring was inevitable. The Lions did not hire another minority head coach until hiring Jim Caldwell in 2014. Previously, minority Wayne Fontes was head coach of the team.

2012 controversial non-hirings and possible rule revision
In the wake of no minority hirings to fill eight head coaching and seven general management vacancies following the conclusion of the 2012 NFL regular season, NFL Executive Vice president of Human Resources Robert Gulliver stated, "While there has been full compliance with the interview requirements of the Rooney Rule and we wish the new head coaches and general managers much success, the hiring results this year have been unexpected and reflect a disappointing lack of diversity." Analysts have pointed to the lack of interview offers for Baltimore Ravens' Offensive Coordinator Jim Caldwell, who, as head coach, led the Indianapolis Colts to a 14–2 2009 season along with winning the 2009 American Football Conference title before losing in Super Bowl XLIV, as evidence that the rule needs revision. Some sports analysts have called upon the NFL to modify the Rooney Rule by requiring NFL teams to interview a minority candidate outside their respective organizations, and extending the rule to include interviews for offensive and defensive coordinators.

2020 controversy 
In recent years, the trend of hiring head coaches in the NFL has shifted towards looking for successful offensive coordinators; a role in which minorities only hold two out of the 32 available positions. In 2020, five NFL teams had head coaching vacancies to fill, and only one of them hired a non-white coach. These five teams were criticized for passing on Eric Bieniemy, the offensive coordinator for the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. Under Bieniemy, the Kansas City Chiefs had the league's top-ranked offense in the 2018 season, and the 5th ranked offense in 2019.

The 2020 NFL offseason led to many figures questioning the effectiveness of this rule due to Bieniemy not receiving serious consideration for a head coaching position and other such controversies since the rule's inception. To fulfill the requirements of this rule, many teams interview non-white coaches that have been around the league for years and have had previously unsuccessful stints as head coaches, such as Marvin Lewis. Critics of the rule argue that the rule has been largely ineffective, and in some situations, it has even had the opposite effect; with non-white coaches being interviewed without being given serious consideration just to fulfill the requirement.

In May 2020 the NFL increased the requirements of the Rooney rule to require two external minority candidate interviews, rather than one, for head coaching jobs. In addition, teams must now interview at least one minority candidate for all coordinator positions. Also, teams and the NFL league office must also interview at least one minority candidate for senior-level positions, including general manager and club president jobs. Finally, for at least some positions, women may be interviewed to satisfy the requirement.

2020 Resolution JC-2A
In November 2020, the NFL passed 2020 Resolution JC-2A, which rewards teams for developing minority candidates for head coach and/or GM positions. The resolution rewards teams whose minority candidates are hired away for one of those positions by awarding third-round draft picks, similar to the system for compensatory draft picks. For example, the first team to receive such picks, the Los Angeles Rams, will receive third-round picks in 2021 and 2022 after the Detroit Lions hired their director of college scouting, Brad Holmes, as their general manager.

An earlier version of the resolution would have rewarded teams for hiring minority candidates rather than for developing them.

2022 Brian Flores lawsuit
On February 1, 2022, former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores sued the NFL, the Dolphins, the New York Giants, and the Denver Broncos, alleging racism, violations of federal employment law, and that his interviews were a sham meant solely to fulfill the Rooney Rule.

Outside the NFL
In association football (soccer), players' representatives have been campaigning for a similar practice in England. Gordon Taylor, Chief Executive of the PFA (the players' trade union) said in September 2014 the sport "has a 'hidden resistance' preventing black managers getting jobs," pointing out that "you see so many black players on the pitch, yet we have two black managers out of 92." Garth Crooks, a prominent black former player, was especially scathing of the failure of The Football League (a large association of clubs below the top-tier Premier League) to pursue the matter, suggesting the league lacked courage. Black coaches Kieron Dyer and Titus Bramble spoke out against the idea of Rooney Rule, saying they did not want to be perceived as having their roles because of a "quota".  On January 9, 2018, it was reported that the England national football team would implement the Rooney Rule for all future interviews for the manager position.

On August 2, 2020, the West Coast Conference (WCC), an NCAA Division I league, announced that it had adopted a similar policy effective immediately, calling its initiative the Russell Rule after Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Russell, who played in college at charter and current WCC member San Francisco. The WCC became the first Division I conference to establish such a policy. According to the WCC,

Outside sports 
Some companies outside of sports, such as Pinterest, Facebook, Patreon and Checkr, have put similar rules in place for their hiring processes.  In general, the Rooney rule in these companies focuses on the diversity of the applicants in the pipeline for a particular position; the rule requires pausing at some stage of the hiring process until some diversity benchmark has been reached for the pool of applicants at that stage.  Inspired by the Rooney Rule, Diversity Lab created the Mansfield Rule in 2017, which is named after the first woman admitted to the practice of law in the U.S., Arabella Mansfield. The Mansfield Rule measures whether law firms have affirmatively considered (at least 30 percent of the candidate pool) historically underrepresented lawyers for leadership and governance roles, equity partner promotions, and lateral positions.

See also
List of minority NFL head coaches

References

Affirmative action in the United States
Recruitment