Dave MacMillan

David MacMillan (December 24, 1886 – July 9, 1963) was an American basketball coach.^[1][2] He was a longtime head coach at the University of Minnesota (18 seasons, 1927–42, 1945–48),^[3] and briefly coached the NBA's Tri-Cities Blackhawks in 1950, succeeding Red Auerbach.^[4]

Born in New York City, he attended Oberlin College in Ohio before transferring to the University of Idaho.^[2]

Before Minnesota, MacMillan was the head coach at the University of Idaho in Moscow,^[5] his alma mater. He led the Vandals for seven seasons,^[6][7] from 1920 to 1927, the last six in the Pacific Coast Conference.^[8][9] In Idaho's first two seasons in the PCC, his upstart program won consecutive conference titles in 1922 and 1923.^{[10][11][12][13][14]} He also coached baseball^[15] and freshman football at Idaho,^[16] and baseball at Minnesota from 1942 through 1947.^[17]

MacMillan resigned at Minnesota at age 62 in March 1948, citing health reasons.^[3] After his brief stint with the Blackhawks, MacMillan served as an assistant coach of the Minneapolis Lakers under John Kundla, who had been a player and assistant under MacMillan at Minnesota. He died from cancer at age 76 in Minneapolis.^[1][2]