Doug Moe has died, the Denver Nuggets announced on Tuesday.
The 1988 NBA Coach of the Year was 87.
“Coach Moe was a one-of-a-kind leader and person who spearheaded one of the most successful and exciting decades in Nuggets history,” the team said in a statement. “He will forever be loved and remembered by Nuggets fans and his banner commemorating his 432 career victories as head coach will hang in the rafters to forever honour his incredible legacy.”
A native of Brooklyn, Moe began his coaching career in 1972 after his retirement as an active player. A three-time American Basketball Association All-Star, Moe had an eight-year pro career out of North Carolina and won an ABA championship in 1969 with the Oakland Oaks. In 1974, Moe became assistant coach of the Nuggets, then in the ABA.
He received his first head coaching gig in 1976 with the San Antonio Spurs in the first season of the ABA-NBA merger. After reaching the Western Conference Finals in 1979, Moe was fired with 16 games left in his fourth season at the helm in 1980.
That fall, he would return to Denver as head coach. In his 10 seasons at the helm of the Nuggets, he would reach the postseason on nine occasions and twice posted 50-plus-win seasons. After a 54-win campaign in 1987-1988, Moe was named NBA Coach of the Year. Moe’s teams were famous for their up-tempo, run-and-gun offences that saw attacking the basket paramount to all else.
Fired after the 1990 season by the Nuggets, Moe became head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers in 1992. With the team sitting at 19-37, Moe was fired midway through the season.
He would return to the Nuggets in 2002 as a consultant and formally became an assistant coach in 2005 under George Karl. He would remain in the role for three more seasons.
Moe finished his career with a record of 628-529 across 15 NBA seasons. His 628 wins are 19th all-time in league history.