Mark Daigneault, a Leominster native and former men’s basketball assistant coach at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, has been named the head coach of the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder.
Daigneault spent three seasons as an assistant at Holy Cross, from 2007 to 2010. Daigneault was named the Thunder’s fourth head coach in the team’s history on Wednesday.
He joined the team as head coach of its minor league affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue, in 2014.Â
While a student at the University of Connecticut, where he graduated with a degree in education, he was a student manager for the men’s basketball team under Jim Calhoun, who won three national championships at the school, including one during Daigneault’s tenure, and has been inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame. He also was an assistant coach at the University of Florida, where he earned a master’s degree in sports management and served for four years as an assistant under Billy Donovan, then Florida’s men’s basketball coach and his predecessor as Thunder coach.
Daigneault graduated from Leominster High School in 2003, and his father, Rick, was a member of Holy Cross’ basketball team and a 1980 graduate, according to the college.
