Joey Meyer (basketball)

Joseph E. Meyer (April 2, 1949 – December 29, 2023) was an American college and professional men's basketball coach. He was the head coach of the DePaul Blue Demons from 1984 to 1997 and the Asheville Altitude in the NBA Development League (NBADL) from 2001 to 2005 before they moved to become the Tulsa 66ers, where he coached from 2006 to 2008. With Asheville, he became the only coach to win back-to-back league championships. He then coached Fort Wayne Mad Ants in the NBADL. He is currently the circuit's all-time leader in victories (226) and losses (237). He provided color commentary on radio broadcasts of Northwestern University men's basketball games on WGN-AM in Chicago.

DePaul Blue Demons
As a player, Meyer was captain of the. He was drafted in the 18th round of the 1971 NBA draft by the Buffalo Braves. Meyer was an assistant coach at DePaul for eleven seasons under his father, Ray Meyer. Ray Meyer coached DePaul from 1942 to 1984, winning 724 games and leading the Blue Demons to winning records in 37 of his 42 seasons, including seven NCAA men's basketball tournament appearances in his last nine seasons. When Ray Meyer retired in 1984, Joey Meyer was promoted to head coach.

Joey Meyer led DePaul to seven NCAA Tournament appearances in his first eight seasons, including back-to-back Sweet Sixteen appearances in his second and third seasons. In the 1986 tournament, #12-seeded DePaul—led by freshman guard Rod Strickland (14.1 ppg season average) and junior Dallas Comegys (13.8 ppg) – upset #5-seeded Virginia and #4-seeded Oklahoma in the East regional before losing to top-seeded Duke 74–67. In 1987, the Blue Demons—again led by Comegys (17.5 ppg) and Strickland (16.3 ppg) – finished the regular season 26–2 and received a #3 seed in the Midwest regional of the 1987 tournament. They defeated #14-seeded Louisiana Tech and #6-seeded St. John's before losing to #10-seeded LSU. Meyer was honored as the Chevrolet Coach of the Year in 1987. Besides seven NCAA tournament appearances, Meyer led the Blue Demons to three appearances in the National Invitation Tournament.

In both 1988 and 1989, DePaul reached the second round of the NCAA tournament, but they were on a downward trajectory. In 1992, the Blue Demons were co-champions of the newly formed Great Midwest Conference but made their last NCAA tournament appearance under Meyer. An 11–18 finish in 1996 which was the first losing season since 1971 was followed by a 13-game losing streak to end a program-worst 3–23 in 1997. Meyer was fired on April 28, 1997, and replaced by Pat Kennedy $1 1/2$ months later on June 12.

American Basketball Association
Meyer began his professional basketball head coaching career with the Chicago Skyliners of the American Basketball Association, leading them to a 29–11 record and the Western Conference championship in 2000–01. After defeating the Indiana Legends 119–105 on April 12, 2001 and the Kansas City Knights 106–105 on April 13, the Skyliners lost the championship game to the Detroit Dogs 107–91 on April 14.

NBA Development League
In 2001, he joined the NBA D-League with the Asheville Altitude, winning back-to-back league championships in 2004 and 2005; After the franchise moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma to become the Tulsa 66ers, following its second title, Meyer continued to coach the team until the end of the 2007–08 campaign.

Meyer was named the head coach of the Fort Wayne Mad Ants on June 3, 2009. During his first two seasons with the Mad Ants, the ballclub went 22–28 in 2009–10 and 24–26 in 2010–11. The team's 5–10 start to the 2011–12 campaign led to his dismissal on January 6, 2012. Meyer later worked as a basketball broadcaster for WGN-AM and as a scout for the Los Angeles Clippers.

Meyer's son, Brian, was an NBA scout with the Chicago Bulls.

Death
Meyer passed away peacefully on December 29, 2023, at the age of 74. A funeral service was held at the St. Vincent de Paul Church and he was laid to rest in All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines, IL on January 4, 2024.