Dick Davey

Dick Davey (born 1942) is an American college basketball coach, and the associate head men's basketball coach at Stanford University under head coach Johnny Dawkins. Davey is best known as head men's basketball coach at Santa Clara University from 1992-2007.

Davey was born and raised in Ceres, California and attended the University of the Pacific, lettering in baseball and basketball. He was drafted by the San Francisco Giants and played in their minor-league system for two years. Davey then coached at San Jose's Leland High School for three years before becoming an assistant coach at Cal in 1971.

After serving as assistant to longtime Broncos head coach Carroll Williams since 1977, Davey was elevated to head coach after the 1992 season with Williams' move to Athletic Director. In his first season, Davey's Broncos finished third but won the WCC tournament and became only the second 15-seeded team to win in the first round, defeating 2-seed Arizona 64-61.

Led by future NBA MVP Steve Nash, Santa Clara would go on to win the West Coast Conference regular season in 1994-1995 and 1995–1996 and garner NCAA Tournament berths. The 10-seed Broncos beat Maryland in the first round in 1996. Santa Clara was expected to falter after Nash's departure to the NCAA in 1997, but again won the league title led by long range bomber Marlon Garnett. Despite modeste achievements in several subsequent injury riddled seasons Davey was awarded a seat on the NABC Board of Directors by his fellow coaches and Mid-Season coach of the year honors by CollegeInsider.com in 2003 "for doing more with less" while starting 4 walk-ons on an injury plagued squad. Over the course of his career Davey's teams, even when undermanned developed the reputation of Giant Killers with the Broncos shocking five top 25 teams during his tenure with one of the most stunning being a victory over eventual NCAA champion North Carolina in 2004.

Davey 'retired' as Santa Clara coach with a statement on February 1, 2007 . Newspapers widely reported the Santa Clara administration forcing the move to bring in a new coach, who eventually was Kerry Keating, an assistant at UCLA. Davey spent the rest of the year being lauded by local and national media, fans, and even by opposing teams' fans at away games. Raw emotions led to the firing of Santa Clara's longtime radio announcer Dave Lewis when he referred to Davey's departure at a Santa Clara event.

Santa Clara was forecast to be in the middle of the standings by the preseason coaches poll but with conference-leading defense, the Broncos finished 2nd and made the conference tournament final, losing to Gonzaga. The team's 21 wins were the 5th most in Santa Clara's 100 year basketball history. Davey's coaching colleagues voted him coach of the year in the WCC during his final season. It was his fourth time garnering the award. Davey's teams compiled a 251-190 record during his tenure and his conference win percentage of .581 was second only to Gonzaga during his 15 seasons.

In late 2007, Davey had a biography entitled Dick Davey: A Basketball Life Richly Led published by a sports writer and friend, Chuck Hildebrand. In June 2008 Davey became the Associate Head Coach under Johnny Dawkins at Stanford University. Davey announced his planned retirement near the end of the 2011-2012 season and the Cardinal responded with a great stretch of basketball winning the post season NIT and finishing the season 26-11 with a Cardinal record 7 wins in March.

Davey is married to Jeanne Davey, formerly a kindergarten teacher and has two children. Davey's son, Michael, has been head coach of local area Saratoga High School where he has compiled a record of 231-140 in 14 seasons. Mike recently switched to coaching the girls team at Saratoga and has a 66-40 mark after four seasons. Mike is married to Kathleen who had a cardiac arrest in January 2004 and has been in a coma since. Mike and Kathleen have two daughters, Samantha and Rachel. Dick Davey's daughter Kimberly, a former professional ballet dancer for the San Francisco Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet theaters is married to Alvaro Orozco and they have two children, Nicholas and Kyra.