Douglas "Doug" Spradley (born September 14, 1966) is an American-German professional basketball coach and former professional basketball player. He is the current head coach of ZZ Leiden.

Doug Spradley
ZZ Leiden
PositionHead coach
LeagueBNXT League
Personal information
Born (1966-09-14) September 14, 1966 (age 57)
Tacoma, Washington
NationalityAmerican / German
Listed height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Career information
CollegeGonzaga (1985–1989)
Playing career1989–2001
Career history
As player:
1989–1992Canadians Amsterdam
1992–1996Paderborn
1996–1998SG Braunschweig
1998–2000SSV Weißenfels
2000–2001Paderborn
As coach:
2001–2009Paderborn
2009–2013Bremerhaven
2014–2016Würzburg
2017–2018Rasta Vechta
2019–2020Tigers Tübingen
2022–presentZZ Leiden
Career highlights and awards
As head coach:

Spradley has won the 2. Basketball Bundesliga in 2006 with Paderborn, and in 2018 with Rasta Vechta. He coached ZZ Leiden to the triple crown (BNXT League champion, Dutch champion, Dutch Cup winner) in 2023.[1]

Playing career edit

Spradley played college basketball at Gonzaga University (1986–89), where he earned West Coast Conference First team honors in 1987-88 and 1988-89 as well as Honorable Mention status in 1986-87. He amassed 1,427 points during his GU career and became a member of Gonzaga's 40 Point Club after scoring 40 points against Loyola Marymount on February 18, 1989.[2]

Coming out of college in 1989, Spradley signed with the Amsterdam Canadians, a professional basketball team from the Netherlands. He spent three years with the club, before accepting an offer from the Paderborn Baskets of Germany. He helped the team earn promotion to Germany's top-flight Basketball Bundesliga in 1994. He left Paderborn in 1996 and spent two years at SG Braunschweig, followed by another two years at SSV Weißenfels before rounding out his playing days with the Paderborn team in the 2000-01 season.[3]

Coaching career edit

Following his playing career, Spradley took over as head coach of the Paderborn Baskets in 2001. In 2005-06, he led Paderborn to an undefeated season, which resulted in winning the 2. Bundesliga championship and gaining promotion to the first German division.[4] In 2009, Spradley left Paderborn after eight years at the helm to take on a new challenge at Eisbären Bremerhaven. During his four-year tenure, he guided Bremerhaven to the Bundesliga semifinals in 2010 and to the quarterfinals one year later. Spradley parted company with the Eisbären organization at the conclusion of the 2012-13 campaign.[5][6]

In May 2014, he was appointed as the new head coach of s.Oliver Würzburg.[7] In his first year at the helm, Spradley steered the team to promotion to Germany's top tier.[8] In 2015-16, he coached Würzburg to a quarterfinal appearance in the Bundesliga playoffs. On December 30, 2016, he was sacked by s.Oliver Würzburg[9] after seven defeats in ten games.

On February 8, 2017, struggling Bundesliga side SC Rasta Vechta announced the appointment of Doug Spradley as head coach,[10] but could not avoid relegation from the German top tier.[11] In the 2017-18 season, he led Vechta to the ProA championship and thus to promotion to the Bundesliga. He parted ways with Vechta at the end of the campaign.[12]

Spradley was named head coach of German ProA team Tigers Tübingen prior to the 2019-20 season. He was sacked on January 1, 2020.[13] Under Spradley's guidance, Tübingen won eight of 16 games.[14]

After the Tigers, he went on to have a sabbatical of two years. On August 14, 2022, Spradley signed a one-year contract with current BNXT League champion ZZ Leiden from the Netherlands.[15] On 12 March 2023, he won the Dutch Basketball Cup with Leiden after defeating Landstede Hammers in the final[16] and added a Dutch championship in May 2023.[17] In June 2023, he completed another championship run with his Leiden team by winning the BNXT League.[18]

Personal life edit

Spradley was granted German citizenship in 1998. He has two children with his German wife Tanja.[19]

Notes edit

  1. ^ "Basketballers Leiden veroveren 'treble' door ook BNXT League te winnen". nos.nl (in Dutch). 2023-06-13. Retrieved 2023-06-14.
  2. ^ "2016-17 Gonzaga Men's Basketball Record Book" (PDF). Gonzaga University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-02-15. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
  3. ^ "An International League". Gonzaga University. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
  4. ^ Schulze, Jochem. "Ein Sieg und eine Serie für die Ewigkeit". Paderborn Baskets (in German). Retrieved 2017-02-14.
  5. ^ "Auslaufender Vertrag wird nicht verlängert: Die Eisbären und Doug Spradley gehen getrennte Wege". Basketball-Bundesliga (in German). Retrieved 2017-02-14.
  6. ^ "Coach Doug Spradley, Eisbaren-Bremerhaven part ways". Sportando. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
  7. ^ "Douglas Spradley ist der neue Cheftrainer in Würzburg". Basketball-Bundesliga (in German). Retrieved 2017-02-14.
  8. ^ "Aufstiegs-Check: s.Oliver Baskets". Basketball-Bundesliga (in German). Retrieved 2017-02-14.
  9. ^ "S.Oliver Wuerzburg, coach Doug Spradley part ways". Sportando. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
  10. ^ "Doug Spradley ist Rastas neuer Trainer". SC Rasta Vechta (in German). Retrieved 2017-02-14.
  11. ^ "Rastas Abstieg durch Bayerns Übermacht besiegelt". SC Rasta Vechta (in German). Retrieved 2017-04-17.
  12. ^ "Bundesliga-Aufsteiger: Vechta findet neuen Trainer in den eigenen Reihen". Nordwest-Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 2019-01-09.
  13. ^ "Doug Spradley nicht mehr Trainer der Tigers Tübingen". Tigers Tübingen. January 2020.
  14. ^ "Tabelle ProA". 2. Basketball-Bundesliga.
  15. ^ "Douglas Spradley nieuwe coach ZZ Leiden". ZZ Leiden (in Dutch). Retrieved 2022-08-15.
  16. ^ "Leiden wint spannende basketbalfinale van Zwolle, dat die beker maar niet kan winnen". nos.nl (in Dutch). 2023-03-12. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  17. ^ "Basketballers ZZ Leiden pakken na bizarre slotfase tegen Donar nationale titel". drimble.nl. 2023-05-30. Retrieved 2023-05-30.
  18. ^ "Basketballers Leiden prolongeren titel in BNXT League". RTL Nieuws (in Dutch). 2023-06-13. Retrieved 2023-06-14.
  19. ^ "Basketball-Bundesliga – Zwei Trainer, eine Philosophie und ein Ziel – Goettinger-Tageblatt.de". Göttinger Tageblatt (in German). Retrieved 2017-02-14.

External links edit