It’s hard to tell for sure if a kid has what it takes to be a pro athlete. Trying to pick out which teens will make it as an NBA coach? Yeah, right.
But those who knew Mark Daigneault when he played basketball for the Leominster High Blue Devils say they could tell something was cooking, even back then.
“Everyone always asks, ‘Did you think he would coach?’ Yes, I thought he would coach,” said Steve Dubzinski, who coached Daigneault starting his sophomore year at Leominster. “Did I think that he would be on the precipice of the NBA Finals and a Coach of the Year in the NBA and have a league MVP? I don’t think anyone can predict that.”
Now, with the Daigneault’s Oklahoma City Thunder about to take on the Indiana Pacers in this year’s NBA Finals, those who knew Daigneault from his Leominster days are some of the biggest Thunder fans this side of the Great Plains.
Bill McEvoy met Daigneault playing basketball in as a kid. Rick Daigneault, Mark’s dad, was their coach. The boys played together in high school, too — and McEvoy said no one worked harder.
“From an early age, you could tell he had leadership qualities that you see today,” McEvoy said. “He was a coach on the court. He was a coach at practice. He was a leader. He had one of the best jump shots of anyone that I’ve played with.”
That extended to the gridiron, too, where Daigneault was a tight end for the football team.
“Outside of OKC, we’re probably the biggest population of [Thunder] fans.”Kevin Barnaby, who played high school football with Daigneault
And he remains close with a group of high school pals. After the Thunder played the Celtics at TD Garden in March, Daigneault headed to West End Johnnie’s, where a delegation of over 50 folks awaited him.
“He walks in, [and] he has time for everybody. He is not this larger-than-life person,” Dubzinski said. “I mean, to us he is. But to him, he’s just Mark from Leominster that values everyone that helped him along the way.”
Daigneault went to the University of Connecticut, where he was a student manager for UConn’s legendary men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun. After coaching stints at Holy Cross and Florida, Daigneault started coaching Oklahoma City’s developmental team in 2014. He was named the Thunder head coach in 2020.
“There’s no one that can say he got a lucky break or a shortcut,” Dubzinski said. “It did not happen. He has earned every step of that way.”
Now, deep in the heart of Celtics country, Daigneault’s success is causing this small slice of New England to root for Oklahoma City. Especially with the hometown team out.
Kevin Barnaby, who played high school football with Daigneault and still lives in Leominster, said there’s a sense of excitement in the city as the NBA Finals get underway Thursday night.
“Outside of OKC, we’re probably the biggest population of [Thunder] fans,” he said.
