Jefferson University’s Herb Magee A.k.a. “The Shot Doctor” And A Coach For Life Dana O’Neil

JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY’S HERB MAGEE A.K.A. “THE SHOT DOCTOR” AND A COACH FOR LIFE

By Dana O’Neil

Before he won more than 1,100 games, before the Hall of Fame, the shot doctoring fame and the five-decade career, Herb Magee was a lousy coach. “Terrible,’’ Magee says while sitting at his desk at Jefferson University. “I mean terrible.’’ It should be noted, Magee is not talking basketball. He’s talking tennis and cross country, which rank as the host of jobs he held when he first got hired in 1963 at then Philadelphia Textile Institute, and now Jefferson.

He prayed for rainouts in tennis and recalls one crosscountry meet against the University of Delaware, when the Delaware runners linked arms as they crossed the finish line, nary an opponent in sight. Magee, in fact, had to double back in his car to find one laggard, a competitor who decided it would be best to walk the course, instead of run it. But all of 21 years old and a recent graduate himself, Magee gladly accepted the job that his old coach, Bucky Harris, created for him - it also included duties as a physical education instructor. It meant he didn’t have to take a sales job with Roman Haas, a local chemical company, and more, it meant he could coach basketball. That, Magee, knew he could do.

You won’t find anyone to argue that point. This year’s recipient of the Hillyard Golden Anniversary Award for long and outstanding service to men’s college basketball, Magee is as respected as he is liked, a standard for both excellence and commitment. He jokes that the wins, second only to Mike Krzyzewski, are a byproduct of his longevity but that is simply not true. Since taking over as head coach of his alma mater in 1967, he’s had three losing seasons. That’s three in 52 years. Since the 2005-06 season, his team has finished first or second in its league every single

year. A two-time national coach of the year and four-time regional coach of the year, he’s already been named a Guardian of the Game and inducted into the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, West Catholic High School and, of course, the Naismith Hall of Fame.

Yet when you speak with Magee what you hear most is contentment. He has the luxury of a life lived with no regrets because the Philadelphia lifer doesn’t track in what might have, but rather treasures what has been. He had offers to move on - and to, at least in the opinions of others, move up. A few times he was tempted but that was decades ago now, Magee long ago deciding that, despite his profession’s obsession with climbing the ladder, the grass wouldn’t be greener for him elsewhere. “Coaching is coaching,’’ he says. “I never really thought I had to step up to prove myself.’’

A terrific shooter out of college (he scored 2,235 points without the option of a three-pointer) and a two-time AllAmerican, Magee was drafted by the Boston Celtics, but the chance fell apart due to injury. He gave the Eastern League a go but was stunned by the brutal physicality. “After you’d score, they’d try to kill you,’’ he says. “They wanted their money.’’ That’s when Harris cobbled together the combo job for his former player. When Harris retired in 1967, Magee slid into the head coaching chair. In his third season, he led the Rams to a Division II national championship. “That’s when the offers came in,’’ Magee says. “But after a while, they stopped asking because they knew I wasn’t going anywhere.’’

A few years into his head-coaching stint, Magee was asked to speak at the Pocono Invitational Camp on a topic of his choosing. He opted for what he knew best - shooting. “Let me teach kids how to shoot properly,’’ that was his thinking. A second career was born. Known today as the Shot Doctor, Magee has worked with players at every level, and developed videos aimed at teaching what he insists is a very learnable skill - the lost art of shooting. He demonstrates at his desk just how easy it is - keeping his elbow in, showing how the ball should roll off the fingertips, and explaining how crucial the follow-through is. The problem, he says, is no one teaches it and worse, no one wants to practice it anymore. He’s happy to work with anyone but the work has to be a two-way street. Too many people, he’s learned, want a magic potion instead of putting in the time.

These days, Magee’s reputation for fixing maimed strokes is so well known that he can’t push his cart down an Acme supermarket without at least one Philadelphia 76er fan stopping him. “Can you please help Ben Simmons?” they ask. Magee chuckles.

There is, of course, a simple correlation between his own success and his concentration on the very most basic skill necessitated for good basketball. “Look how big the rim is,’’ he says, motioning to a hoop sitting next to his desk. “You can’t win if you can’t shoot.’’ Even after all these years Magee’s teams can shoot, and thereby they can win.

But soon it will be time for someone else to take over, which is hard to imagine. Magee has outlasted four name changes at his alma mater - Philadelphia Textile Institute, Philadelphia College of Textile and Sciences, Philadelphia University and now Jefferson University - and counting his undergrad term,

is now in his 60th season at the school on Henry Avenue. Already the university has tabbed his assistant, Jimmy Reilly, as his replacement - a decision Magee wholeheartedly endorses. He’s not the least bit afraid of retirement. Fit and trim at the age of 78, he’s got plenty he wants to enjoy. He and his wife, Geri, walk a good three miles each morning, and visit Disney almost every year. Magee loves to golf, and like any good Philadelphian, loves his week at the Jersey Shore.

There’s no grand plan as to when he’ll retire. He says he’ll simply know when it’s time. And when the time does come, Magee will leave proud of what he’s accomplished but more happy with himself. “I know I can coach,” he says. “That’s what I set out to do when I started - to prove to myself that I could coach.’’

Well, maybe not tennis or cross country but basketball? Basketball, definitely.

On Sunday, April 5, 2020, during the annual NABC Convention and NCAA Men’s Final Four, Magee will receive the 2020 Hillyard NABC Golden Anniversary Award for long and outstanding service to men’s college basketball. The award will be presented during the AT&T NABC Guardians of the Game Awards Show at 6:30 p.m. in the Sidney Marcus Auditorium in the Georgia World Congress Center.

Dana O’Neil is a senior writer for The Athletic.