Iowan Nick Nurse finds a new coaching job

Carroll native won an NBA title with Raptors, now he's with 76ers

Nick Nurse stood atop the basketball world when he coached the Toronto Raptors to the NBA championship in 2019. But four years later, he was looking for a job.

Enter a new opportunity with one of the league’s greatest franchises in the Philadelphia 76ers.

The precarious job security of an NBA coach is one of the most stressful situations I can imagine in professional sports. What kind of adrenaline junkie is willing to work in field in which you can win it all one year, but be out on the street a few years later?

Nick Nurse (right) has been hired as the coach of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers. Nurse is shown with Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey. (Photo courtesy Philadelphia 76ers.)

“This is a very good team, first of all,” Nurse said at an introductory press conference. “I’m honored, humbled and excited to be new coach of the 76ers.”

Nurse has strong Iowa roots. The Carroll native played at Kuemper High School, helping the boys’ basketball team to a state championship in 1985. He played at Northern Iowa and went on to several coaching stops — including with Grand View University and the Iowa Energy — before spending a decade with the Raptors.

To get some deeper perspective on Nurse and what it takes to coach with the NBA, I spoke with Mike Born, a longtime NBA scout and a man who once served as an assistant coach with Nurse at Grand View.

Born said that Nurse wanted to coach at a high level since he was a college player. To reach that goal, he was given some advice by then-UNI coach Eldon Miller, who said he should get head coaching experience as soon as possible. Nurse ended up taking a coaching job in Europe.

Nurse has a lot of strong assets for coaching in the NBA, Born said.

“He’s super intelligent, super motivated,” Born said. “He’s worked his tail off.”

Born said he often saw Nurse with books on leadership, coaching and self-help topics. Anything to become better.

Nurse has always been a persuasive person, too. Born knows from experience.

When Nurse took the Grand View job in 1989, he needed an assistant. He approached Born, who had played at rival Iowa State. Nurse had a unique sales pitch for a first-year assistant.

“He told me I can’t pay you much, but you can live in my basement,” Born said. “It was a fun two years.”