Jan van Breda Kolff was born in Palos Verdes, California, on December 16, 1951, to Florence Smith and Butch van Breda Kolff. Butch, his father, was a professional basketball player for the New York Knicks and later coached a number of clubs.

Career

Jan was a basketball player in Palos Verdes throughout his high school years. He went on to play basketball in college at Vanderbilt University, where he graduated in 1971. Jan declared his readiness to be drafted in the 1974 draft 1974. Jan was the 20th overall choice in the second round of the 1974 NBA draft by the Portland Trail Blazers. He later joined the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association as a small forward. He played until 1975 before joining the ABA’s Virginia Squires. In 1976, he left the Squires and joined the ABA’s Kentucky Colonels. He did not survive long with the Colonels, though, and joined the New York / New Jersey Nets after only a few games. He played for the Nets until 1983, after which he joined the Italian league’s, Granarolo Bologna.

However, he left in 1985, therefore ending his NBA and ABA career as a player. In 1991, he was named the head coach at Cornell University, a position he held until 1993. He went on to coach Vanderbit University after that. He left Vanderbit in 1999 to coach at Pepperdine University. Jan went on to coach at St. Bonaventure University in 2001.

More

However, Jan’s time at St. Bonaventure came to an end in a tumultuous manner following a major controversy in the 2002-2003 season, when junior college transfer Jamil Terrell was admitted to Bonaventure with only a welding certificate and was declared ineligible, but Kort, Jan’s assistant, mistakenly declared Terrell eligible. It generated a great uproar, and the Bonaventure Bonnies were forced to forfeit all of Terrell’s games, as well as being forbidden from competing in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament. The Bonnies also objected, but Jan said he had no knowledge of the wrongdoing.

On April 25, 2007, he was named as one of three finalists for the position of head coach of the UC Riverside men’s basketball team. He, on the other hand, never made it. Jan started coaching the ABA’s Nashville Broncs/Music City Stars in 2008 and lasted with the team until the name was changed to Music City Stars. In 2010, the team was dismantled, and Jan was laid off.

Personal LIfe

Jan married Betty Kolff and had two boys, Jan-Michael and Erik, with her. There have been no rumors of divorce or extramarital affairs to date.

Body Measurement

Jan is 63 years old, weighs 88 kilograms, and stands at 6 feet 7 inches tall. Jan averaged 6.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game in the ABA and NBA. In 1974, he was selected SEC Player of the Year.