Carlos Daniel has made quite a name for himself at every level of basketball since his days as a star player at Fairview High School.
In late January, Daniel was recognized for his many excellent years in basketball when the Pac-12 announced that he will be receiving one of the conference’s highest honors. The only player to lead the Washington State Cougars in scoring during each of his four seasons between 1995-98, Daniel is one of 12 honorees who will be inducted into the Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Hall of Honor as a member of the 2017 class.
“I’m humbled,” Daniel said. “It’s one of those things when you look back over your career, you’re hoping to have made a mark and once you’re finally recognized for the mark that you made, it’s surprising. It was totally unexpected, too. It came out of the blue and I was honored.”
The induction ceremony will be held on March 10 during the Pac-12 Tournament. The inductees will be honored during halftime of one of the semifinal games. The 16th annual Hall of Honor class also includes Chauncey Billups (Colorado), Ray Blume (Oregon State), Bob Elliott (Arizona), David Greenwood (UCLA), Stu Jackson (Oregon), Andre Miller (Utah), Mike Montgomery (Stanford), Quincy Pondexter (Washington), Jerome Randle (California), Ralph Vaughn (USC) and Tarence Wheeler (Arizona State).
“Once I saw who I was going in with, I was even more humbled,” Daniel said. “Obviously Chauncey is a great player and a friend from back when we played AAU together. I was Quincy Pondexter’s strength coach his rookie year with the New Orleans Hornets and we have been friends since. And I also played against Mike Montgomery and his teams while he was at Stanford.”
During his time at Fairview, Daniel was twice named to the All-State team. In 1992-93, he led the Knights to the Elite Eight and in 1993-94 he took the team to the Final Four.
Since graduating, Daniel has played basketball on every continent except Africa before an ankle injury ended his playing career. He returned to Boulder County in 2015 as an assistant coach under Mike Leahy at Centaurus High School before moving on to take an assistant coaching position at Northern Colorado under Tad Boyle, who is now the head coach at the University of Colorado.
Daniel moved on to work as a strength and conditioning coach for the San Antonio Spurs and the New Orleans Pelicans. He spent last season assisting at Southern Methodist University and is currently working on a doctorate degree at the University of Texas.
Brad Cochi: cochib@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/BradCochi
