Report: John Kuester Leading Candidate To Be Top 76ers Assistant

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, John Kuester is the leading candidate to join the Sixers staff and become Brett Brown's top assistant.

Kuester would join a staff that already includes Lloyd Pierce, Chad Iske, and Greg Foster, and could reportedly include Villanova assistant Billy Lange as well.

Kuester has had a long career in the coaching ranks.  After a brief three year career in the NBA between 1977-1980, Kuester volunteered as an assistant at the University of Richmond.  He then became an assistant to Rick Pitino at Boston University and when he succeeded him there in 1983 he became the youngest Division I head coach.

His NBA coaching career began in 1990 with the Boston Celtics, rising up to the ranks of assistant coach before leaving to join Larry Brown's 76ers staff in 1997, a position he would hold until 2003.  Kuester would bounce around as an assistant with the Detroit Pistons, New Jersey Nets, 76ers again, Orlando Magic, then Cleveland Cavaliers before replacing Michael Curry as the Pistons head coach in 2009.  He would hold that position until he was fired from Detroit after the 2010-2011 season.  He then joined the Lakers organization, serving as both an assistant coach and an advance scout.

Kuester compiled a 57-107 (.348 winning percentage) record in his two seasons as an NBA head coach.  He has a 81-122 coaching record in his 7 college seasons as a head coach, going 31-28 during two seasons at Boston University, then 50-94 in 5 seasons at George Washington University, including 1-27 during the 1988-1989 season.  He has had only 1 winning season during his 9 combined NBA and college seasons as a head coach.