Haddonfield's Stewart builds coaching resume with 87ers

NEWARK, Del. - Doug Stewart's basketball career has taken him many places around the world, including the White House. Now the 1989 Haddonfield High graduate has begun a new venture as a professional coach.

Stewart is an assistant coach for the Delaware 87ers, the 76ers' NBA Development League team that plays its games at the University of Delaware.

The previous six years he was the associate head coach at Oregon State, working for head coach Craig Robinson, the brother of Michelle Obama and brother-in-law of President Obama. Before that, Stewart was an assistant under Robinson at Brown.

Stewart would regularly rub elbows with the president, who is a huge hoops fan.

"When I first met President Obama he was a senator and I thought that it doesn't get much bigger than that," Stewart said. "Little did I know, seeing him go through two presidential campaigns while we were at Brown and Oregon State, and it was a fantastic ride."

Stewart said the six years at Oregon State contained many great memories.

"The stuff with basketball was great and the President Obama stuff was fun and we went to the White House every year, so there were a lot of great experiences," he said.

Stewart was a four-year letter-winner and captain at Brown, graduating in 1994. He continued as a player, then a player-assistant and player-coach of the Washington Generals, the lovable losers to the Harlem Globetrotters.

In five years, Stewart never won a game, but he got to play basketball and see the world, a more than decent trade-off.

"It was a great experience," he said.

He became an assistant for one year at Casper (Wyo.) Junior College before becoming head coach for two seasons. He also served brief assistant-coaching stints at Washington and Lee and Columbia following his days with the Generals.

Now he's enjoying his first go as a professional coach. After the D-League season, he said, he will assist the Sixers with the draft.

"I am really enjoying this," said Stewart, who was part of a state championship team in his senior year at Haddonfield. "It is different because it is basketball coaching and teaching, but it is 24/7 and you can concentrate just on basketball, which is enjoyable."

Stewart has impressed Sevens head coach Kevin Young.

"He is a very smart basketball mind and is our de facto shooting coach," Young said. "He really has a good way with the guys."