MALIBU, California – The Pepperdine University Athletics Department mourns the passing of former men's basketball coach Paul Westphal, a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer who died today at the age of 70.
 
Westphal was head coach of the Waves for five seasons, from 2001-02 to 2005-06, and his teams had a record of 76-72. Pepperdine won a share of the West Coast Conference's regular-season title in his first season and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
 
He was a Southern California native who was an All-American at USC. Westphal played 12 seasons in the NBA, winning a championship with the Boston Celtics in 1974 and helping the Phoenix Suns reach the NBA Finals for the first time in 1976. He made five All-Star Games. He scored 12,809 career points, 15.6 per game.
 
In addition to Pepperdine, Westphal was a college head coach at Southwestern Baptist Bible College (now Arizona Christian) and Grand Canyon (which he led to the 1988 NAIA championship). He was an NBA head coach with the Phoenix Suns (making the NBA Finals in 1993), Seattle Supersonics and Sacramento Kings. He last worked in the NBA as an assistant coach for the Brooklyn Nets from 2014-16.
 
Westphal was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018 and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019.
 
He had been diagnosed with brain cancer last year.