Kyle Paul Macy (born April 9, 1957) is an American basketball commentator. He played college basketball at Purdue University and the University of Kentucky, and spent seven years in the NBA with the Phoenix Suns, Chicago Bulls and Indiana Pacers; he then spent three seasons in the Italian Lega Serie A. After his playing career, he has held various basketball-related positions, including coach, general manager, and broadcaster.

Kyle Macy
Macy at an autograph signing in 2013
Personal information
Born (1957-04-09) April 9, 1957 (age 67)
Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Listed weight175 lb (79 kg)
Career information
High schoolPeru (Peru, Indiana)
College
NBA draft1979: 1st round, 22nd overall pick
Selected by the Phoenix Suns
Playing career1980–1990
PositionPoint guard
Number4, 24, 44
Career history
As player:
19801985Phoenix Suns
1985–1986Chicago Bulls
1986–1987Indiana Pacers
1988Dietor Bologna
1988–1990Benetton Treviso
As coach:
1997–2006Morehead State
2016–2018Transylvania (assistant)
Career highlights and awards
As player:

As coach:

  • OVC regular season champion (2003)
Career NBA statistics
Points5,259 (9.5 ppg)
Rebounds1,214 (2.2 rpg)
Assists2,198 (4.0 apg)
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference
Medals
Representing  United States
Men's basketball
Pan American Games
Gold medal – first place 1979 San Juan Team competition

College career

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Purdue

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The 1975 Indiana "Mr. Basketball" Award winner from Peru High School, where he played for his father, Bob; chose to attend Purdue University, coached by head coach, Fred Schaus. Macy averaged 13.8 points a game as a freshman, while leading the Boilermakers in free throws, shooting .859 percent from the line on the season. He started in 25 of 27 games, helping them to a 16–11 season record.

Kentucky

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Macy in his first year at Kentucky.
 
A jersey honoring Macy hangs in Rupp Arena

After playing his freshman year at Purdue, Macy transferred to the University of Kentucky in 1976. After sitting out the 1976–77 season as mandated by NCAA rules, he started playing at Kentucky in 1977. Macy had a very successful college career, as a three-time All-America and three-time All-SEC player. The 1978 team on which Macy was a starter won the 1978 NCAA National Championship. In his senior year of 1979–80, he became the first Kentucky player ever to be named consensus Southeastern Conference Player of the Year.[1]

Professional career

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Macy was selected with the 22nd pick of the 1979 NBA draft by the Phoenix Suns, even though he had a year of college eligibility remaining. Macy played out his last year of college, and started playing for the Suns in 1980. Macy spent five years with the Suns, averaging 10.6 points and 4.0 assists per game. Macy spent one year each with the Chicago Bulls (1985–86) and the Indiana Pacers (1986–87) before retiring from the NBA. Then he played professionally in Italy for Dietor Bologna (1987–88) and Benetton Treviso (1988–90). Macy was also one of the original participants of the NBA All-Star Three Point Contest when it debuted in 1986.

Macy was an excellent free throw shooter throughout his career. During the 1981-82 NBA season he led the NBA in free throw percentage. He still holds the career free throw shooting percentage record at the University of Kentucky, and his .884 career percentage is second only to Steve Nash (.907) on the Phoenix Suns' career leaders list.

Later career

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Macy was head coach of the Morehead State University Eagles of the Ohio Valley Conference for nine years. In 2003, Macy coached the Eagles to 20 wins, its most in 19 years, and a share of the OVC regular season championship. However, the 2004–05 season was less successful, as Morehead failed to qualify for the OVC tournament. Following that season, Macy coached a group of Sports Reach collegiate all-stars that toured China and finished with a perfect 7–0 record against several Chinese professional teams. [1] After a disastrous 4–23 season in 2005–06, Macy resigned as head coach on February 28, 2006.

Macy emphasized free throw shooting in his coaching, and the emphasis paid off, as his Morehead State teams were perennially among the Division I leaders in free throw shooting percentage.

Head coaching record

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Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Morehead State Eagles (Ohio Valley Conference) (1997–2006)
1997–98 Morehead State 3–23 2–16 10th
1998–99 Morehead State 13–15 9–9 T–3rd
1999–00 Morehead State 9–18 4–14 9th
2000–01 Morehead State 12–16 6–10 7th
2001–02 Morehead State 18–11 11–5 2nd
2002–03 Morehead State 20–9 13–3 T–1st
2003–04 Morehead State 16–13 10–6 3rd
2004–05 Morehead State 11–16 5–11 9th
2005–06 Morehead State 4–23 3–17 10th
Morehead State: 106–144 (.424) 63–91 (.409)
Total: 106–144 (.424)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

Later in 2006, Macy accepted the head coaching position on the Lexington Christian Academy Eagles Men's tennis team. In his first season they had their first winning season since 2003. In November 2007, Macy was named general manager of the East Kentucky Miners, an expansion team of the Continental Basketball Association, based in Pikeville, Kentucky. Later, he served as the color commentator for University of Kentucky telecasts. In October 2016, Macy joined the staff of head coach Brian Lane at Transylvania University.[2]

References

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  1. ^ This award was only instituted in 1965. Four previous Kentucky players had been named SEC Player of the Year by either the AP or UPI (today, the AP and SEC coaches select winners independently), but Macy is the first Wildcat ever to have been selected by both organizations.
  2. ^ "Kyle Macy joins Transylvania as assistant basketball coach". Lexington Herald-Leader. October 24, 2016. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
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