Dwane Lyndon Casey (born April 17, 1957) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is a former NCAA basketball player and coach, having played and coached there for over a decade before moving on to the NBA. He was previously the head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Toronto Raptors, with whom he won the NBA Coach of the Year Award in 2018. Early years Dwane Lyndon Casey was born on April 17, 1957, in Indianapolis. However, his family moved to Morganfield, Kentucky when he was three years old. Casey graduated from Union County High School in 1975. Casey was a top recruit coming out of high school. He made the decision to commit to the University of Kentucky. During the 1977–78 Wildcats season, Casey helped guide the team to an NCAA Tournament Championship. He served as team captain during his senior year. During the summers, Casey worked several odd jobs to support himself, including coal mining and tobacco farming. He graduated from the University of Kentucky with a degree in business administration in 1979, also receiving Kentucky's All-Academic Award that same year. Coaching career Early career Casey's coaching experience went back to his first coaching job at the age of 13 when Morganfield Baseball Commissioner Earl McKendree allowed the young Casey to coach a Little League team with kids just three years younger than him. He began his college coaching career in 1979 due to a suggestion made by his coach Joe B. Hall. Casey spent a season with Hall as an assistant coach at Kentucky. The next season, Casey made the move to Western Kentucky, where he spent the next five seasons. Casey later returned to Kentucky in 1985 where he would take the role of an assistant coach and top recruiter. In late March 1988 while still serving as an assistant coach at Kentucky, Emery Worldwide employees discovered $1,000 in cash in an envelope that was accidentally opened. The envelope was addressed to Claud Mills, the father of recruit Chris Mills, and the sender was identified as Casey. The University of Kentucky said that the evidence collected during the investigation was inconclusive, and did not prove that Casey sent the money. The scandal resulted in Casey's resignation, and Casey was then placed on probation for 5 years by the NCAA. The NCAA