{"id":133897,"date":"2026-10-16T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=133897"},"modified":"2026-10-10T07:32:40","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T05:32:40","slug":"24-00-121","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=133897","title":{"rendered":"Former Knicks Player, Yeshiva U Assistant Coach Mike Sweetney Dies at 43: \u2018The Jewish Community Lost an Ally\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"\"<\/a>Former Knicks Player, Yeshiva U Assistant Coach Mike Sweetney Dies at 43: \u2018The Jewish Community Lost an Ally\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

Shiryn Ghermezian<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Mike Sweeney and his family. Photo: Facebook\/India Sweeney<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Following the news that former New York Knicks player Mike Sweetney died at age 43, the coach of the Yeshiva University men\u2019s basketball team remembered his support for the Jewish community and impact on YU student athletes as their assistant coach.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe world lost a giant today. I lost a close friend. The basketball world lost a beloved star. Our Jewish community lost an ally and someone who knew exactly how to show up,\u201d Maccabees head coach Elliot Steinmetz wrote<\/a> on X. \u201cMike Sweetney wasn\u2019t just a friend. He was family. When you needed him, he was there. Always. You didn\u2019t even have to ask.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Sweetney\u2019s wife, India, announced<\/a> his death in a Facebook post on Thursday. No cause of death was revealed.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Georgetown men\u2019s basketball alum, who was selected by the Knicks with the No. 9 pick in the 2003 NBA draft, was the assistant coach for the Maccabees for three seasons starting in 2019. He began his coaching career by running a basketball camp in the Poconos started by former Orthodox Jewish NBA veteran Tamir Goodman, whom he had known since high school in Washington. Sweetney also held basketball training sessions at synagogues and was head coach of the girls varsity team at the Ramaz School on the Upper East Side in New York City.<\/span><\/p>\n

When Sweetney moved with his family to New Jersey in the spring of 2019, Goodman introduced him to Steinmetz. The former NBA player became YU\u2019s assistant coach until 2022, and Goodman and Sweetney developed a friendship that lasted even after the latter stopped coaching at YU.<\/span><\/p>\n

Steinmetz was in Israel when Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists attacked the Jewish state on Oct. 7, 2023, killed more than 1,200 people, and took 251 hostages. He said the first text message he received after the attack was from Sweetney, who knew the YU coach was in the country and wanted to make sure he was alright. Sweetney contacted Steinmetz again years later when the coach\u2019s son was in Israel during an Iranian missile attack. \u201cHe knew my son, Noah, was there and wanted to make sure he was OK,\u201d Steinmetz said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we would run a charity event for troubled teens, Mike would show up,\u201d Steinmetz wrote on X after Sweetney\u2019s death. \u201cHe was there for our student-athletes at Yeshiva University day in and day out, regardless of his other responsibilities and jobs. His dedication to mental health awareness and his willingness to share his story for the benefit of others was the work of a selfless human being with a huge heart. Mike \u2013 we love you and we will miss you. Thanks for everything.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Sweetney played two seasons with the Knicks before being traded to the Chicago Bulls. After two seasons in Chicago, he went to play professional basketball overseas before retiring in 2017. Sweetney spoke openly about battling depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. After he left the court, he moved on to coaching but also became a mental health advocate, giving talks at school and conferences.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s my main passion, suicide prevention talks, helping students out, doing public speaking every chance I get,\u201d Sweetney told the New York Post<\/em> in 2019<\/a>. \u201cI just share everything I\u2019ve been through and hope I can change some lives. People relate to it. People want to get help. I\u2019ve become a mentor to a lot of people. Now, I\u2019m changing lives and saving lives. It\u2019s awesome. It\u2019s overwhelming. I never would\u2019ve thought the worst point in my life would turn into one of my best points.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Sweetney told the publication that when Goodman helped him get into coaching, it changed his life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy career ended kind of quick. I didn\u2019t know what was next. And that opened so many doors. I started doing clinics, camps, traveling, speaking gigs,\u201d he explained. \u201cNext thing I know, the last few years, everything has been in the Jewish community. And they are just great people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

During Sweetney\u2019s three seasons as the assistant coach at YU, the team won two conference championships and had a 50-game winning streak from 2019-21. The team reached the Division III Sweet 16 in 2020, but the tournament was canceled due to COVID-19.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just about X\u2019s and O\u2019s,\u201d Sweetney told the Post<\/em> in 2019, describing coaching the YU team. \u201cSometimes you need to see if a guy is going through something and pick them up. It\u2019s been a great experience. I\u2019m happy here. I\u2019m comfortable here. I\u2019m treated well here. It\u2019s been amazing. To be happy and be at peace, I would\u2019ve been shocked. I wouldn\u2019t have thought it was possible.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

Sweetney is survived by his wife and three children.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

Zawarto\u015b\u0107 publikowanych artyku\u0142\u00f3w i materia\u0142\u00f3w nie reprezentuje pogl\u0105d\u00f3w ani opinii Reunion’68,<\/em>
\nani te\u017c webmastera Blogu Reunion’68, chyba ze jest to wyra\u017anie zaznaczone.
\nTwoje uwagi, linki, w\u0142asne artyku\u0142y lub wiadomo\u015bci prze\u015blij na adres:
\n<\/em>webmaster@reunion68.com<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Knicks Player, Yeshiva U Assistant Coach Mike Sweetney Dies at 43: \u2018The Jewish Community Lost an Ally\u2019 Shiryn Ghermezian Mike Sweeney and his family. Photo: Facebook\/India Sweeney Following the news that former New York Knicks player Mike Sweetney died at age 43, the coach of the Yeshiva University men\u2019s basketball team remembered his support […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[33,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133897"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=133897"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134069,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133897\/revisions\/134069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=133897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=133897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=133897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}