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    • Former Kohler star and Milwaukee Bucks assistant coach Joe Wolf has died
    Idaho

    Former Kohler star and Milwaukee Bucks assistant coach Joe Wolf has died

    Madoc Meredith Posted on

    Joe Wolf, known as one of the best basketball players in Wisconsin high school hoops history, has died.

    News of Wolf’s death was first reported by Mark Miller, longtime editor of the Wisconsin Basketball Yearbook. Wolf apparently died of a heart attack, Miller wrote on X.

    Wolf was 59 years old.

    Wolf, who played at Kohler High School in the early 1980s, was most recently an assistant coach with the Wisconsin Herd, the G League affiliate of the Milwaukee Bucks.

    The Bucks confirmed Wolf’s death. He played and coached for the franchise.

    “The Milwaukee Bucks and Wisconsin Herd are deeply saddened by the unexpected passing of Herd assistant coach and Kohler native Joe Wolf,” the statement said. “Throughout his life, Joe impacted many lives and was a highly respected, revered and dedicated coach and player throughout the NBA. His esteemed talent was vital to the Bucks and Herd organization for eight years, including as a player and coach.”

    Wolf was the 13th pick in the 1987 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers after a four-year career at the University of North Carolina. He played for nine teams in the NBA for 11 seasons, including a year with the Bucks in the 1996-97 season.

    He returned to the franchise as an assistant coach from 2008 to 2013.

    Wolf, a 6-foot-11 power forward, played exclusively in the Atlantic Coast Conference in North Carolina from 1983 to 1987 and was coached by the legendary Dean Smith. Wolf played with basketball icon Michael Jordan for a year.

    Wolf was a superstar at Kohler, leading the team to three state championships in 1980, 1982 and 1983. His brother Jeff was head coach of Kohler’s only other state championship team in 1999.

    Joe Wolf showed his best at the state tournament.

    As a junior, he scored a game-high 34 points on 16 of 28 shots in Kohler’s 61-56 victory over Thorp in the 1982 Class C final. In that year’s semifinals, he scored 24 points in Kohler’s 67-54 victory over Washburn.

    Wolf’s 58 points were the most in the Class C tournament this year. And his 24 field goals in the two games remain a state tournament record for Division 3. His 21 field goals in the 1983 state tournament are fifth all-time for Division 3.

    He was voted the best high school basketball player in Wisconsin history in a 2005 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel poll.

    “With his size and ability, he was the best I’ve ever seen,” Win Parkinson, who coached at Milwaukee Tech for 33 seasons, told the Journal Sentinel in 2005. “He went to the state tournament at the same time as us I saw him play at Sheboygan.

    “He had an incredibly large following and an incredibly good career. I just consider him one of the most complete players I’ve ever seen.”

    After his playing career ended with an elbow injury in 1999, Wolf switched to coaching. He started as his brother’s assistant at Kohler.

    “I was told that if you want to be a coach, you have to learn how to coach,” Wolf told the Sheyboygan Press in 2017.

    Wolf landed in what was then the NBA Development League and received a call as an assistant coach from Bucks coach Scott Skiles in 2008.

    “We love Wisconsin,” Wolf told the Journal Sentinel. “This is home, this is family.”

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    Madoc Meredith
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