Written by TIM REYNOLDS

Joe Wolf, a former North Carolina captain for Dean Smith who went on to play for seven teams in an 11-year NBA career before becoming a coach, died unexpectedly Thursday, the Milwaukee Bucks announced.

Wolf, an assistant coach for the Wisconsin Herd — the Bucks’ G League affiliate — was 59.

“Throughout his life, Joe touched many lives and was a highly respected, adored and dedicated coach and player across the NBA,” the Bucks said in a release announcing Wolf’s death. “His well-regarded talent was instrumental for the Bucks and Herd over eight years with the organization, including as a player and coach.”

Wolf was a high school All-American in 1983 before joining the Tar Heels to play alongside the likes of Michael Jordan and Sam Perkins. Wolf was a co-captain for the Tar Heels as a senior in 1986-87, sharing that role with Kenny Smith.

North Carolina went 115-22 in Wolf’s four seasons, making the Sweet 16 twice and the Elite Eight twice in that span. Wolf — a 6-foot-11 center and forward — quickly moved into coaching once his NBA career was done, using skills he said Smith began instilling in him from the start of his college experience.

“I like to think I started getting trained the minute I stepped on campus,” Wolf told the Greensboro (N.C.) News and Record in 2018. “Coach Smith was all about building the proper habits. That benefits me today.”

He was an All-ACC pick in 1987 and left North Carolina with 1,231 points. The Los Angeles Clippers used the No. 13 pick in the 1987 draft on Wolf, who spent his first three NBA seasons there before playing for Denver, Charlotte, Orlando, Portland, Boston and Milwaukee — a return to his home state of Wisconsin, where he was a high school legend.

Wolf led Kohler High School to three Wisconsin state championships, and in 2005 the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel named him the state’s greatest high school basketball player ever, the Bucks said.

He coached at the college level as an assistant at William & Mary and UNC Wilmington, was a head coach in what is now called the G League with Idaho, Colorado and Greensboro, had been an NBA assistant for Milwaukee and Brooklyn and was hired in 2023 as a G League assistant for the Herd.

 

Featured image via Associated Press

Related Stories
‹
Chansky's Notebook: Run it Back
UNC will be playing in Rupp Arena this December. And for a college basketball purist, that’s about as good as it gets.
UNC Men's Basketball to Face Kentucky, Women to Face Texas in ACC-SEC Challenge
The UNC men’s basketball team will visit Kentucky the night of Tuesday, December 2 and the UNC women’s team will visit Texas the night of Thursday, December 4 as part of the 2025 ACC-SEC Challenge, ESPN announced Thursday. ESPN announces matchups & dates for the 3rd annual @theACC/@SEC Men's & Women's Basketball Challenges 🏀 Dec. […]
Chansky's Notebook: Farewell Blue Steel?
The beloved tradition of UNC men's basketball's walk-ons, better known as "Blue Steel," could be coming to an end.
Here's a List of Every Transfer to Join the UNC Men's Basketball Program This Offseason (2025)
Several transfers have announced their intentions to join head coach Hubert Davis and UNC next season. Here’s a list of those incoming players: Luka Bogavac – SC Derby (ABA League) The first international commitment of the Hubert Davis-Jim Tanner era, Luka Bogavac was one of the top college-eligible players in Europe that college teams had […]
UNC Men's Basketball's ACC Opponents Revealed for 2025-26 Season
The ACC announced the conference opponents for each school in men’s basketball for the 2025-26 season. The coming season will be the first since the league shifted back to an 18-game conference schedule. With the change, UNC will play two opponents twice, 14 opponents once and not play one other league school at all during […]
Report: UNC Men's Basketball to Begin Home-And-Home Series With Georgetown
According to a report from college basketball insider Jon Rothstein, UNC will begin a home-and-home series with Georgetown beginning this coming season. The first game will reportedly be in Chapel Hill in December, with a return trip to Georgetown scheduled for the following season. NEWS: Georgetown and North Carolina will begin a home-and-home series this […]
Hubert Davis Named to Coaching Staff for USA Basketball U19 Camp
UNC men’s basketball head coach Hubert Davis was named to the coaching staff for the 2025 USA Basketball Men’s U19 National Team training camp in Colorado next month. The camp will begin June 14 in preparation for the 2025 FIBA U19 Men’s World Cup in Switzerland later in the summer. USA Basketball Men's U19 National […]
Chansky's Notebook: The Straw
UNC's Larry Miller was the dream All-American, a 6-foot-4 gunslinging southpaw who was handsome as a devil and a ferocious competitor.
UNC Men's Basketball Star Larry Miller, 2-Time ACC Player of the Year, Dies at 79
Larry Miller, who starred for the UNC men’s basketball team under head coach Dean Smith in the 1960s, died Sunday in Pennsylvania, the program announced Monday afternoon. Miller was 79. Rest in peace, Larry Miller. A Tar Heel forever 🩵 🔗: https://t.co/ngLUgPrBx6 pic.twitter.com/jCpzOFicOR — Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) May 12, 2025 Miller helped the Tar Heels […]
Chansky's Notebook: Deja Blue?
You had to keep scrolling and scrolling on ESPN's Way-Too-Early Top 25 poll to find UNC, slotted in at No. 25.
›