Mike Sweetney, a former NBA player for the New York Knicks, passed away at 43 years old in October 2023, leaving behind significant impact on Yeshiva University’s basketball program. From 2019 to 2022, Sweetney coached and supported the team despite being much taller and not Jewish, becoming an integral part of their community through his genuine care and frequent check-ins. His connections with players like Tamir Goodman facilitated his involvement in coaching and running basketball camps for Jewish youth, earning him widespread respect and affection within the Jewish community.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-18,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
If you took a look at the sideline during a Yeshiva University men’s basketball game at the beginning of this decade, it may have tickled you to see a 6-foot-8 black man among a group of Division III players wearing yarmulkes.
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it → take → yarmulkes
Condolences came from around the basketball world on Thursday after former Knicks first-round pick Mike Sweetney died at 43.
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Sweetney → come → 43
Much has been said about his short-lived NBA career and mental health advocacy, but his time at Yeshiva is more than just a footnote to those within the program.
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time → say → program
“He literally just was one of the guys,” Yeshiva head coach Elliot Steinmetz told The Post.
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Steinmetz → tell → Post
“From the outside, I get it.
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I → get → it
It’s a different look when it’s a bunch of Jewish kids, and you have the [6-foot-8] former NBA African American guy in there.
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you → ’ → guy
Steinmetz first met Sweetney in 2019 through Tamir Goodman, an Orthodox Jewish hoops star whom Sweetney knew from the high school circuit in the Washington, D.C. area.
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Sweetney → meet → area
When Sweetney moved to New Jersey and wanted to get into coaching, Goodman introduced him to Steinmetz.
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Goodman → move → Steinmetz
Sweetney stayed with the program until 2022, when he had a full-time job and couldn’t commit to the coaching staff anymore, Steinmetz said.
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Steinmetz → stay → staff
But that didn’t mean it was the end of his care for the program.
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it → mean → program
“Every year beginning of the season, [he’d text], ‘First game’s coming up, how’s it going?'” Steinmetz said.
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Steinmetz → text → season
“‘How’s the team looking?
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team → look → ?
Just larger than life in terms of the way he cared about people.”
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he → care → people
Steinmetz was in Israel when Hamas attacked Kibbutz Re’im on Oct. 7, 2023.
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Hamas → attack → Oct.
The first text he received that night was from Sweetney, who knew he was in the country and wanted to check if he was safe.
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he → receive → country
Sweetney reached out multiple times over the coming days until he knew Steinmetz had gotten back home safely.
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Steinmetz → reach → days
Sweetney reached out again several years later under similar circumstances, when Steinmetz’s son, Noah, was in Israel during an Iranian attack.
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son → reach → attack
“It wasn’t like he wasn’t checking boxes when he reached out to you
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he → check → you
,” Steinmetz said.
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Steinmetz → say → ?
“He genuinely cared … just larger than life in terms of the way he cared about people.
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he → care → people
“It’s so easy to talk about people when they pass away and how great they were.
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they → ’ → people
’s one of the guys that we talked about him like this when he was alive.
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he → ’ → this
It’s the kind of care that made him so welcome in the local Jewish community.
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him → ’ → community
Sweetney got his coaching start running Goodman’s basketball camp, the first moment in a career entwined with Jewish basketball.
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Sweetney → get → basketball
He continued to run camps during the summer and held training sessions at synagogues.
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He → continue → synagogues
“I’ve gotten 1000s of texts today from people in the Jewish community who are just absolutely heartbroken,” Steinmetz said.
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Steinmetz → get → community
“He just was a part of our community, like to a point where I literally have had hundreds of people reach out today asking where they can give money for his family, send something.
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they → have → something
In three seasons with Sweetney on the staff, the Maccabees went 61-5.
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Maccabees → go → staff
They cruised into the Division III Sweet 16 in 2020 before the rest of the tournament was canceled due to COVID-19, went a perfect 7-0 in a shortened 2020-21 season and finished his tenure with a tournament berth the following year.
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rest → cruise → berth
But Steinmetz cares far more to remember who Sweetney was as a person and as a coach than the impact he had on the court.
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he → care → court
“He spent the later part of his life really trying to help other people,” Steinmetz said.
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Steinmetz → spend → people
“It was something that was so key for our guys with everything going on in the world and everything around them.
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that → go → them
He was just somebody who had been through it that they could always talk to on a level of openness and comfort and trust, and he just was kind of that guy for everybody.”
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he → talk → everybody
“The basketball part was irrelevant,” Steinmetz said.
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Steinmetz → say → ?
“He was obviously great to have around on the basketball side, but he was just-he was so much bigger than that.”
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he → have → that
The Aporia
