Former Indiana Baseball Coach Micah Nori Now With Minnesota Timberwolves in Western Conference Finals

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Micah Nori has advanced to the Western Conference Finals as an assistant coach for the Minnesota Timberwolves, and his journey to that position is quite uncommon.

Nori was a standout infielder for the Indiana University baseball team from 1994-97. He helped the Hoosiers win the 1996 Big Ten Tournament and advance to the NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional. He finished his playing career with a .305 batting average, 20 home runs, 127 RBI, 116 runs, 35 doubles and 18 stolen bases.

Nori joined the Miami (Ohio) baseball team as a graduate assistant under former Indiana head coach Tracy Smith, and he stayed with the program through 1999 as a hitting coach. His career seemed destined for the baseball diamond, not the hardwood, until he received a call from Toronto Raptors head coach Butch Carter.

Carter played basketball at Indiana under Hall of Fame coach Bob Knight from 1976-80, the same four-year stretch as current Indiana coach Mike Woodson. Nori and Carter are both from Middletown, Ohio, and Nori's father was Carter's high school football coach. Nori first joined the Raptors as a coach's assistant intern and later became a scout.

But in 2005, Nori's career took another turn. He went back to baseball and joined Smith's staff as the Hoosiers' hitting coach.

Minnesota Timberwolves assistant coach Micah Nori used to be part of the Indiana baseball coaching staff. | @IndianaBase on X

Now it appears Nori has found his niche in basketball, as he's held NBA coaching positions for more than a decade. He returned to the Raptors as an assistant coach in 2009 and held the same position with the Kings, Nuggets, Pistons and now the Timberwolves.

Nori's career continued to take an unlikely route during the 2024 playoffs. Minnesota's head coach Chris Finch suffered a torn patellar tendon after a collision with his point guard Mike Conley Jr. during a first round game against the Phoenix Suns. He underwent surgery on May 1 and returned to practice the next day, but Nori served as the acting head coach while Finch's mobility was limited

"Micah is going to make a great head coach when some smart team hires him," Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly told ESPN on May 2. "The whole staff is really connected. I think Finch empowers those guys. So it's a collective, it's not just about one person. We have next man up with players and it's the same with coaches."

Minnesota defeated the reigning NBA champion Denver Nuggets 98-90 in Game 7 on Sunday, so now Nori and the Timberwolves advance to face the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals, beginning Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. ET.