William Phillip (Phil) Daniel was born Feb. 21, 1955 in Durant, Okla. to Pete and Estelle Daniel, and left this world Jan. 7, 2021 in Sherman, Texas.
Phil graduated from Coleman High School in 1973. He attended Murray State College for two years where he played basketball for two years and baseball for one year. He then attended Southeastern Oklahoma State University where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Education and a Masters of Education.
He married Karen Gail Cook on June 21, 1974 at Folsom FreeWill Baptist Church where he served faithfully as a deacon for many years and taught Sunday School.
Phil began his 38-year career coaching and teaching in Crowder, Okla.. He then moved to Atoka where he spent 13 years building a girls basketball program that will not soon be forgotten.
Here he led his teams to six state tournament appearances, winning the title in 1992. Then he made the move to Marietta. In those two years, the girls basketball team broke the record for number of wins in a season. Upon leaving Marietta, he returned to his Alma Mater to coach and began his Administration career as principal at Coleman. The first year at Coleman, he led the girls team to the first state tournament appearance in school history. While at Coleman his team returned to the state tournament one additional time. He then returned to Atoka for a two-year coaching stint before moving to Caney. There he was High School Principal for seven years and coached four of those; appearing in the state tournament twice and reaching a milestone of 500 wins in his second year.
In 2012, he was inducted into the Oklahoma Girls Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He tried retirement from coaching and spent one year in Atkins, Ark. as the high school principal, but missed his grandkids so decided to move back home. He jumped at the chance to coach with his former player, Crystal Robinson, at Murray State College and spent two years there. He couldn’t stay away from his true calling of coaching high school girls basketball and he took the girls coaching job at Durant High School, where he coached for four years. He ended his career back at Coleman as principal and coach. In the span of this amazing career, he amassed over 600 girls basketball coaching wins.
His hobbies outside of coaching basketball included attending anything his 11 grandkids
participated in or playing music. He was freakishly talented in that he could play any instrument he decided to play but could not read music.
He is preceded in death by his wife of 43 years, Karen Daniel, and his parents Pete and Estelle Daniel.
He is survived by his fiance, Johni Bell of Ardmore; daughters, Toni McLemore and husband Kyle of Durant, Tonya Bucher and husband Quentin of Marietta; son, Trent Daniel and wife Bre of Marietta; grandkids: Shaylin Nutter of the home, Zane Nutter, Bradi McLemore, Addie McLemore, Eva Bucher, Dovan Bucher, Luke McLemore, Cheyenne Daniel, Blair Daniel, Hank Johnson, Sutton Daniel; brothers: David Daniel and wife Trudy of Coleman, W.C. Daniel and wife Ruth of Coleman; sister, Annette Stanley and husband David of Coleman; along with numerous nieces and nephews, family, friends and former players.
Family hour will be from 3-5 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021 at the Holmes~Coffey~Murray Funeral Home in Durant, Okla.
A celebration of his life will be at 2 p.m. Monday, Jan. 11, 2021 at the Atoka High School Gym in Atoka with Bro. Randy Tadlock and his son Trent Daniel officiating. His final resting place will be the Coleman Cemetery in Coleman, Oklahoma. Phil’s service will be available for viewing on our Facebook page via live stream at the time of the service.
Services are under the direction of Holmes~Coffey~Murray Funeral Home in Durant, Okla. www.holmescoffeymurray.com
