MIAMI — It has proven to be historically difficult to make it to the NBA from Vermont. It’s the only state in the country that has not produced at least one player to appear in a regular season game in the league’s 77-year history.

Reaching the highest level of basketball in the world from the Green Mountain State feels nearly impossible. Not only has Bennington native Dan Bisaccio accomplished exactly that – he’s spent the past decade climbing the coaching ranks in one of the most successful organizations within the league. A relentless pursuit of his dreams helped him get his foot in the door with the Miami Heat as a video intern in 2014. It’s the dedication to his craft and basketball knowledge that has propelled Bisaccio to his latest promotion within the organization – Head Coach of the Sioux Falls Skyforce. The Skyforce serve as the Heat’s G-League affiliate, the official minor leagues of the NBA. 

Bisaccio shined for Mount Anthony basketball during his high school playing days, helping them reach the Division I state semifinals his senior year in 2008. Fast forward six years later and the MAU alumnus found himself guarding basketball royalty as part of the scout team during his first week on the Heat coaching staff.

“You go from guarding somebody versus Rutland to guarding Dwyane Wade, and you know, that was a night and day difference,” Bisaccio said with a chuckle. “In my head I’ve got two things. I’ve got the video intern in me that says, ‘Hey, I got to do a heck of a job out here.’ And then I’ve got the Vermont kid in me that grew up watching this guy in my basement saying, ‘Wow, holy smokes I’m guarding Dwyane Wade, what an amazing experience!’

“And you have to kind of put that one aside at the beginning and just focus on [your responsibilities]. I got to guard, and I got to give this guy the best visual so that we can win this game tonight.”

Bisaccio played college basketball for Division III Clarkson University. It was there that he came to the realization that his dreams of playing professionally  were unlikely, so he shifted his focus on how to remain involved in the game in a different capacity. He contemplated pursuing broadcasting and turned his attention to Emerson College in Boston. While he did continue his college basketball career after transferring to the tiny liberal arts school, he was mainly there because of the school’s rich connections to the NBA.

“I started to come to the realization that if I can’t make it playing, I wanted to coach and work at the highest level,” he said.

Despite a student population of fewer than 6,000, Emerson became an unlikely NBA pipeline when Bisaccio first stepped on campus in 2010. It started with longtime Head Coach Hank Smith, whose players included current Oklahoma City Thunder Executive Vice President and GM Sam Presti and former Orlando Magic GM Rob Hennigan. Will Dawkins, the current Washington Wizards GM, is another Emerson alumni in the league.

“There were five or six guys that were already in the NBA from Emerson College,” Bisaccio said. “So there was kind of a roadmap, and that was something as I was thinking about transferring that really reignited that kind of excitement of working at the highest level of basketball.”

It wasn’t until his senior year that Bisaccio got the first big break that would eventually catapult his coaching career. Former Boston College and Ohio State coach Jim O’Brien was hired by Emerson in 2011, and Bisaccio approached him about his future aspirations, letting him know he wanted to work in the NBA one day. 

O’Brien’s daughter happened to be working with the Marquette University women’s basketball team at the time, and Bisaccio landed a graduate assistant and video coordinator position with the Division I program. The Bennington native said those two years with the Golden Eagles really helped him learn the ins and outs of the coaching world.

“I think being a grad assistant is one of the most fulfilling and one of the best things you could do if you want to work in sports in particular,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s on the team side, marketing side, anything. It’s such a great two years of just kind of honing your skills, learning the process and learning how to work for a team.”

While fulfilling his coaching duties with Marquette, Bisaccio still had his eyes on the NBA. He would watch television broadcasts of the games and scout film. Being just down the road from the Milwaukee Bucks home arena, he frequently bought tickets to Bucks games and emailed staffers of the visiting team hoping for the off-chance to meet them after the game and give them an elevator pitch. Bisaccio also made trips to Chicago for the same reason, putting himself in front of anybody who would listen with a connection to the NBA. That’s where he met with some Heat employees very briefly.

“I ended up taking the train and talked to them for three seconds,” he said. “I didn’t know if it was going to go anywhere.”

Later that summer, Bisaccio returned to Bennington without a job. It was Labor Day weekend and he was pursuing a role with the New York Knicks as the season drew closer, offering to work for free just for the opportunity to get into the building. That’s when the Heat made a call that changed his life forever. The team had just lost its video intern and inquired with the Knicks if they knew of anybody to fill the role. New York gave Bisaccio’s name, landing him an interview.

“I went from not having a job over Labor Day weekend to we need you down here in Miami next weekend,” Bisaccio said.

After spending one year as the team’s video intern, he moved up to assistant video coordinator for four seasons, then served as video coordinator for five more seasons. Along the way, the Heat have entrusted him with additional responsibilities, including on-court work. That led to a new role: as a player development coach this past season.

His middle school basketball coach, and mentor, Kelly Kennedy said all Bisaccio ever needed was an opportunity to prove himself.

“The way Dan is, if he gets his foot in the door, then people begin to see what else he has capability of,” Kennedy said. “Here’s this guy that signed on with the Heat for video, coming to practice. Next thing you know, he’s kind of banging around with the guys in practice. The Heat coaches see that stuff.”

Bisaccio earned a reputation as a hard-worker within the Heat building during his initial on-court opportunities. He put in so much effort during one particular 5-on-0 offensive set in his second season that then Heat Associate Head Coach David Fizdale joked with somebody inside the gym that Bisaccio was trying to earn a 10-day player contract.

“I’m out there and I’m running through these plays, again, four other NBA guys and one [NCAA] Division III Vermont kid, and I’m going all out,” Bisaccio said. “I’m sprinting around, I’m sweating, and I’m soaked by the end of it.”

The nickname stuck, and while it was initially a joke, Bisaccio said it turned out to be a term of endearment in the long run.

“They knew any time I was going to go out there it was going to be full effort,” he said. “I was going to guard them to the best of my ability. I was going to cut, I was going to crash – I was going to do anything the coaching staff and players needed.”

As he enters into a new chapter as a head coach for the first time, those core values have stuck with Bisaccio throughout his life. It was first his dad, who coached him in the MAAYA basketball league, and then Kennedy and former MAU high school coach Dan Sleeman, that installed that sort of work ethic into him at a young age.

“A lot of the habits that I learned in Kates Gym through Kelly Kennedy and then Dan Sleeman, a lot of those habits I still apply today,” Bisaccio said. “I think that’s so important for kids today, especially in a town like Bennington, is to play different sports and learn like that. It’s not just playing to learn how to make a cut, it’s also learning how to be on time, how to be a professional, how to interact and to be respectful.”

Bisaccio’s rise through the coaching ranks has a lot to do with that constant level of preparation. Throughout his time with the Heat, he’s been able to observe guys like Head Coach Erik Spoelstra – a two-time NBA champion – on a day-to-day basis. So when he was asked to coach the Heat’s Summer League team this offseason for the first time, he was ready to succeed.

“Coach Spo is one of the best coaches, I mean I’m totally biased here, but I think he’s one of the best coaches of all time,” Bisaccio said. “The biggest thing that I’ve learned is that I can take bits and pieces of what makes him great and the coaches around me, I can take bits and pieces of that, but I also have to have my own style.”

All he did in his first-ever head coaching role was lead the storied franchise to its first Summer League championship, as the Heat defeated the Memphis Grizzlies 120-118 in overtime in the finals.

He was named the Skyforce’s head coach in July, and is eager to take the lessons he has learned throughout his coaching career and apply them in his new role. He has another former video-guy to rely on along the way, as Spoelstra began with Miami in 1995 as the team’s video coordinator.

“He’s obviously been one of my biggest mentors since I walked in the building,” Bisaccio said. “And I think that’s the beauty of him, he gets it. He’s going to squeeze every ounce of potential of any video guy, intern, assistant video, head video guy. He’s going to make you the best version of yourself.”

Bisaccio is laser-focused on squeezing every ounce of potential out of the Skyforce during the 2024-2025 season. What that looks like is winning games and getting as many of his players into the NBA. If he’s able to accomplish those goals then maybe, just maybe, his career trajectory will continue to mirror that of Spoelstra’s.