[1] An undersized guard at 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m), he played college basketball at Santa Clara under head coach Bob Feerick in the early 1960s, where he earned a degree in history.
[2][3][4] Buoncristiani started his coaching career at the high school level in California at Mission in San Luis Obispo for two years and then at Righetti in Santa Maria.
[2][3] Less than a week after accepting the job, Buoncristiani was involved in a traffic accident in Spokane in which his car was demolished, but "ABC"[5] escaped with only minor injuries.
[8][9] He was succeeded by Dan Fitzgerald, a former GU assistant during ABC's first two years with the Bulldogs and a teammate from high school at St. Ignatius in San Francisco.
[11] Gonzaga left the Big Sky in June 1979 and joined the West Coast Athletic Conference, swapping places with Nevada.