In 1940, Auerbach began coaching basketball at the St. Albans School and Roosevelt High School in Washington, D.C.[1][10] Three years later, he joined the US Navy for three years, coaching the Navy basketball team in Norfolk. There, he caught the eye of Washington millionaire Mike Uline, who hired him to coach the Washington Capitols in the newly founded Basketball Association of America (BAA), a predecessor of the NBA.[3]