Tex Winter, the innovative "Triangle Offense" pioneer who assisted Phil Jackson on NBA championship teams with the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers, has died. He was 96.

Kansas State University said Winter died Wednesday in Manhattan.

Winter published "The Triple-Post Offense" in 1962 and teamed with Jackson to use the system to great success with Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Winter assisted Jackson on championship teams with the Bulls in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997 and 1998, and the Lakers in 2000, 2001, 2002. He was a consultant with Los Angeles' 2009 title team, and the Lakers also won in 2010.

Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011, Winter spent more than six decades in coaching. He was 451-336 as a college head coach at Marquette (1951-53), Kansas State (1954-68), Washington (1969-72), Northwestern (1975-78) and Long Beach State (1978-83). He coached the Houston Rockets in 1972-74, going 51-78.

Born Morice Fredrick Winter in 1922 near Wellington, Texas, he grew up in Huntington Park, California, and starred at Oregon State and Southern California in basketball and as a pole vaulter. He entered coaching at Kansas State in 1947 under Jack Gardner.