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List of Washington Wizards head coaches

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The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. They are a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team plays its home games at the Capital One Arena (formerly the MCI Center and the Verizon Center). The franchise was established in Chicago, Illinois as the Chicago Packers in 1961; after one season, its name was changed to the Chicago Zephyrs. In 1963, the franchise moved to Baltimore, Maryland and was renamed the Baltimore Bullets. It moved to Landover, Maryland in 1973 and changed its name to the Capital Bullets. After one season, the team became the Washington Bullets. In 1978, the Bullets won the 1978 NBA Finals in seven games for the franchise's only championship. In 1997, the team became the Washington Wizards, which is the team's current name. Since their formation, the Wizards have won six divisional championships, four conference championships, one league championship and have appeared in the playoffs twenty-three times.[1][2][3]

There have been 24 head coaches for the Wizards franchise. The franchise's first coach was Jim Pollard, who led the team for one season.[4] Dick Motta is the only Wizards coach to have led the team to a championship; the team won the 1978 NBA Finals as the Washington Bullets during his tenure.[5] Gene Shue is the only Wizards coach to have won the NBA Coach of the Year Award; he won it twice, in 1969 and 1982.[6] No Wizards coach has been elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach, but four have been elected into the Hall of Fame as a player: Jim Pollard, Buddy Jeannette, K. C. Jones and Wes Unseld.[4][7][8][9] Shue is the franchise's all-time leader in regular-season games coached (1027) and wins (522); Jones is the franchise's all-time leader in regular-season winning percentage (.630).[8] Dick Motta is the franchise's all-time leader in playoff games coached (51) and wins (27), as well as playoff-game winning percentage (.529).[5] Five Wizards coaches have spent their entire NBA head coaching career with the team: Mike Farmer, Bob Staak, Jim Brovelli, Leonard Hamilton and Ed Tapscott.[10][11][12][13][14] The team's current head coach is Brian Keefe.

Key

[edit]
GC Games coached
W Wins
L Losses
Win% Winning percentage
# Number of coaches[a]
* Spent entire NBA head coaching career with the Packers/Zephyrs/Bullets/Wizards

Coaches

[edit]
# Name Term[b] GC W L Win% GC W L Win% Achievements Reference
Regular season Playoffs
1 Jim Pollard 1961–1962 80 18 62 .359 — — — — [4]
2 Jack McMahon 1962 38 12 26 .316 — — — — [15]
3 Bobby Leonard 1962–1964 (as player-coach) 122 44 78 .361 — — — — [16]
4 Buddy Jeannette 1964–1965 80 37 43 .463 10 5 5 .500 [7]
5 Paul Seymour 1965–1966 80 38 42 .475 3 0 3 .000 [17]
6 Mike Farmer* 1966 (interim) 9 1 8 .111 — — — — [10]
— Buddy Jeannette 1966 (interim) 16 3 13 .188 — — — — [7]
7 Gene Shue 1966–1973 548 291 257 .531 40 14 26 .350 1968–69 NBA Coach of the Year[6] [18]
8 K. C. Jones 1973–1976 246 155 91 .630 31 14 17 .452 [8]
9 Dick Motta 1976–1980 328 185 143 .564 51 27 24 .529 NBA Championship (1978)[19] [5]
— Gene Shue 1980–1986 479 231 248 .482 15 5 10 .333 1981–82 NBA Coach of the Year[6] [18]
10 Kevin Loughery 1986–1988 122 57 65 .467 8 2 6 .250 [20]
11 Wes Unseld 1988–1994 547 202 345 .369 5 2 3 .400 [9]
12 Jim Lynam 1994–1997 210 82 128 .390 — — — — [21]
13 Bob Staak* 1997 (interim) 1 0 1 .000 — — — — [11]
14 Bernie Bickerstaff 1997–1999 149 77 72 .517 3 0 3 .000 [22]
15 Jim Brovelli* 1999 (interim) 18 5 13 .278 — — — — [12]
16 Gar Heard 1999–2000 44 14 30 .318 — — — — [23]
17 Darrell Walker 2000 (interim) 38 15 23 .395 — — — — [24]
18 Leonard Hamilton* 2000–2001 82 19 63 .232 — — — — [13]
19 Doug Collins 2001–2003 164 74 90 .451 — — — — [25]
20 Eddie Jordan 2003–2008 421 197 224 .468 26 8 18 .308 [26]
21 Ed Tapscott* 2008–2009 (interim) 71 18 53 .254 — — — — [14]
22 Flip Saunders 2009–2012 181 51 130 .282 — — — — [27]
23 Randy Wittman 2012–2016 377 178 199 .472 21 12 9 .571 [28]
24 Scott Brooks 2016–2021 390 183 207 .469 24 10 14 .417 [29]
25 Wes Unseld Jr.* 2021–2024 207 77 130 .372 — — — — [30]
26 Brian Keefe 2024–present 39 8 31 .205 — — — —
  • Doug Collins coached the Wizards for two seasons from 2001 to 2003.
    Doug Collins coached the Wizards for two seasons from 2001 to 2003.
  • A man coaching from the sidelines of a basketball game. He is wearing a blue jacket and a white shirt with a dark, patterned tie.
    Eddie Jordan was the head coach for the Wizards from 2003 to 2008.
  • Randy Wittman was the head coach for the Wizards from 2012 to 2016.
    Randy Wittman was the head coach for the Wizards from 2012 to 2016.
  • Scott Brooks was the head coach for the Wizards from 2016 to 2021.
    Scott Brooks was the head coach for the Wizards from 2016 to 2021.
  • Wes Unseld Jr. was the head coach for the Wizards from 2021 to 2024.
    Wes Unseld Jr. was the head coach for the Wizards from 2021 to 2024.

Notes

[edit]
  • a A running total of the number of coaches of the franchise. Thus, any coach who has two or more separate terms as head coach is only counted once.
  • b Each year is linked to an article about that particular NBA season.

References

[edit]
General
  • "Washington Wizards Coach Register". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 25, 2008.
Specific
  1. ^ "Washington Wizards History". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved November 27, 2008.
  2. ^ "Washington Wizards History". CBS Sports. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 27, 2008.
  3. ^ "Washington Wizards (1963-Present)". SportsEncyclopedia.com. MMVIII Tank Productions. Retrieved November 27, 2008.
  4. ^ a b c "Jim Pollard Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 25, 2008.
  5. ^ a b c "Dick Motta Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  6. ^ a b c "Coach of the Year". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on September 15, 2010. Retrieved November 27, 2008.
  7. ^ a b c "Buddy Jeannette Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 25, 2008.
  8. ^ a b c "K. C. Jones Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  9. ^ a b "Wes Unseld Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  10. ^ a b "Mike Farmer Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 25, 2008.
  11. ^ a b "Bob Staak Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  12. ^ a b "Jim Brovelli Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  13. ^ a b "Leonard Hamilton Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  14. ^ a b "Ed Tapscott Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  15. ^ "Jack McMahon Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 25, 2008.
  16. ^ "Slick Leonard Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 25, 2008.
  17. ^ "Paul Seymour Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 25, 2008.
  18. ^ a b "Gene Shue Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 25, 2008.
  19. ^ "NBA Finals: All-Time Champions". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  20. ^ "Kevin Loughery Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  21. ^ "Jim Lynam Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  22. ^ "Bernie Bickerstaff Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  23. ^ "Gar Heard Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  24. ^ "Darrell Walker Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  25. ^ "Doug Collins Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  26. ^ "Eddie Jordan Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  27. ^ "Flip Saunders Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
  28. ^ "Randy Wittman Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved December 18, 2012.
  29. ^ "Scott Brooks Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 9, 2014. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
  30. ^ "Wes Unseld Jr. Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 25, 2024.

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