List of Charlotte Hornets head coaches

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The Hornets have played their home games at the Spectrum Center since 2005. BobcatsArena.jpg
The Hornets have played their home games at the Spectrum Center since 2005.

The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They play in the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). [1] The Hornets began playing in 1988 as an expansion team, before relocating to New Orleans in 2002 and renaming themselves as the Pelicans in 2013. Charlotte was then awarded a new expansion team named the Bobcats in 2004, which reassumed the Hornets name in 2014. In a deal with the NBA and Pelicans, the renamed Hornets also reclaimed the history and records of the original Hornets from 1988 to 2002, while all of the original Hornets' records from 2002 to 2013 will remain with the Pelicans. [2] [3]

Contents

The Hornets franchise have played their home games at the Spectrum Center, formerly known as the Charlotte Bobcats Arena and the Time Warner Cable Arena, since 2005. [4] The Hornets are owned by Michael Jordan. [5] [6]

There have been 10 head coaches for the Hornets franchise. The franchise's first head coach was Dick Harter, who coached for two seasons. Allan Bristow and Steve Clifford are the franchise's all-time leader for the most regular-season games coached (410); Bristow is also the franchise's all-time leader for the most regular-season game wins (207); Dave Cowens is the franchise's all-time leader for the highest winning percentage in the regular season (.609); Paul Silas is the franchise's all-time leader for the most playoff games coached (23), and the most playoff-game wins (11). Harter, Bristow, Sam Vincent and Mike Dunlap have spent their entire NBA coaching careers with the Hornets franchise. Larry Brown is the only coach of the franchise to have been elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach. [7] The previous head coach of the Hornets was Steve Clifford, who returned and coached two seasons as head coach. The current head coach of the Hornets is Charles Lee, who was hired by the Hornets on May 9, 2024.

Key

GCGames coached
WWins
LLosses
Win% Winning percentage
#Number of coaches [a]
*Spent entire NBA head coaching career with the Hornets
†Elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach

Coaches

Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2023–24 season.

#NameTerm [b] GCWLWin%GCWLWin%AchievementsReference
Regular seasonPlayoffs
Charlotte Hornets
Dick Harter * 1988–1990 1222894.230000– [8]
Gene Littles 1990–1991 1243787.298000– [9]
Allan Bristow * 1991–1996 410207203.5051358.385 [10]
Dave Cowens 1996–1999 17910970.6091248.333 [11]
Paul Silas [c] 1999–2002 281161120.573231112.478 [12]
Charlotte Bobcats
Bernie Bickerstaff 2004–2007 24677169.313000– [13]
Sam Vincent * 2007–2008 823250.390000– [14]
Larry Brown † 2008–2010 19288104.458404.000 [7]
— Paul Silas [c] 2010–2012 1203288.267000– [15]
Mike Dunlap * 2012–2013 822161.256000– [16]
Steve Clifford 2013–2014 824339.524404.000 [17]
Charlotte Hornets
— Steve Clifford 2014–2018 328153175.466734.429 [17]
James Borrego 2018–2022 301138163.458000– [18]
Steve Clifford 2022–2024 16448116.293———– [17]
Charles Lee 2024–present000–———–[ citation needed ]

Notes

Franchise leaders

All-time leaders – as of the end of the 2021–22 NBA season. Bold denotes active coach with the team.

Most Games Coached

  1. Steve Clifford – 574
  2. Allan Bristow – 410
  3. Paul Silas – 401
  4. James Borrego – 301
  5. Bernie Bickerstaff – 246

Most Wins Coached

  1. Steve Clifford – 244
  2. Allan Bristow – 207
  3. Paul Silas – 193
  4. James Borrego – 138
  5. Dave Cowens – 109

Best Winning %

  1. Dave Cowens – .609
  2. Allan Bristow – .505
  3. Paul Silas – .481
  4. Larry Brown – .458
  5. Steve Clifford – .425

Most Playoff Games Coached

  1. Paul Silas – 23
  2. Allan Bristow – 13
  3. Dave Cowens – 12
  4. Steve Clifford – 11
  5. Larry Brown – 4

Most Playoff Wins Coached

  1. Paul Silas – 11
  2. Allan Bristow – 5
  3. Dave Cowens – 4
  4. Steve Clifford – 3

Best Playoff Winning %

  1. Paul Silas – .478
  2. Allan Bristow – .385
  3. Dave Cowens – .333
  4. Steve Clifford – .273

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References

General
Specific
  1. ↑ "Team Index". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
  2. ↑ "Twitter / Hornets: All the history of the Charlotte Hornets will return to Charlotte. Not only the Bobcats era '04-'14, but also the original Hornets 1988-2002". Twitter.com. 2014-05-20. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
  3. ↑ Hornets all the buzz in Charlotte. ESPN, 2014-05-20.
  4. ↑ "Arena Information". Time Warner Cable Arena/Bobcats Sports & Entertainment. Archived from the original on November 20, 2008. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
  5. ↑ "Bobcats 2008-09 Executive Staff Bios". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on December 1, 2009. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
  6. ↑ "Robert L. Johnson Adds Nelly To Bobcats Ownership Team". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on December 12, 2008. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
  7. 1 2 "Larry Brown Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved May 14, 2010.
  8. ↑ "Dick Harter Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
  9. ↑ "Gene Littles Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
  10. ↑ "Allan Bristow Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
  11. ↑ "Dave Cowens Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Archived from the original on May 17, 2008. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
  12. ↑ "Paul Silas Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
  13. ↑ "Bernie Bickerstaff Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
  14. ↑ "Sam Vincent Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
  15. ↑ "Paul Silas Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
  16. ↑ "Mike Dunlap Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved December 18, 2012.
  17. 1 2 3 "Steve Clifford Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
  18. ↑ "James Borrego Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
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