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]

Contents

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

GCGames coached
WWins
LLosses
Win% Winning percentage
#Number of coaches [a]
*Spent entire NBA head coaching career with the Packers/Zephyrs/Bullets/Wizards

Coaches

#NameTerm [b] GCWLWin%GCWLWin%AchievementsReference
Regular seasonPlayoffs
Jim Pollard 1961–1962 801862.359———— [4]
Jack McMahon 1962 381226.316———— [15]
Bobby Leonard 1962–1964 (as player-coach)1224478.361———— [16]
Buddy Jeannette 1964–1965 803743.4631055.500 [7]
Paul Seymour 1965–1966 803842.475303.000 [17]
Mike Farmer * 1966 (interim)918.111———— [10]
Buddy Jeannette 1966 (interim)16313.188———— [7]
Gene Shue 1966–1973 548291257.531401426.350 1968–69 NBA Coach of the Year [6] [18]
K. C. Jones 1973–1976 24615591.630311417.452 [8]
Dick Motta 1976–1980 328185143.564512724.529NBA Championship (1978) [19] [5]
Gene Shue 1980–1986 479231248.48215510.333 1981–82 NBA Coach of the Year [6] [18]
Kevin Loughery 1986–1988 1225765.467826.250 [20]
Wes Unseld 1988–1994 547202345.369523.400 [9]
Jim Lynam 1994–1997 21082128.390———— [21]
Bob Staak * 1997 (interim)101.000———— [11]
Bernie Bickerstaff 1997–1999 1497772.517303.000 [22]
Jim Brovelli * 1999 (interim)18513.278———— [12]
Gar Heard 1999–2000 441430.318———— [23]
Darrell Walker 2000 (interim)381523.395———— [24]
Leonard Hamilton * 2000–2001 821963.232———— [13]
Doug Collins 2001–2003 1647490.451———— [25]
Eddie Jordan 2003–2008 421197224.46826818.308 [26]
Ed Tapscott * 2008–2009 (interim)711853.254———— [14]
Flip Saunders 2009–2012 18151130.282———— [27]
Randy Wittman 2012–2016 377178199.47221129.571 [28]
Scott Brooks 2016–2021 390183207.469241014.417 [29]
Wes Unseld Jr. * 2021–2024 20777130.372———— [30]
Brian Keefe 2024–present39831.205————

Notes

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References

General
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. 1 2 3 "Jim Pollard Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 25, 2008.
  5. 1 2 3 "Dick Motta Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  6. 1 2 3 "Coach of the Year". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on September 15, 2010. Retrieved November 27, 2008.
  7. 1 2 3 "Buddy Jeannette Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 25, 2008.
  8. 1 2 3 "K. C. Jones Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  9. 1 2 "Wes Unseld Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  10. 1 2 "Mike Farmer Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 25, 2008.
  11. 1 2 "Bob Staak Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  12. 1 2 "Jim Brovelli Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  13. 1 2 "Leonard Hamilton Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  14. 1 2 "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. 1 2 "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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