List of Charlotte Hornets head coaches
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]
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, and Rich Cho is their general manager.[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] Currently, the head coach of the Hornets is James Borrego.
Key
GC | Games coached |
W | Wins |
L | Losses |
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 2019–20 season.
# | Name | Term[b] | GC | W | L | Win% | GC | W | L | Win% | Achievements | Reference | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Regular season | Playoffs | ||||||||||||||
Charlotte Hornets | |||||||||||||||
1 | Dick Harter* | 1988–1990 | 122 | 28 | 94 | .230 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | [8] | ||||
2 | Gene Littles | 1990–1991 | 124 | 37 | 87 | .298 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | [9] | ||||
3 | Allan Bristow* | 1991–1996 | 410 | 207 | 203 | .505 | 13 | 5 | 8 | .385 | [10] | ||||
4 | Dave Cowens | 1996–1999 | 179 | 109 | 70 | .609 | 12 | 4 | 8 | .333 | [11] | ||||
5 | Paul Silas[c] | 1999–2002 | 281 | 161 | 120 | .573 | 23 | 11 | 12 | .478 | [12] | ||||
Charlotte Bobcats | |||||||||||||||
6 | Bernie Bickerstaff | 2004–2007 | 246 | 77 | 169 | .313 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | [13] | ||||
7 | Sam Vincent* | 2007–2008 | 82 | 32 | 50 | .390 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | [14] | ||||
8 | Larry Brown | 2008–2010 | 192 | 88 | 104 | .458 | 4 | 0 | 4 | .000 | [7] | ||||
— | Paul Silas[c] | 2010–2012 | 120 | 32 | 88 | .267 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | [15] | ||||
9 | Mike Dunlap* | 2012–2013 | 82 | 21 | 61 | .256 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | [16] | ||||
10 | Steve Clifford | 2013–2014 | 82 | 43 | 39 | .524 | 4 | 0 | 4 | .000 | [17] | ||||
Charlotte Hornets | |||||||||||||||
— | Steve Clifford | 2014–2018 | 328 | 153 | 175 | .466 | 7 | 3 | 4 | .429 | [17] | ||||
11 | James Borrego | 2018–present | 147 | 62 | 85 | .422 | — | — | — | – | [18] |
- Dave Cowens coached the Hornets for three seasons from 1996-1999.
Notes
- a A running total of the number of coaches of the Bobcats/Hornets. 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.
- c Paul Silas has a combined total of 401 regular season games coached, with a W–L record of 193–208, for a .481 winning percentage during his non-consecutive tenures in Charlotte.
Franchise leaders
All-time leaders – as of the end of the 2017–18 NBA season. Bold denotes active coach with the team.
Most Games Coached
- Allan Bristow – 410
- Steve Clifford – 410
- Paul Silas – 401
- Bernie Bickerstaff – 246
- Larry Brown – 192
Most Wins Coached
- Allan Bristow – 207
- Steve Clifford – 196
- Paul Silas – 193
- Dave Cowens – 109
- Larry Brown – 88
Best Winning %
- Dave Cowens – .609
- Allan Bristow – .505
- Paul Silas – .481
- Steve Clifford – .478
- Larry Brown – .458
Most Playoff Games Coached
- Paul Silas – 23
- Allan Bristow – 13
- Dave Cowens – 12
- Steve Clifford – 11
- Larry Brown – 4
Most Playoff Wins Coached
- Paul Silas – 11
- Allan Bristow – 5
- Dave Cowens – 4
- Steve Clifford – 3
Best Playoff Winning %
- Paul Silas – .478
- Allan Bristow – .385
- Dave Cowens – .333
- Steve Clifford – .273
References
- General
- "Charlotte Bobcats Coach Register". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
- Specific
- "Team Index". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
- "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.
- Hornets all the buzz in Charlotte. ESPN, 2014-05-20.
- "Arena Information". Time Warner Cable Arena/Bobcats Sports & Entertainment. Archived from the original on November 20, 2008. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
- "Bobcats 2008-09 Executive Staff Bios". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on December 1, 2009. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
- "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.
- "Larry Brown Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved May 14, 2010.
- "Dick Harter Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
- "Gene Littles Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
- "Allan Bristow Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
- "Dave Cowens Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Archived from the original on May 17, 2008. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
- "Paul Silas Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
- "Bernie Bickerstaff Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
- "Sam Vincent Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
- "Paul Silas Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
- "Mike Dunlap Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved December 18, 2012.
- "Steve Clifford Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
- "James Borrego Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 23, 2020.