Erik Spoelstra

Erik Spoelstra

Miami Heat
Head coach
Personal information
Date of birth	November 1, 1970 (1970-11-01)
Place of birth	Evanston, Illinois
Career information
College	University of Portland
Career history
As coach:
1997–2008	Miami Heat (assistant)
2008–present	Miami Heat
Stats at NBA.com

Erik Spoelstra (born November 1, 1970) is an American professional basketball coach and the current head coach of the National Basketball Association's Miami Heat. He is the first Filipino-American head coach in the NBA, as well as the first Filipino-American head coach of any North American professional sports team. From 2001 to 2008, he served as assistant coach/director of scouting for the team. He coached the Heat to 148 wins and three playoff appearances, including a trip to the 2011 NBA Finals, in his first three seasons.

Personal life

He is the son of Dutch-Irish-American Jon Spoelstra, who was an NBA executive for the Portland Trail Blazers, Denver Nuggets, Buffalo Braves and New Jersey Nets, and the grandson of the late Watson Spoelstra, a sportswriter in the Detroit area. His mother, Elisa Celino, is from San Pablo, Laguna in the Philippines.

Early life

Spoelstra grew up in Portland, Oregon, where he graduated from Jesuit High School in 1988 and from the University of Portland in 1992.

At the University of Portland, Spoelstra was the Pilots' starting point guard for four years, averaging 9.2 points, 4.4 assists and 2.4 rebounds per game, and was named the West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year. He is a member of Portland's 1,000-point club.

After graduation from college, he spent two years as a player/coach for TuS Herten (later the Herten Ruhr Devils / Hertener Löwen), a German professional team.

Miami Heat

Spoelstra joined the Heat staff in 1995 as the team's video coordinator. After two years, he was named assistant coach/video coordinator, then promoted to assistant coach/advance scout in 1999. He became the assistant coach/director of scouting in 2001. He was cited by Sports Illustrated (May 30, 2005) for honing star guard Dwyane Wade’s "shooting balance and smoothing out his release after the Flash’s return from the Athens Olympics."

Spoelstra was an assistant coach with the Miami Heat when they won the 2006 NBA Finals by defeating the Dallas Mavericks, overcoming a 0-2 deficit.

In April 2008, Spoelstra was named successor to Pat Riley as head coach of the Miami Heat. In naming Spoelstra as head coach, Riley said: "This game is now about younger coaches who are technologically skilled, innovative, and bring fresh new ideas. That's what we feel we are getting with Erik Spoelstra. He's a man that was born to coach." Riley also noted: "A lot of players want the discipline; they will play [hard] for Spoelstra, because 'they respect him.'"

Spoelstra coached the Heat to the NBA Finals in 2011 where they lost 4-2 against the Dallas Mavericks.

On December 16, 2011, he received a contract extension.

Head coaching record

Legend
Regular season	G	Games coached	W	Games won	L	Games lost	W–L %	Win-loss  %
Post season	PG	Playoff Games	PW	Playoff Wins	PL	Playoff Losses	PW–L %	Playoff Win-loss  %

Team	Year	G	W	L	W–L%	Finish	PG	PW	PL	PW–L%	Result
MIA	2008–09	82	43	39	.524	3rd in Southeast	7	3	4	.429	Lost in First Round
MIA	2009–10	82	47	35	.573	3rd in Southeast	5	1	4	.200	Lost in First Round
MIA	2010–11	82	58	24	.707	1st in Southeast	21	14	7	.667	Lost in NBA Finals
Career		246	148	98	.602		33	18	15	.545

External links

• ErikSpoelstra.com
• Kevin Arnovitz, "The Mystery Guest Arrives," ESPN.com, June 1, 2011.