Lawrence Frank

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
See also Lawrence K. Frank, American social scientist
Lawrence Frank
Personal information
Born (1970-08-23) August 23, 1970 (age 42)
New York City, New York
Nationality American
Career information
High school Teaneck High School
College Indiana University
League National Basketball Association

Lawrence Frank (born August 23, 1970) is an American professional basketball coach in the NBA. He formerly served as the head coach of the Detroit Pistons, New Jersey Nets and as an assistant coach of the Boston Celtics.

Contents

Early life and education [edit]

Frank was born in New York City, New York and grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey. Frank graduated from Teaneck High School, but he never made the school's basketball team.[1] He earned his B.S. in education from Indiana University in 1992, where he spent four seasons as a manager for the Hoosier basketball team led by Bob Knight. During his time at Indiana the Hoosiers twice won a Big Ten Conference championship, once in the 1988–1989 season and again in the 1990-91 season. His senior year, during the 1991-92 season, Indiana reached the 1992 NCAA Final Four, but fell to Duke in a foul-plagued game in Minneapolis.

Frank frequently cites Knight as a role model and mentor.[2] Asked what he learned most of Knight, he said, "It's more of what he stood for. If you work hard and are trustworthy it will carry you a long way. Master your subject manner, have confidence, be reliable and sincere. He is a great mentor and teacher to have at age 18. With him you started at the bottom and were given nothing. Everything you got, you earned – sweat equity." [2]

Frank is credited by some for having secretly taped a practice speech by Knight leading up to an Indiana-Purdue game in 1991.[3] In the speech Knight unleashes a torrent of expletives and threats designed to motivate his team. The speech has since gone viral and has over 1.83 million views on YouTube alone.[4]

Coaching career [edit]

Assistant coach [edit]

Frank served as an assistant coach at the University of Tennessee for three seasons under Head Coach Kevin O'Neill. Frank first worked with O'Neill as a staff assistant at Marquette University in 1992 and during his tenure, helped lead the Marquette Warriors to two NCAA tournament berths and a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 1994.

Frank then spent three seasons as an assistant coach for the Vancouver Grizzlies under Brian Hill. Hill would later serve as Frank's assistant with the New Jersey Nets. His responsibilities with the Grizzlies included scouting upcoming opponents as well as practice and bench coaching duties.

Head coach [edit]

Frank became the interim head coach of the New Jersey Nets on January 26, 2004, succeeding Byron Scott, after serving as an assistant coach with the team since the 2000-01 season. He officially became the head coach of the Nets on June 21, 2004.

Frank began his NBA coaching career by achieving a 13–0 record from January 27 to February 24, 2004, which set a new NBA record for the most consecutive wins by a head coach to begin a coaching career. The 13-game winning streak was also the longest winning streak of any coach in any of the four major professional sports to begin a career. During the streak, the Nets won six consecutive games on the road, which gave Frank the mark for the most wins by a head coach on the road at the outset of his coaching career.

The Nets picked up Lawrence's option on June 6, 2006, and added a two-year extension on July 23, 2007. He was relieved of his duties on November 29, 2009, after the Nets began the season with an 0-16 record.[5] This streak was ongoing at the time of his dismissal and continued afterwards. Frank was the only coach ever in the NBA to start and end his tenure with a team with a double digit winning streak and losing streak.[citation needed] Following his firing, Frank worked as an analyst for NBATV. On July 15, 2010, Frank was hired by the Boston Celtics, replacing Tom Thibodeau as the lead assistant coach on Doc Rivers' coaching staff.

On August 3, 2011, Frank was announced as the head coach of the Detroit Pistons.[6]

After a loss to Oklahoma City Thunder on November 12, 2012, the Pistons fell to 0-8. This made Frank the third coach in the history of the NBA to start at least 0-8 with two separate franchises.

On April 18, 2013, Frank was fired by the Pistons after going 54-94 in two seasons.[7]

Personal life [edit]

Born in New York City, New York and grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey, Frank graduated from Teaneck High School, but he never made the school's basketball team.[1] He played for a Jewish Community Center team and was also a player-coach for a Catholic Youth Organization team.[8] In addition to his degree from Indiana University, Frank also holds an M.S. in education administration from Marquette.

Lawrence and his wife, Susan, have two daughters, and reside in Demarest, New Jersey during the offseason.[9]

Coaching record [edit]

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
NJN 2003–04 40 25 15 .625 1st in Atlantic 11 7 4 .636 Lost in Conf. Semifinals
NJN 2004–05 82 42 40 .512 3rd in Atlantic 4 0 4 .000 Lost in First Round
NJN 2005–06 82 49 33 .598 1st in Atlantic 11 5 6 .455 Lost in Conf. Semifinals
NJN 2006–07 82 41 41 .500 2nd in Atlantic 12 6 6 .500 Lost in Conf. Semifinals
NJN 2007–08 82 34 48 .415 4th in Atlantic — — — — Missed Playoffs
NJN 2008–09 82 34 48 .415 4th in Atlantic — — — — Missed Playoffs
NJN 2009–10 16 0 16 .000 (fired) — — — —  —
DET 2011–12 66 25 41 .379 4th in Central — — — — Missed Playoffs
DET 2012–13 82 29 53 .354 4th in Central — — — — Missed Playoffs
Career 614 279 335 .454 38 18 20 .474

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b Popper, Steve. "A Coach in Training, Even as a Teenager", The New York Times, January 28, 2004. Accessed March 28, 2008. "Almost 20 years ago, Bruce Frank was the starting point guard for the Teaneck High School team, playing alongside the future N.B.A. player Tony Campbell. Frank was good enough to dream of playing in the NBA himself someday and to earn a place in Howie Garfinkel's Five-Star Basketball Camp. The camp also held interest for Bruce Frank's younger brother, Lawrence, a 16-year-old who had been cut from the same Teaneck High team."
  2. ^ a b Lamb, Kevin. "Meet Lawrence Frank, Detroit’s new basketball coach – Q&A". Sportz Detroit Magazine. Retrieved 9 May 2012. 
  3. ^ Lewis, Tom (18 February 2008). "Did Lawrence Frank Tape Classic Knight Tirade?". Indy Cornrows. Retrieved 9 May 2012. 
  4. ^ "Bobby Knight - angry motivational speech". YouTube. 
  5. ^ Dave D'Alessandro. "New Jersey Nets Fire Lawrence Frank". The Star-Ledger. November 29, 2009. Retrieved on November 29, 2009.
  6. ^ Pistons' new coach Lawrence Frank: 'We'll be defense-first'
  7. ^ Detroit Pistons fire coach Lawrence Frank
  8. ^ Ira Berkow. "The Improbable World of Lawrence Frank". New York Times. February 18, 2004. Retrieved on November 29, 2009.
  9. ^ http://www.nba.com/coachfile/lawrence_frank/

External links [edit]

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lawrence_Frank&oldid=554368738"