List of NBA championship head coaches

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a major professional basketball league in North America. It was founded in 1946 as the Basketball Association of America (BAA). The league adopted its current name at the start of the 1949–50 season when it merged with the National Basketball League (NBL). The league consists of 30 teams, of which 29 are located in the United States and one in Canada. In the NBA, a head coach is the highest ranking coach of a coaching staff. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than the assistant coaches.

Former Los Angeles Lakers head coach, Phil Jackson, won 11 NBA championships, the most in NBA history. He is the only coach who has won multiple championship with multiple teams. He won 6 titles with the Chicago Bulls and 5 titles with the Lakers. Red Auerbach won 9 championships with the Boston Celtics. He won his first title in 1957 before winning 8 consecutive titles from 1959 to 1966. John Kundla and Pat Riley each won 5 championships. Kundla won all of his titles with the Lakers, while Riley won 4 titles with the Lakers and 1 with the Miami Heat. Current San Antonio Spurs head coach, Popovich, is the only other coach who has won more than 2 championships; he won 4 titles with the Spurs. Boston Celtics head coach, Doc Rivers and Dallas Mavericks head coach, Rick Carlisle are the only other active coaches who have won a championship.

Among championship head coaches, 13 of them (Auerbach, Larry Brown, Carlisle, Bill Fitch, Tom Heinsohn, Red Holzman, Jackson, Dick Motta, Popovich, Riley, Rivers, Bill Sharman, Lenny Wilkens) have all won Coach of the Year Award and 11 of them (Auerbach, Brown, Chuck Daly, Alex Hannum, Holzman, Jackson, Kundla, Jack Ramsay, Riley, Sharman, Wilkens) have been inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach.

Key

Yrs	Number of years coached
GC	Games coached
W	Wins
L	Losses
Win%	Winning percentage
^	Denotes coach who is currently coaching an NBA team
*	Elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach
*^	Active NBA coach who has been elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame

List

Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2010–11 season.

Number won	Coach	Team(s) won with (years)	Coaching career	Yrs	GC	W	L	Win%	GC	W	L	Win%	Ref.
					Regular season				Playoffs
&10000000000000011000000 11	Jackson, PhilPhil Jackson*	Chicago Bulls (1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998) Los Angeles Lakers (2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010)	1989–2004, 2005–2011	20	1,640	1,155	485	.704	333	229	104	.688
&10000000000000009000000 9	Auerbach, RedRed Auerbach*	Boston Celtics (1957, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966)	1946–1966	20	1,417	938	479	.662	168	99	69	.589
&10000000000000005000000 5	Kundla, JohnJohn Kundla*	Minneapolis Lakers (1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954)	1948–1958, 1958–1959	11	725	423	302	.583	95	60	35	.632
&10000000000000005000000 5	Riley, PatPat Riley*	Los Angeles Lakers (1982, 1985, 1987, 1988) Miami Heat (2006)	1981–2003, 2005–2008	24	1,904	1,210	694	.636	282	171	111	.606
&10000000000000004000000 4	Popovich, GreggGregg Popovich^	San Antonio Spurs (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007)	1996–present	15	1,180	797	383	.675	181	108	73	.597
&10000000000000002000000 2	Daly, ChuckChuck Daly*	Detroit Pistons (1989, 1990)	1981–1994, 1997–1999	14	1,075	638	437	.593	126	75	51	.595
&10000000000000002000000 2	Hannum, AlexAlex Hannum*	St. Louis Hawks (1958) Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers (1967)	1957–1958, 1960–1968, 1969–1971	12	883	471	412	.533	81	47	34	.580
&10000000000000002000000 2	Heinsohn, TomTom Heinsohn	Boston Celtics (1974, 1976)	1969–1978	9	690	427	263	.619	80	47	33	.588
&10000000000000002000000 2	Holzman, RedRed Holzman*	New York Knicks (1970, 1973)	1954–1957, 1967–1977, 1978–1982	18	1,300	696	604	.535	106	58	48	.547
&10000000000000002000000 2	Jones, K. C.K. C. Jones	Boston Celtics (1984, 1986)	1974–1976, 1983–1988, 1990–1992	10	774	522	252	.674	138	81	57	.587
&10000000000000002000000 2	Russell, BillBill Russell	Boston Celtics (1968, 1969)	1966–1969, 1973–1977, 1987–1988	8	631	341	290	.540	61	34	27	.557
&10000000000000002000000 2	Tomjanovich, RudyRudy Tomjanovich	Houston Rockets (1994, 1995)	1992–2003, 2004–2005	13	943	527	416	.559	90	51	39	.567
&10000000000000001000000 1	Attles, AlAl Attles	San Francisco/Golden State Warriors (1975)	1970–1982	14	1,075	557	518	.518	61	31	30	.508
&10000000000000001000000 1	Brown, LarryLarry Brown*	Detroit Pistons (2004)	1976–1979, 1981–1983, 1988–2006, 2008–2010	27	2,002	1,098	904	.548	193	100	93	.518
&10000000000000001000000 1	Carlisle, RickRick Carlisle^	Dallas Mavericks (2011)	2001–2007, 2008–present	9	738	443	295	.600	99	53	46	.535
&10000000000000001000000 1	Cervi, AlAl Cervi	Syracuse Nationals (1955)	1949–1956, 1958–1959	9	567	326	241	.575	60	34	26	.567
&10000000000000001000000 1	Costello, LarryLarry Costello	Milwaukee Bucks (1971)	1968–1976, 1978–1979	10	730	430	300	.589	60	37	23	.617
&10000000000000001000000 1	Cunningham, BillyBilly Cunningham	Philadelphia 76ers (1983)	1977–1985	8	650	454	196	.698	105	66	39	.629
&10000000000000001000000 1	Fitch, BillBill Fitch	Boston Celtics (1981)	1970–1988, 1989–1992, 1994–1998	25	2,050	944	1,106	.460	109	55	54	.505
&10000000000000001000000 1	Gottlieb, EdwardEdward Gottlieb	Philadelphia Warriors (1947)	1946–1955	9	581	263	318	.453	32	15	17	.469
&10000000000000001000000 1	Harrison, LesterLester Harrison	Rochester Royals (1951)	1948–1955	7	476	295	181	.620	38	19	19	.500
&10000000000000001000000 1	Motta, DickDick Motta	Washington Bullets (1978)	1968–1980, 1980–1987, 1990–1991, 1994–1997	25	1,952	935	1,017	.479	126	56	70	.444
&10000000000000001000000 1	Ramsay, JackJack Ramsay*	Portland Trail Blazers (1977)	1969–1972, 1973–1988	21	1,647	864	783	.525	102	44	58	.431
&10000000000000001000000 1	Rivers, DocDoc Rivers^	Boston Celtics (2008)	1999–2003, 2004–present	12	913	507	406	.555	95	51	44	.537
&10000000000000001000000 1	Sharman, BillBill Sharman	Los Angeles Lakers (1972)	1966–1968, 1971–1977	7	573	333	240	.581	62	35	27	.565
&10000000000000001000000 1	Westhead, PaulPaul Westhead	Los Angeles Lakers (1980)	1979–1981, 1982–1983, 1990–1992	6	407	183	224	.450	19	13	6	.684
&10000000000000001000000 1	Wilkens, LennyLenny Wilkens*	Seattle SuperSonics (1979)	1969–1972, 1974–1976, 1977–1985, 1986–2003, 2004–2005	32	2,487	1,332	1,155	.536	178	80	98	.449

Notes

• ^a Each year is linked to an article about the BAA/NBA Finals in that year.
• ^b Each year is linked to an article about that particular BAA/NBA season.

See also

• List of NBA champions
• List of NBA players with most championships

References

General

• "NBA Coach Register". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/NBA_stats.html. Retrieved August 4, 2010. 
• "All-Time Regular Season Victories-Coaches". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. http://www.nba.com/history/records/victories_coaches.html. Retrieved April 15, 2010. 
• "All-Time Playoffs: Coaches Won-Loss". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. http://www.nba.com/history/records/playoff_victories_coaches.html. Retrieved April 15, 2010. 

Specific