Flip Saunders

Flip Saunders

Personal information
Born	(1955-02-23) February 23, 1955 Cincinnati, Ohio
Listed height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Listed weight	175 lb (79 kg)
Career information
High school	Cuyahoga Heights High School
College	University of Minnesota
Playing career	1995–present
Position	Head coach
Career highlights and awards
2× NBA All-Star Game head coach (2004, 2006)

Phillip "Flip" Saunders (born February 23, 1955) is a former American basketball head coach. He previously coached the the Washington Wizards, Detroit Pistons and the Minnesota Timberwolves.

High school and college player

Saunders was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was an All-American basketball player at Cuyahoga Heights High School in suburban Cleveland. In his senior season, 1973, he was named Ohio's Class A High School Basketball Player of the Year, leading the state in scoring average with 32.0 points per game. At the University of Minnesota, he started 101 of his 103 career contests and as a senior, teamed with Ray Williams, Mychal Thompson, Kevin McHale. Together they led the Gophers to a school-best 24–3 record.

Coaching career

College

Saunders began his coaching career at Golden Valley Lutheran College where he compiled a 92–13 record, including a perfect 56–0 mark at home, in four seasons. In 1981, he became an assistant coach at his alma mater, Minnesota, and helped guide the Golden Gophers to the Big Ten championship that season. After five seasons at Minnesota, he became an assistant coach at the University of Tulsa where he worked for two seasons before heading to the pro ranks.

Rapid City, La Crosse, and Sioux Falls (CBA)

He began his CBA career in 1988–89 with the Rapid City (South Dakota) Thrillers, where former Kings and Warriors head coach Eric Musselman served as the team's general manager. Musselman's father, Bill Musselman, had recruited Flip when Bill was head coach at the University of Minnesota.

Saunders then later moved to the La Crosse (Wisconsin) Catbirds for five seasons (1989–94), where he won two CBA Championships, before coaching in 1994–95 with the Sioux Falls Skyforce. He also served as general manager (1991–93) and team president (1991–94) of the Catbirds. Saunders' impressive CBA tenure included seven consecutive seasons of 30 or more victories, two CBA championships (1990, 1992), two CBA Coach of the Year honors (1989, 1992) and 23 CBA-to-NBA player promotions.

Saunders would leave after seven productive seasons as a head coach in the CBA, where he ranks second with 253 career victories.

Minnesota Timberwolves (NBA)

Saunders joined the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves on May 11, 1995 as president, working under his former Minnesota teammate, Kevin McHale. On December 18, 1995, Saunders was named head coach of the Timberwolves, replacing Bill Blair.

This happened shortly after McHale had taken over the basketball operations for the Timberwolves. He then added the coaching duties to his GM responsibilities after the team had gotten off to a 6–14 start. The Timberwolves went 20–42 the rest of the year, but the emergence of young Kevin Garnett as a front-line NBA player was a huge plus over the second half of the season.

He guided with difficulty the Timberwolves to their first-ever playoff berth in the 1996–97 season, his first full season as an NBA head coach, and to a franchise-record 50 victories in 1999–2000 which was duplicated in 2001–2002.

After the Timberwolves' success in the 2003–04 NBA season, in which they made the Western Conference Finals, they struggled in the 2004–05 season, winning fewer than half of their games. On February 12, 2005, Saunders was fired and replaced by then-Vice President of Basketball Operations Kevin McHale as head coach. Many fans believed that the firing was unwarranted, citing instead the contract troubles of Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell as the reasons for the team's failure. However, many also acknowledged that Saunders had already coached eight seasons in Minnesota, and perhaps a new voice was needed.

Detroit Pistons (NBA)

Saunders replaced Larry Brown as coach of the Detroit Pistons on July 21, 2005. Under Saunders, the team set a new franchise record for wins during the regular season, finishing with a 64–18 record. Saunders coached the Eastern Conference All-Stars in the 2006 NBA All-Star Game in Houston, Texas.

Upon entering his third season as Pistons coach, Saunders became the longest-tenured Pistons coach since Chuck Daly's nine-year tenure (1983–1992).

Saunders was fired June 3, 2008 after the Pistons lost to the Boston Celtics in the 2008 Eastern Conference Finals; Detroit president of basketball operations Joe Dumars said the team needed a "new voice".

Washington Wizards (NBA)

On April 14, 2009, Saunders reached an agreement to become the new coach of the Washington Wizards. The deal reportedly is worth $18 million over 4 years.

On January 24, 2012, Saunders was fired as the coach of the Wizards.

Personal

Saunders is married to Debbie. They have a summer home located in Medina, Minnesota. Their son, Ryan, was a 6-foot-1 guard for the University of Minnesota, Flip's alma mater. According to Saunders, he was about 20 yards (18 m) away from the I-35W Mississippi River bridge collapse on August 1, 2007.

Coaching record

Legend

Regular season	G	Games coached	W	Games won	L	Games lost	W–L %	Win–loss %
Playoffs	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
MIN	1995–96	62	20	42	.323	6th in Midwest	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
MIN	1996–97	82	40	42	.488	3rd in Midwest	3	0	3	.000	Lost in First Round
MIN	1997–98	82	45	37	.549	3rd in Midwest	5	2	3	.400	Lost in First Round
MIN	1998–99	50	25	25	.500	4th in Midwest	4	1	3	.250	Lost in First Round
MIN	1999–00	82	50	32	.610	3rd in Midwest	4	1	3	.250	Lost in First Round
MIN	2000–01	82	47	35	.573	4th in Midwest	4	1	3	.250	Lost in First Round
MIN	2001–02	82	50	32	.610	3rd in Midwest	3	0	3	.000	Lost in First Round
MIN	2002–03	82	51	31	.622	3rd in Midwest	6	2	4	.333	Lost in First Round
MIN	2003–04	82	58	24	.707	1st in Midwest	18	10	8	.556	Lost in Conf. Finals
MIN	2004–05	51	25	26	.490	(fired)	—	—	—	—	—
DET	2005–06	82	64	18	.780	1st in Central	18	10	8	.556	Lost in Conf. Finals
DET	2006–07	82	53	29	.649	1st in Central	16	10	6	.625	Lost in Conf. Finals
DET	2007–08	82	59	23	.720	1st in Central	17	10	7	.588	Lost in Conf. Finals
WAS	2009–10	82	26	56	.317	5th in Southeast	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
WAS	2010–11	82	23	59	.280	5th in Southeast	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
WAS	2011–12	17	2	15	.118	(fired)	—	—	—	—
Career		1147	636	511	.554		98	47	51	.480

External links

• Profile at NBA.com
• Parent of Twins entry at Twinstuff.com