List of Detroit Pistons head coaches

Chuck Daly led the Pistons to two consecutive championships in the 1980s. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1994.

The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. They play in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team, owned by Tom Gores, plays its home games at The Palace of Auburn Hills.^[1][2] The franchise was founded in 1941 by Fred Zollner as the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, playing in the National Basketball League (NBL).^[3] In 1948, the team was renamed to the Fort Wayne Pistons and joined the Basketball Association of America (BAA), which merged with the NBL to become the NBA a year later.^[3] After spending nine seasons in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Zollner moved the team to Detroit, Michigan in 1957 to be able to compete financially with other big city teams.^[4] In the 1980s, general manager Jack McCloskey was instrumental in the Pistons' future championship runs by drafting Isiah Thomas, acquiring key players like Joe Dumars and Dennis Rodman and hiring head coach Chuck Daly.^[4] The 1980s team, known today as "the Bad Boys" due to the physical playing style, eventually won two championships in the 1989 and 1990 NBA Finals under Daly.^[4] The Pistons won their third title in the 2004 NBA Finals under the tenure of Larry Brown.^[4]

There have been 33 head coaches for the Pistons franchise since joining the NBA. The franchise's first head coach while in the NBA was Carl Bennett, who coached the team for six games, all of which are losses.^[5] Chuck Daly is the franchise's all-time leader in regular-season games coached (738), regular-season games won (467), playoff games coached (113), and playoff games won (71);^[6] Flip Saunders is the franchise's all-time leader in regular-season winning percentage (.715).^[7] Daly and Larry Brown are the only members of the franchise to have been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as coaches;^[6][8] Daly was also selected as one of the top 10 coaches in NBA history.^[9] Both Ray Scott and Rick Carlisle have won NBA Coach of the Year in the 1973–74 and 2001–02 season, with the Pistons respectively.^[10] Former coach Dick Vitale was named to the Basketball Hall of Fame in honor of the work he did as a basketball broadcaster after leaving the Pistons.^[11] Fifteen head coaches have spent their entire NBA head coaching careers with the Pistons. Curly Armstrong, Red Rocha, Dick McGuire, Dave DeBusschere, Donnie Butcher, Terry Dischinger, Earl Lloyd, Scott and Michael Curry formerly played for the team.^{[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]} Maurice Cheeks has been the head coach of the Pistons.

Key[edit]

GC	Games coached
W	Wins
L	Losses
Win%	Winning percentage
#	Number of coaches[a]
*	Spent entire NBA head coaching career with the Pistons
	Elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach

Coaches[edit]

Flip Saunders was the coach for the Pistons from 2005 to 2008.

Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2012–13 season. The list does not include NBL seasons.

#	Name	Term[b]	GC	W	L	Win%	GC	W	L	Win%	Achievements	Reference
			Regular season				Playoffs
70001000000000000001	Bennett, CarlCarl Bennett*	1948	6	0	6	.000	—	—	—	—		[5]
70002000000000000002	Armstrong, CurlyCurly Armstrong*	1948–1949 (as player-coach)	54	22	32	.407	—	—	—	—		[21]
70003000000000000003	Mendenhall, MurrayMurray Mendenhall*	1949–1951	136	72	64	.529	—	—	—	—		[22]
70004000000000000004	Birch, PaulPaul Birch	1951–1954	207	105	102	.507	14	4	10	.286		[23]
70005000000000000005	Eckman, CharleyCharley Eckman*	1954–1957	241	123	118	.510	24	10	14	.417		[24]
70006000000000000006	Rocha, RedRed Rocha*	1957–1960	153	65	88	.425	10	4	6	.400		[25]
70007000000000000007	McGuire, DickDick McGuire	1959–1960 (as player-coach) 1960–1963	280	122	158	.436	21	8	13	.381		[26]
70008000000000000008	Wolf, CharlesCharles Wolf	1963–1964	91	25	66	.433	—	—	—	—		[27]
70009000000000000009	DeBusschere, DaveDave DeBusschere*	1964–1967 (as player-coach)	222	79	143	.356	—	—	—	—		[28]
700110000000000000010	Butcher, DonnieDonnie Butcher*	1967–1968	112	52	60	.464	6	2	4	.333		[29]
700111000000000000011	Seymour, PaulPaul Seymour	1968–1969	60	22	38	.367	—	—	—	—		[30]
700112000000000000012	van Breda Kolff, ButchButch van Breda Kolff	1969–1971	174	82	92	.471	—	—	—	—		[31]
700113000000000000013	Dischinger, TerryTerry Dischinger*	1971 (as player-coach)	2	0	2	.000	—	—	—	—		[32]
700114000000000000014	Lloyd, EarlEarl Lloyd*	1971–1972	77	22	55	.286	—	—	—	—		[33]
700115000000000000015	Scott, RayRay Scott*	1972–1976	281	147	134	.523	10	4	6	.400	1973–74 NBA Coach of the Year[10]	[34]
700116000000000000016	Brown, HerbHerb Brown*	1976–1977	146	72	74	.493	12	5	7	.417		[35]
700117000000000000017	Kauffman, BobBob Kauffman*	1977–1978	58	29	29	.500	—	—	—	—		[36]
700118000000000000018	Vitale, DickDick Vitale*	1978–1979	94	34	60	.362	—	—	—	—		[37]
700119000000000000019	Adubato, RichieRichie Adubato	1979–1980	70	12	58	.171	—	—	—	—		[38]
700120000000000000020	Robertson, ScottyScotty Robertson	1980–1983	246	97	149	.394	—	—	—	—		[39]
700121000000000000021	Daly, ChuckChuck Daly	1983–1992	738	467	271	.633	113	71	42	.628	2 NBA championships (1989, 1990) One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history[9]	[6]
700122000000000000022	Rothstein, RonRon Rothstein	1992–1993	82	40	42	.488	—	—	—	—		[40]
700123000000000000023	Chaney, DonDon Chaney	1993–1995	164	48	116	.293	—	—	—	—		[41]
700124000000000000024	Collins, DougDoug Collins	1995–1998	209	121	88	.579	8	2	6	.250		[42]
700125000000000000025	Gentry, AlvinAlvin Gentry	1998–2000	145	73	72	.503	5	2	3	.400		[43]
700126000000000000026	Irvine, GeorgeGeorge Irvine	2000–2001	106	46	60	.434	3	0	3	.000		[44]
700127000000000000027	Carlisle, RickRick Carlisle	2001–2003	164	100	64	.610	27	12	15	.444	2001–02 NBA Coach of the Year[10]	[45]
700128000000000000028	Brown, LarryLarry Brown	2003–2005	164	108	56	.659	48	31	17	.646	NBA championship (2004)	[8]
700129000000000000029	Saunders, FlipFlip Saunders	2005–2008	246	176	70	.715	51	30	21	.588		[7]
700130000000000000030	Curry, MichaelMichael Curry*	2008–2009	82	39	43	.476	4	0	4	.000		[46]
700130000000000000031	Kuester, JohnJohn Kuester*	2009–2011	164	57	107	.348	—	—	—	—		[47]
700131000000000000032	Frank, LawrenceLawrence Frank	2011–2013	148	54	94	.365	—	—	—	—		[48]
700132000000000000033	Cheeks, MauriceMaurice Cheeks	2013–present	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		[49]

Notes[edit]

• ^a A running total of the number of coaches of the Pistons. 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.

References[edit]

General

Specific