List of Cleveland Cavaliers head coaches
Encyclopedia
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cleveland Cavaliers are a professional basketball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They began playing in the National Basketball Association in 1970 as an expansion team...
are an American professional basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
team based in Cleveland, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. The Cavaliers play in the Central Division
Central Division (NBA)
The Central Division is one of the three divisions in the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association . The division consists of five teams, the Chicago Bulls, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Detroit Pistons, the Indiana Pacers and the Milwaukee Bucks...
of the Eastern Conference
Eastern Conference (NBA)
The Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association is made up of fifteen teams, organized in three divisions of five teams each.The three division winners and the non-division winner with the best record are seeded 1 through 4 for the playoffs in order of their records, with all...
in the National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
(NBA). The team joined the NBA in 1970 as an expansion team
Expansion team
An expansion team is a brand new team in a sports league. The term is most commonly used in reference to the North American major professional sports leagues, but is applied to sports leagues worldwide that use a closed franchise system of league membership. The term comes from the expansion of the...
and won their first Eastern Conference championship in 2007. The Cavaliers have played their home games at the Quicken Loans Arena
Quicken Loans Arena
Quicken Loans Arena , is a multi-purpose arena, in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States....
, formerly known as Gund Arena, since 1994. The Cavaliers are owned by Dan Gilbert, David Katzman, and Gordon Gund
Gordon Gund
Gordon Gund is an United States businessman and professional sports owner. He is the CEO of Gund Investment Corporation. He is the former co-owner of the San Jose Sharks and former principal owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers and is currently a minority owner of the Cavaliers...
, with Danny Ferry
Danny Ferry
Daniel John Willard "Danny" Ferry is a retired American professional basketball player and the Vice President of Basketball Operations for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association...
as their general manager. American R&B
Contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...
-pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
singer Usher Raymond
Usher (entertainer)
Usher Terry Raymond IV , who performs under the mononym Usher, is an American singer-songwriter, and actor. He is considered around the world to be the reigning King of R&B. Usher rose to fame in the late 1990s with the release of his second album My Way, which spawned his first Billboard Hot 100...
is a minority owner.
There have been 18 head coach
Head coach
A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches...
es for the Cavaliers franchise. The franchise's first head coach was Bill Fitch, who coached for nine seasons. Fitch is the franchise's all-time leader for the most regular-season games coached (738); Lenny Wilkens
Lenny Wilkens
Leonard Randolph "Lenny" Wilkens is a retired American basketball player and coach in the NBA...
is the franchise's all-time leader for the most regular-season game wins (316); Mike Brown is the franchise's all-time leader for the most playoff games coached (71), the most playoff-game wins (42), and the highest regular-season winning percentage
Winning percentage
In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. It is defined as wins divided by wins plus losses . Ties count as a ½ loss and a ½ win...
(.663). Chuck Daly
Chuck Daly
Charles Jerome "Chuck" Daly was an American basketball head coach. He led the Detroit Pistons to consecutive National Basketball Association Championships in 1989 and 1990, and the Dream Team to the men's basketball gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics. He had a 14-year NBA coaching...
and Wilkens are the only Cavaliers coaches to have been elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach. Fitch and Daly were also named one of the top 10 coaches in NBA history. Fitch and Brown are the only Cavaliers coaches to have won the NBA Coach of the Year Award
NBA Coach of the Year Award
The National Basketball Association's Coach of the Year is an annual National Basketball Association award given since the 1962–63 NBA season. The winner receives the Red Auerbach Trophy, which is named in honor of the head coach who led the Boston Celtics to nine NBA Championships from 1956 to 1966...
. Brown and Don Delaney
Don Delaney
Don Delaney was an American professional basketball coach, who served as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the early 1980s. Delaney also served as the team's general manager. Former Cavaliers owner Ted Stepien signed Delaney to a one-year contract to be the team's head coach in March 1981...
have spent their entire NBA coaching careers with the Cavaliers.
__FORCETOC__
Key
| GC | Games coached |
| W | Wins |
| L | Losses |
| Win% | Winning percentage Winning percentage In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. It is defined as wins divided by wins plus losses . Ties count as a ½ loss and a ½ win... |
| # | Number of coaches |
| * | Spent entire NBA head coaching career with the Cavaliers |
| Elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach |
Coaches
| # | Name | Term | GC | W | L | Win% | GC | W | L | Win% | Achievements | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||
| 11 | – | 738 | 304 | 434 | .412 | 18 | 7 | 11 | .389 | NBA Coach of the Year NBA Coach of the Year Award The National Basketball Association's Coach of the Year is an annual National Basketball Association award given since the 1962–63 NBA season. The winner receives the Red Auerbach Trophy, which is named in honor of the head coach who led the Boston Celtics to nine NBA Championships from 1956 to 1966... One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history |
||
| 22 | 82 | 37 | 45 | .451 | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 33 | 71 | 25 | 46 | .352 | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 44 | * | 26 | 7 | 19 | .269 | — | — | — | — | |||
| 55 | 3 | 0 | 3 | .000 | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 66 | 41 | 9 | 32 | .220 | — | — | — | — | One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history | |||
| 7— | 15 | 4 | 11 | .267 | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 87 | – | 164 | 51 | 113 | .311 | — | — | — | — | |||
| 98 | – | 149 | 61 | 88 | .409 | 4 | 1 | 3 | .250 | |||
| 109 | 15 | 4 | 11 | .267 | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 1110 | – | 574 | 316 | 258 | .551 | 41 | 18 | 23 | .439 | One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history | ||
| 1211 | – | 460 | 248 | 212 | .539 | 14 | 2 | 12 | .143 | |||
| 1312 | – | 164 | 62 | 102 | .378 | — | — | — | — | |||
| 1413 | – | 124 | 37 | 87 | .298 | — | — | — | — | |||
| 1514 | 40 | 9 | 31 | .225 | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 1615 | – | 146 | 69 | 77 | .473 | — | — | — | — | |||
| 1716 | 18 | 8 | 10 | .444 | — | — | — | — | ||||
| 1817 | – | 410 | 272 | 138 | .663 | 71 | 42 | 29 | .592 | Eastern Conference Eastern Conference (NBA) The Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association is made up of fifteen teams, organized in three divisions of five teams each.The three division winners and the non-division winner with the best record are seeded 1 through 4 for the playoffs in order of their records, with all... championship (2007) NBA Coach of the Year NBA Coach of the Year Award The National Basketball Association's Coach of the Year is an annual National Basketball Association award given since the 1962–63 NBA season. The winner receives the Red Auerbach Trophy, which is named in honor of the head coach who led the Boston Celtics to nine NBA Championships from 1956 to 1966... |
||
| 1918 | –present | 82 | 19 | 63 | .232 | — | — | — | — | |||