NBA Coach of the Year Award

The National Basketball Association's Coach of the Year is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) 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. The winner is selected at the end of the regular season by a panel of sportswriters from the United States and Canada, each of whom casts a vote for first, second and third place selections. Each first-place vote is worth five points; each second-place vote is worth three points; and each third-place vote is worth one point. The person with the highest point total, regardless of the number of first-place votes, wins the award.^[1]

Since its inception, the award has been given to 40 different coaches. The most recent award winner is current New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau, who also won it in 2011 as the coach of the Chicago Bulls.^[2] Gregg Popovich, Don Nelson and Pat Riley have each won the award three times, while Hubie Brown, Mike Budenholzer, Mike D'Antoni, Bill Fitch, Cotton Fitzsimmons, Gene Shue, and Thibodeau have each won it twice. No coach has won consecutive Coach of the Year awards. Riley is the only coach to be named Coach of the Year with three franchises.^[3] Tom Heinsohn, Bill Sharman, and Lenny Wilkens are the only recipients to have been inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as both player and coach. Johnny Kerr is the only person to win the award with a losing record (33–48 with the Chicago Bulls in 1966–67). Kerr was honored because he had guided the Bulls to the NBA Playoffs in their first season in the league.^[4] Doc Rivers is the only person to win the award despite his team not making the playoffs (41–41 with the Orlando Magic in 1999–2000). Only five recipients also coached the team that won the championship the same season: Red Auerbach, Red Holzman, Bill Sharman, Phil Jackson, and Gregg Popovich. Popovich is the only NBA Coach of the Year recipient to win the championship in the same season twice, winning the NBA title with the San Antonio Spurs in 2003 and 2014. 2020 winner and current Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse is the only coach to receive this honor in both the NBA and the NBA G League, having received the G League award in 2011.^[2]

2015–16 recipient Steve Kerr only coached 39 of the 82 games in the season due to complications from offseason back surgery, though he received credit for all of the Golden State Warriors' 73 wins that season. Assistant coach Luke Walton served as interim head coach for the other 43 games for the Warriors, receiving one second-place vote and two third-place votes.^[5]

Winners[]

Hall of Famer Red Auerbach won the award in the 1964–65 season. The award was later named after him.

Hall of Famer Phil Jackson won the award in the 1995–96 season, coaching the Chicago Bulls to 72 wins in a season.

Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau won the award in the 2010–11 and 2020–21 seasons.

George Karl led the 2012–13 Denver Nuggets to a 57–25 record without an NBA All-Star.

Gregg Popovich led the 2013–14 San Antonio Spurs to their 5th NBA championship, and earned his 3rd NBA Coach of the Year Award that same season.

Season	Coach	Nationality	Team	W–L	Win%
1962–63	Harry Gallatin	United States	St. Louis Hawks	48–32	.600
1963–64	Alex Hannum*	United States	San Francisco Warriors	48–32	.600
1964–65	Red Auerbach*[a]	United States	Boston Celtics	62–18	.775
1965–66	Dolph Schayes	United States	Philadelphia 76ers	55–25	.688
1966–67	Johnny Kerr	United States	Chicago Bulls	33–48	.407
1967–68	Richie Guerin	United States	St. Louis Hawks (2)	56–26	.683
1968–69	Gene Shue	United States	Baltimore Bullets	57–25	.695
1969–70	Red Holzman*[a]	United States	New York Knicks	60–22	.732
1970–71	Dick Motta	United States	Chicago Bulls (2)	51–31	.622
1971–72	Bill Sharman*	United States	Los Angeles Lakers	69–13	.841
1972–73	Tom Heinsohn*	United States	Boston Celtics (2)	68–14	.829
1973–74	Ray Scott	United States	Detroit Pistons	52–30	.634
1974–75	Phil Johnson	United States	Kansas City-Omaha Kings	44–38	.537
1975–76	Bill Fitch*[a]	United States	Cleveland Cavaliers	49–33	.598
1976–77	Tom Nissalke	United States	Houston Rockets	49–33	.598
1977–78	Hubie Brown	United States	Atlanta Hawks (3)	41–41	.500
1978–79	Cotton Fitzsimmons*	United States	Kansas City Kings (2)	48–34	.585
1979–80	Bill Fitch*[a] (2)	United States	Boston Celtics (3)	61–21	.744
1980–81	Jack McKinney	United States	Indiana Pacers	44–38	.537
1981–82	Gene Shue (2)	United States	Washington Bullets (2)	43–39	.524
1982–83	Don Nelson*[a]	United States	Milwaukee Bucks	51–31	.622
1983–84	Frank Layden	United States	Utah Jazz	45–37	.549
1984–85	Don Nelson*[a] (2)	United States	Milwaukee Bucks (2)	59–23	.720
1985–86	Mike Fratello	United States	Atlanta Hawks (4)	50–32	.610
1986–87	Mike Schuler	United States	Portland Trail Blazers	49–33	.598
1987–88	Doug Moe	United States	Denver Nuggets	54–28	.659
1988–89	Cotton Fitzsimmons* (2)	United States	Phoenix Suns	55–27	.671
1989–90	Pat Riley*[a]	United States	Los Angeles Lakers (2)	63–19	.768
1990–91	Don Chaney	United States	Houston Rockets (2)	52–30	.634
1991–92	Don Nelson*[a] (3)	United States	Golden State Warriors (2)	55–27	.671
1992–93	Pat Riley*[a] (2)	United States	New York Knicks (2)	60–22	.732
1993–94	Lenny Wilkens*[a]	United States	Atlanta Hawks (5)	57–25	.695
1994–95	Del Harris	United States	Los Angeles Lakers (3)	48–34	.585
1995–96	Phil Jackson*[a]	United States	Chicago Bulls (3)	72–10	.878
1996–97	Pat Riley*[a] (3)	United States	Miami Heat	61–21	.744
1997–98	Larry Bird	United States	Indiana Pacers (2)	58–24	.707
1998–99	Mike Dunleavy	United States	Portland Trail Blazers (2)	35–15	.700
1999–00	Doc Rivers^	United States	Orlando Magic	41–41	.500
2000–01	Larry Brown*	United States	Philadelphia 76ers (2)	56–26	.683
2001–02	Rick Carlisle^	United States	Detroit Pistons (2)	50–32	.610
2002–03	Gregg Popovich^	United States	San Antonio Spurs	60–22	.732
2003–04	Hubie Brown (2)	United States	Memphis Grizzlies	50–32	.610
2004–05	Mike D'Antoni^	United States  Italy[b]	Phoenix Suns (2)	62–20	.756
2005–06	Avery Johnson	United States	Dallas Mavericks	60–22	.732
2006–07	Sam Mitchell	United States	Toronto Raptors	47–35	.573
2007–08	Byron Scott	United States	New Orleans Hornets	56–26	.683
2008–09	Mike Brown	United States	Cleveland Cavaliers (2)	66–16	.805
2009–10	Scott Brooks	United States	Oklahoma City Thunder	50–32	.610
2010–11	Tom Thibodeau^	United States	Chicago Bulls (4)	62–20	.756
2011–12	Gregg Popovich^ (2)	United States	San Antonio Spurs (2)	50–16	.758
2012–13	George Karl	United States	Denver Nuggets (2)	57–25	.695
2013–14	Gregg Popovich^ (3)	United States	San Antonio Spurs (3)	62–20	.756
2014–15	Mike Budenholzer^	United States	Atlanta Hawks (6)	60–22	.732
2015–16	Steve Kerr^	United States	Golden State Warriors (3)	73–9	.890
2016–17	Mike D'Antoni^ (2)	United States  Italy[c]	Houston Rockets (3)	55–27	.670
2017–18	Dwane Casey^	United States	Toronto Raptors (2)	59–23	.720
2018–19	Mike Budenholzer^ (2)	United States	Milwaukee Bucks (3)	60–22	.732
2019–20	Nick Nurse^	United States	Toronto Raptors (3)	46–18[d]	.719
2020–21	Tom Thibodeau^ (2)	United States	New York Knicks (3)	41–31	.569

Multi-time winners[]

Teams[]

See also[]

•  Sports portal
• NBCA Coach of the Year Award, awarded by NBA coaches' union
• NBL (United States) Coach of the Year Award

Notes[]

References[]

General

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