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List of Cleveland Cavaliers head coaches
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The Cleveland Cavaliers are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. The Cavaliers play in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team joined the NBA in 1970 as an expansion team and won their first Eastern Conference championship in 2007. The Cavaliers have played their home games at Rocket Arena, formerly known as Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Quicken Loans Arena, and Gund Arena, since 1994. The Cavaliers are owned by Dan Gilbert, with Koby Altman as their general manager. American R&B-pop singer Usher Raymond is a minority owner.
There have been 24 head coaches for the Cavaliers franchise. The current head coach is Kenny Atkinson. 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 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) and the most playoff game wins (42). David Blatt has the highest regular-season winning percentage (.675) and the highest playoff winning percentage (.700). Tyronn Lue is the only coach to lead the Cavaliers to an NBA championship, in 2016. Chuck Daly, Wilkens and Fitch have been elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame as head coaches, partly due to their work with the Cavaliers. Fitch, Daly and Wilkens were also named as 3 of the top 10 coaches in NBA history. Fitch, Brown, and Atkinson are the only Cavaliers coaches to have won the NBA Coach of the Year Award.
Key
| * |
|---|
| Spent entire NBA head coaching career with the Cavaliers |
| Elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach |
Coaches
Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the .
| # | Name | Term | GC | W | L | Win% | GC | W | L | Win% | Achievements | Reference | Regular season | Playoffs | * | * | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | 738 | 304 | 434 | .412 | 18 | 7 | 11 | .389 | NBA Coach of the Year | |||||||
| One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history | |||||||||||||||||
| 2 | 82 | 37 | 45 | .451 | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
| 3 | 71 | 25 | 46 | .352 | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
| 4 | 26 | 7 | 19 | .269 | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
| 5 | 3 | 0 | 3 | .000 | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
| 6 | 41 | 9 | 32 | .220 | — | — | — | — | One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history | ||||||||
| — | 23 | 2 | 21 | .087 | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
| 7 | – | 164 | 51 | 113 | .311 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| 8 | – | 149 | 61 | 88 | .409 | 4 | 1 | 3 | .250 | ||||||||
| 9 | 15 | 4 | 11 | .267 | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
| 10 | – | 574 | 316 | 258 | .551 | 41 | 18 | 23 | .439 | One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history | |||||||
| 11 | – | 460 | 248 | 212 | .539 | 14 | 2 | 12 | .143 | ||||||||
| 12 | – | 164 | 62 | 102 | .378 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| 13 | – | 124 | 37 | 87 | .298 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| 14 | 40 | 9 | 31 | .225 | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
| 15 | – | 146 | 69 | 77 | .473 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| 16 | 18 | 8 | 10 | .444 | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
| 17 | – | 410 | 272 | 138 | .663 | 71 | 42 | 29 | .592 | Eastern Conference championship (2007) | |||||||
| NBA Coach of the Year | |||||||||||||||||
| 18 | – | 230 | 64 | 166 | .278 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| — | 82 | 33 | 49 | .402 | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
| 19 | – | 113 | 83 | 40 | 20 | 14 | 6 | Eastern Conference championship (2015) | |||||||||
| 20 | – | 211 | 128 | 83 | 61 | 41 | 20 | NBA championship (2016) | |||||||||
| Three Eastern Conference championships (2016–2018) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2016 ESPY Award for Best Coach/Manager | |||||||||||||||||
| 21 | 76 | 19 | 57 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||
| 22 | * | 54 | 14 | 40 | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
| 23 | – | 329 | 170 | 159 | 17 | 6 | 11 | ||||||||||
| 24 | –present | 82 | 64 | 18 | 9 | 5 | 4 | NBA Coach of the Year |
File:Chuck Daly.jpg|After coaching the Cavaliers for 41 games (with a 9–32 record), Chuck Daly was dismissed during the 1981–82 season. File:Lenny Wilkens 1968.jpeg|Lenny Wilkens was the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers from to . File:Mike Brown NBA cropped.jpg|Two-time head coach Mike Brown coached the Cavaliers from 2005 to 2010, and again during the 2013–14 season. During his first stint, he led the Cavs to their first NBA Finals appearance in 2007. File:Byron Scott (cropped).jpg|Byron Scott was the head coach of the Cavaliers from 2010 to 2013. During the 2010–2011 season, the Cavs lost 26 games in a row - tied for the longest losing streak in the four major professional sports. File:David Blatt Cavs 2014 (cropped).jpg|David Blatt was the Cavaliers head coach from –. File:Tyronn Lue (30761766161) (cropped).jpg|Tyronn Lue was the Cavaliers head coach from –, leading the team to the 2016 NBA Championship File:20130323 John Beilein crop.jpg|John Beilein was the Cavaliers head coach for part of the . file:J.B. Bickerstaff.jpg|J. B. Bickerstaff was the Cavaliers head coach from –
Notes
- A running total of the number of coaches of the Cavaliers. Thus, any coach who has two or more separate terms as head coach is only counted once.
- Each year is linked to an article about that particular NBA season.
References
;General
;Specific
References
- "2006-07 Cleveland Cavaliers Statistics". Sports Reference LLC.
- (August 2, 2005). "Gund Arena to be renamed Quicken Loans Arena". ESPN.com.
- "Executive Bios and Directory". Cleveland Cavaliers.
- Davis, Carolyn E.. (February 25, 2005). "Usher About To Become Part-Owner Of Cleveland Cavaliers". MTV.
- "Top 10 Coaches in NBA History". Turner Sports Interactive.
- "Bill Fitch Coaching Record". Sports Reference LLC.
- "Stan Albeck Coaching Record". Sports Reference LLC.
- "Bill Musselman Coaching Record". Sports Reference LLC.
- Musselman was fired 71 games into the 1980–81 season. Delaney served as interim head coach for the remaining eleven games and the first fifteen games of the 1981–82 season.
- "Don Delaney Coaching Record". Sports Reference LLC.
- Delaney was fired fifteen games into the 1981–82 season. Kloppenburg served as interim head coach for three games before being fired.
- "Bob Kloppenburg Coaching Record". Sports Reference LLC.
- Kloppenburg was fired after serving as interim head coach for three games in the 1981–82 season. Daly served as head coach for 41 games before being fired.
- "Chuck Daly Coaching Record". Sports Reference LLC.
- Daly was fired after serving as head coach for 41 games in the 1981–82 season. Musselman served as head coach for the remaining fifteen games.
- "Tom Nissalke Coaching Record". Sports Reference LLC.
- "George Karl Coaching Record". Sports Reference LLC.
- Karl was fired 67 games into the 1985–86 season. Littles served as interim head coach for the remaining fifteen games.
- "Gene Littles Coaching Record". Sports Reference LLC.
- "Lenny Wilkens Coaching Record". Sports Reference LLC.
- "Mike Fratello Coaching Record". Sports Reference LLC.
- "Randy Wittman Coaching Record". Sports Reference LLC.
- "John Lucas Coaching Record". Sports Reference LLC.
- Lucas was fired 42 games into the 2002–03 season. Smart served as interim head coach for the remaining forty games.
- "Keith Smart Coaching Record". Sports Reference LLC.
- "Paul Silas Coaching Record". Sports Reference LLC.
- Silas was fired 64 games into the 2004–05 season. Malone served as interim head coach for the remaining eighteen games.
- "Brendan Malone Coaching Record". Sports Reference LLC.
- "Coach of the Year". Turner Sports Interactive, Inc.
- "Mike Brown Coaching Record". Sports Reference LLC.
- "Byron Scott Coaching Record". Sports Reference LLC.
- Blatt was fired 41 games into the 2015–16 season. Lue served as head coach for the remaining 41 games.
- "Tyronn Lue Coaching Record". Sports Reference LLC.
- Lue was fired six games into the 2018–19 season. Drew served as interim head coach for the remaining 76 games.
- Beilein resigned 54 games into the 2019–20 season. Bickerstaff served as head coach for the remaining 11 games before the [[Suspension of the 2019–20 NBA season. season's suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic]].
- "J.B. Bickerstaff Coaching Record".
- "Daly, "Chuck" (Charles J.)". hickoksports.com.
- "Chuck Daly Biography". Hit! Run! Score!, Inc..
- Bill Nichols. "''Activist Stepien Axes Daly'', March 27, 1982". The Sporting News.
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