List of Houston Rockets head coaches

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Rudy Tomjanovich is statistically the Rockets' most successful coach.
Rudy Tomjanovich is statistically the Rockets' most successful coach.

The Rockets first joined the National Basketball Association in 1967, after they were established in San Diego by Robert Breitbard.[1] However, after four losing seasons,[2] the team was sold to a group of investors based in Houston.[1] The group subsequently relocated the team to Houston, where the Rockets have remained for 37 seasons.[2]

Rudy Tomjanovich, who played and coached with the Rockets a total of 23 years is the franchise's all-time leader in both regular season and playoff games coached and wins.[3] He also led the Rockets to their only two titles in franchise history, in 1994 and 1995.[4] The Rockets current head coach, Rick Adelman, is the leader in winning percentage.[3]

Alex Hannum is currently the only coach of the Rockets to have been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.[5] Three former players, Johnny Egan, Tomjanovich, and Adelman, went on to coach for the Rockets,[6][7][8] and three coaches, Tex Winter, Egan, and Tom Nissalke, spent their entire coaching career with the Rockets.[9][10][11]

[edit] Key

# Number of coaches[12]
GC Games Coached
W Wins
L Loses
W–L % Win–Loss percentage
† Elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame
* Spent entire coaching career with the Rockets

[edit] Coaches

# Name Term Regular Season Playoffs Awards Reference
GC W L W – L % GC W L
San Diego Rockets
1 Jack McMahon 1968 – 1970 190 61 129 .321 6 2 4 [13]
2 Alex Hannum† 1970 – 1971 138 58 80 .420 – – – [14]
Houston Rockets
3 Tex Winter* 1971 – 1973 129 51 78 .395 – – – [9]
4 Johnny Egan* 1972 – 1976 281 129 152 .459 8 3 5 [10]
5 Tom Nissalke* 1976 – 1979 246 124 122 .504 14 6 8 1976-77 NBA Coach of the Year[15] [11]
6 Del Harris 1979 – 1983 328 141 187 .430 31 15 16 [16]
7 Bill Fitch 1983 – 1988 410 216 194 .527 39 21 18 One of the Top 10 Coaches in NBA history[17] [18]
8 Don Chaney 1988 – 1992 298 164 134 .550 1 2 9 1990-91 NBA Coach of the Year[15] [19]
9 Rudy Tomjanovich 1992 – 2003 900 503 397 .559 90 51 39 [4]
10 Jeff Van Gundy 2003 – 2007 328 182 146 .555 19 7 12 [20]
11 Rick Adelman 2007 – present 82 55 27 .671 6 2 4 [21]

Statistics are correct through the end of the 2007-08 season.

[edit] References

General
Specific
  1. ^ a b "Owners, fans waited years before Rockets took off", Houston Chronicle, September 20, 2001. Retrieved on 2008-05-13. 
  2. ^ a b Houston Rockets. basketball-reference.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
  3. ^ a b Houston Rockets Coach Register. basketball-reference.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-17.
  4. ^ a b Rudy Tomjanovich Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
  5. ^ Alexander M. "Alex" Hannum. Basketball Hall of Fame.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
  6. ^ Johnny Egan Statistics. basketball-reference.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
  7. ^ Rudy Tomjanovich Statistics. basketball-reference.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
  8. ^ Rick Adelman Statistics. basketball-reference.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
  9. ^ a b Tex Winter Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
  10. ^ a b Johnny Egan Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
  11. ^ a b Tom Nissalke Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
  12. ^ A running total of the number of coaches of the Rockets. Thus any coach who has two separate terms as head coach is only counted once.
  13. ^ Jack McMahon Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
  14. ^ Alex Hannum Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
  15. ^ a b Coach of the Year. NBA.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
  16. ^ Del Harris Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
  17. ^ Top 10 Coaches in NBA History. NBA.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
  18. ^ Bill Fitch Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
  19. ^ Don Chaney Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
  20. ^ Jeff Van Gundy Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
  21. ^ Rick Adelman Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
v • d • e
San Diego/Houston Rockets
The Franchise
Arenas
Head Coaches
McMahon • Hannum • Winter • Egan • Nissalke • Harris • Fitch • Chaney • Tomjanovich • Van Gundy • Adelman
NBA Championships (2)
Western Conference
Championships (4)
1981 • 1986 • 1994 • 1995
Administration
Owner: Leslie Alexander • General Manager: Daryl Morey • Head Coach: Rick Adelman
Retired Jerseys
22 Drexler • 23 Murphy • 24 Malone • 34 Olajuwon • 45 Tomjanovich • CD Dawson
Hall of Famers
D-League Affiliate
Rivals