List of New York Knicks head coaches

The New York Knickerbockers are an American professional basketball team based in New York City. They are a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). They play their home games at Madison Square Garden. The franchise's official name "Knickerbockers" came from the style of pants Dutch settlers wore when they came to America.^[1] Having joined the Basketball Association of America (BAA), the predecessor of the NBA, in 1946, the Knicks remain as one of the oldest teams in the NBA.^[2] During Red Holzman's tenure, the franchise won its only two NBA championships, the 1970 NBA Finals and the 1973 NBA Finals.

There have been 26 head coaches for the New York Knicks franchise. Holzman was the franchise's first Coach of the Year winner and is its all-time leader in regular-season games coached, regular-season games won, playoff games coached, and playoff games won.^[3] Holzman was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1986 as a coach.^[3] Besides Holzman, Rick Pitino, Don Nelson, Pat Riley, Lenny Wilkens, and Larry Brown have been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as coaches. Four coaches have been named to the list of the top 10 coaches in NBA history.^[4] Neil Cohalan, Joe Lapchick, Vince Boryla, Carl Braun, Eddie Donovan and Herb Williams have spent their entire coaching careers with the Knicks.^{[5][6][7][8][9][10]} Boryla, Braun, Harry Gallatin, Dick McGuire, Willis Reed and Williams formerly played for the Knicks.^{[11][12][13][14][15][16]}

Key

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

Coaches

Note: Statistics are as of February 8, 2016.

#	Name	Term[b]	GC	W	L	Win%	GC	W	L	Win%	Achievements	Reference
			Regular season				Playoffs
1	Cohalan, NeilNeil Cohalan*	1946–1947	60	33	27	.550	5	2	3	.400		[5]
2	Lapchick, JoeJoe Lapchick*	1947–1956	573	326	247	.569	60	30	30	.500		[6]
3	Boryla, VinceVince Boryla*	1956–1958	165	80	85	.485	—	—	—	-1—		[7]
4	Levane, AndrewAndrew Levane	1958–1959	99	48	51	.485	2	0	2	.000		[17]
5	Braun, CarlCarl Braun*	1959–1961 (as player-coach)	127	40	87	.315	—	—	—	-1—		[8]
6	Donovan, EddieEddie Donovan*	1961–1965	278	84	194	.302	—	—	—	-1—		[9]
7	Gallatin, HarryHarry Gallatin	1965	63	25	38	.397	—	—	—	-1—		[18]
8	McGuire, DickDick McGuire	1965–1967	177	75	102	.424	4	1	3	.250		[19]
9	Holzman, RedRed Holzman	1967–1977	783	466	317	.595	95	54	41	.568	1969–70 NBA Coach of the Year 2 Championships (1970, 1973) One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history[4]	[3]
10	Reed, WillisWillis Reed	1977–1978	96	49	47	.510	6	2	4	.333		[20]
9.1—	Holzman, RedRed Holzman	1978–1982	314	147	167	.468	2	0	2	.000	One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history[4]	[3]
11	Brown, HubieHubie Brown	1982–1986	344	138	190	.401	18	8	10	.444		[21]
12	Hill, BobBob Hill	1986–1987	66	20	46	.303	—	—	—	-1—		[22]
13	Pitino, RickRick Pitino	1987–1989	164	90	74	.549	13	6	7	.462		[23]
14	Jackson, StuStu Jackson	1989–1990	97	52	45	.536	10	4	6	.400		[24]
15	MacLeod, JohnJohn MacLeod	1990–1991	67	32	35	.478	3	0	3	.000		[25]
16	Riley, PatPat Riley	1991–1995	328	223	105	.680	63	35	28	.556	1992–93 NBA Coach of the Year One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history[4]	[26]
17	Nelson, DonDon Nelson	1995–1996	59	34	25	.576	—	—	—	-1—	One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history[4]	[27]
18	Van Gundy, JeffJeff Van Gundy	1996–2001	420	248	172	.590	69	37	32	.536		[28]
19	Chaney, DonDon Chaney	2001–2004	184	72	112	.391	—	—	—	-1—		[29]
20	Williams, HerbHerb Williams*	2004	1	1	0	1.000	—	—	—	-1—		[10]
21	Wilkens, LennyLenny Wilkens	2004–2005	81	40	41	.494	4	0	4	.000	One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history[4]	[30]
20.1—	Williams, HerbHerb Williams*	2005	43	16	27	.372	—	—	—	-1—		[10]
22	Brown, LarryLarry Brown	2005–2006	82	23	59	.280	—	—	—	-1—		[31]
23	Thomas, IsiahIsiah Thomas	2006–2008	164	56	108	.341	—	—	—	-1—		[32]
24	D'Antoni, MikeMike D'Antoni	2008–2012	288	121	167	.420	4	0	4	.000		[33]
25	Woodson, MikeMike Woodson	2012–2014	188	109	79	.580	17	7	10	.412		[34]
26	Fisher, DerekDerek Fisher*	2014–2016	136	40	96	.294	—	—	—	—		[35]
27	Rambis, KurtKurt Rambis	2016	28	9	19	.321	—	—	—	—	—	[36]
28	Hornacek, JeffJeff Hornacek	2016–Present	–	–	–	–	—	—	—	—	—	[37]

• 
  Red Holzman was the 1969–70 NBA Coach of the Year, and won 2 championships (1970, 1973).
• 
  Rick Pitino was the coach for the Knicks from 1987 to 1989.
• 
  Pat Riley was the coach for the Knicks from 1991 to 1995.
• 
  Jeff Van Gundy was the coach for the Knicks from 1996 to 2001.
• 
  Mike Woodson was the Knicks' head coach from 2012 to 2014.
• 
  Jeff Hornacek is the Knicks head coach.

Notes

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

General

Specific