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List of Detroit Pistons head coaches

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The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit, Michigan. The Pistons, currently owned by Tom Gores, are in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA), playing their home games at Little Caesars Arena.[1][2]

The franchise was founded in 1941 by Fred Zollner in Fort Wayne, Indiana as the Zollner Pistons, playing in the National Basketball League (NBL).[3] In 1948, the team was renamed the Fort Wayne Pistons and joined the Basketball Association of America (BAA), merging with the NBL to form the NBA one year later.[3] After nine seasons in Fort Wayne, Zollner moved the team to Detroit in 1957 to compete financially with other big city teams.[4] In the 1980s, general manager Jack McCloskey drafted Isiah Thomas, acquired Joe Dumars and Dennis Rodman, and hired head coach Chuck Daly.[4] The 1980s team, known as "the Bad Boys" due to their physical playing style, won both the 1989 and 1990 NBA Finals under Daly.[4] The Pistons won their third and most recent title in the 2004 NBA Finals under Larry Brown.[4]

Since joining the NBA, the Pistons have had 37 head coaches. Carl Bennett was the franchise's first head coach, leading the team for six games, all of which were losses.[5] Daly is the franchise's all-time leader in regular-season games coached (738), regular-season games won (467), playoff games coached (113), and playoff games won (71).[6] Flip Saunders is the franchise's all-time leader in regular season win percentage (.715).[7] Daly and Brown are the only members of the franchise to be inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame as coaches,[6][8] with Daly also being selected as one of the top 10 coaches in NBA history.[9] Ray Scott and Rick Carlisle won the NBA Coach of the Year Award for the 1973–74 and 2001–02 season, respectively.[10] Dick Vitale was named to the Basketball Hall of Fame to recognize the work he did as a broadcaster after leaving the franchise.[11] Sixteen head coaches have spent their entire NBA coaching careers with the Pistons. Notable players and coaches who spent time with the Pistons include Curly Armstrong,[12] Red Rocha,[13] Dick McGuire,[14] Dave DeBusschere,[15] Donnis Butcher,[16] Terry Dischinger,[17] Earl Lloyd,[18] Ray Scott,[19] and Michael Curry.[20]

The current head coach of the Pistons is J. B. Bickerstaff.[21]

Key

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

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Perspective

Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2024–25 season. The list does not include NBL seasons.

More information #, Name ...
# Name Term[b] GC W L Win% GC W L Win% Achievements Reference
Regular season Playoffs
Fort Wayne Pistons
1 Carl Bennett* 1948 6 0 6 .000 — — — — [5]
2 Curly Armstrong* 1948–1949 (as player-coach) 54 22 32 .407 — — — — [22]
3 Murray Mendenhall* 1949–1951 136 72 64 .529 7 3 4 .429 [23]
4 Paul Birch 1951–1954 207 105 102 .507 14 4 10 .286 [24]
5 Charley Eckman* 1954–1957 216 114 102 .528 24 10 14 .417 [25]
Detroit Pistons
— Charley Eckman* 1957 25 9 16 .360 0 0 0 – [25]
6 Red Rocha* 1957–1960 153 65 88 .425 10 4 6 .400 [26]
7 Dick McGuire 1959–1960 (as player-coach)
1960–1963		 280 122 158 .436 21 8 13 .381 [27]
8 Charles Wolf 1963–1964 91 25 66 .433 — — — — [28]
9 Dave DeBusschere* 1964–1967 (as player-coach) 222 79 143 .356 — — — — [29]
10 Donnis Butcher* 1967–1968 112 52 60 .464 6 2 4 .333 [30]
11 Paul Seymour 1968–1969 60 22 38 .367 — — — — [31]
12 Butch van Breda Kolff 1969–1971 174 82 92 .471 — — — — [32]
13 Terry Dischinger* 1971 (as player-coach) 2 0 2 .000 — — — — [33]
14 Earl Lloyd* 1971–1972 77 22 55 .286 — — — — [34]
15 Ray Scott* 1972–1976 281 147 134 .523 10 4 6 .400 1973–74 NBA Coach of the Year[10] [35]
16 Herb Brown* 1976–1977 146 72 74 .493 12 5 7 .417 [36]
17 Bob Kauffman* 1977–1978 58 29 29 .500 — — — — [37]
18 Dick Vitale* 1978–1979 94 34 60 .362 — — — — [38]
19 Richie Adubato 1979–1980 70 12 58 .171 — — — — [39]
20 Scotty Robertson 1980–1983 246 97 149 .394 — — — — [40]
21 Chuck Daly‡ 1983–1992 738 467 271 .633 113 71 42 .628 2 NBA championships (1989, 1990)
One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history[9]		 [6]
22 Ron Rothstein 1992–1993 82 40 42 .488 — — — — [41]
23 Don Chaney 1993–1995 164 48 116 .293 — — — — [42]
24 Doug Collins 1995–1998 209 121 88 .579 8 2 6 .250 [43]
25 Alvin Gentry 1998–2000 145 73 72 .503 5 2 3 .400 [44]
26 George Irvine 2000–2001 106 46 60 .434 3 0 3 .000 [45]
27 Rick Carlisle 2001–2003 164 100 64 .610 27 12 15 .444 2001–02 NBA Coach of the Year[10] [46]
28 Larry Brown 2003–2005 164 108 56 .659 48 31 17 .646 NBA championship (2004) [8]
29 Flip Saunders 2005–2008 246 176 70 .715 51 30 21 .588 [7]
30 Michael Curry* 2008–2009 82 39 43 .476 4 0 4 .000 [47]
31 John Kuester* 2009–2011 164 57 107 .348 — — — — [48]
32 Lawrence Frank 2011–2013 148 54 94 .365 — — — — [49]
33 Maurice Cheeks 2013–2014 50 21 29 .420 — — — — [50]
34 John Loyer* 2014 32 8 24 .250 — — — — [51]
35 Stan Van Gundy 2014–2018 328 152 176 .463 4 0 4 .000 [52]
36 Dwane Casey 2018–2023 384 121 263 .315 4 0 4 .000 [53]
37 Monty Williams 2023–2024 82 14 68 .171 — — — – [54]
38 J. B. Bickerstaff 2024–present 82 44 38 .537 6 2 4 .333 [55]
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Notes

  • a A running total of the number of coaches of the Pistons. 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

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