List of Milwaukee Bucks head coaches

The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball franchise based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They are a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team plays their home games at the Fiserv Forum. The Bucks are owned by Wes Edens and Marc Lasry, with Jon Horst as their general manager.

Since the team was formed in 1968, there have been 15 head coaches for the Bucks franchise.[1] The franchise won its first NBA championship in the 1971 NBA Finals under the leadership of its first coach, Larry Costello, and another in the 2021 NBA Finals under Coach Mike Budenholzer (the only other Bucks' coach other than Don Nelson to have won coach of the year).[2] Don Nelson is the franchise's all-time leader for the most regular season games coached (884), most regular season games won (540), most playoff games coached (88), and most playoff games won (42).[3] Nelson is also the only Bucks coach to win an NBA Coach of the Year Award while also being one of the top 10 coaches in NBA history.[3][4] Larry Krystkowiak and Joe Prunty are the only people to have spent their entire head coaching career with the Bucks.[5] Mike Dunleavy, Krystkowiak, and Scott Skiles have played and coached for the Bucks.[6][7][8] Skiles was the head coach of the Bucks from 2008 until he and the team mutually agreed to part ways in 2013.[9]

Key

GCGames coached
WWins
LLosses
Win%Winning percentage
#Number of coaches[a]
*Spent entire NBA head coaching career with the Bucks
Elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach

Coaches

Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2023–24 season.

#NameTerm[b]GCWLWin%GCWLWin%AchievementsReference
Regular seasonPlayoffs
1Larry Costello19681976674410264.608603723.6171 Championship (1971)[2]
2Don Nelson19761987884540344.611884246.477NBA Coach of the Year (1983, 1985)
One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history[4]
[3]
3Del Harris19871991345191154.55421615.286[10]
4Frank Hamblen1991–1992652342.354[11]
5Mike Dunleavy19921996328107221.326[12]
6Chris Ford199619981646995.421[13]
7George Karl†⁸19982003378205173.542321418.438[14]
8Terry Porter200320051647193.433514.200[15]
9Terry Stotts200520071466383.432514.200[16]
10Larry Krystkowiak*200720081003169.310[5]
11Scott Skiles20082013344162182.471734.429[9]
12Jim Boylan2013502228.444404.000[17]
13Larry Drew2013–2014821567.183.---[18]
14Jason Kidd20142018291139152.4781248.333[19]
15Joe Prunty2018372116.568734.429[20]
16Mike Budenholzer20182023391271120.693653926.600NBA Coach of the Year (2019)[21]
1 Championship (2021)
[22]
17Adrian Griffin*2023433013.698
Joe Prunty2024321.667
18Doc Rivers2024–present361719.472

Notes

  • a A running total of the number of coaches of the Milwaukee Bucks. 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
  • "Milwaukee Bucks Coach Register". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 8, 2008.
Specific