The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. They are a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team plays its home games at the Capital One Arena (formerly the MCI Center and the Verizon Center). The franchise was established in Chicago, Illinois as the Chicago Packers in 1961; after one season, its name was changed to the Chicago Zephyrs. In 1963, the franchise moved to Baltimore, Maryland and was renamed the Baltimore Bullets. It moved to Landover, Maryland in 1973 and changed its name to the Capital Bullets. After one season, the team became the Washington Bullets. In 1978, the Bullets won the 1978 NBA Finals in seven games for the franchise's only championship. In 1997, the team became the Washington Wizards, which is the team's current name. Since their formation, the Wizards have won six divisional championships, four conference championships, one league championship and have appeared in the playoffs twenty-three times.[1][2][3]
There have been 24 head coaches for the Wizards franchise. The franchise's first coach was Jim Pollard, who led the team for one season.[4] Dick Motta is the only Wizards coach to have led the team to a championship; the team won the 1978 NBA Finals as the Washington Bullets during his tenure.[5] Gene Shue is the only Wizards coach to have won the NBA Coach of the Year Award; he won it twice, in 1969 and 1982.[6] No Wizards coach has been elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach, but four have been elected into the Hall of Fame as a player: Jim Pollard, Buddy Jeannette, K. C. Jones and Wes Unseld.[4][7][8][9] Shue is the franchise's all-time leader in regular-season games coached (1027) and wins (522); Jones is the franchise's all-time leader in regular-season winning percentage (.630).[8] Dick Motta is the franchise's all-time leader in playoff games coached (51) and wins (27), as well as playoff-game winning percentage (.529).[5] Five Wizards coaches have spent their entire NBA head coaching career with the team: Mike Farmer, Bob Staak, Jim Brovelli, Leonard Hamilton and Ed Tapscott.[10][11][12][13][14] The team's current head coach is Brian Keefe.
Key
| GC | Games coached |
| W | Wins |
| L | Losses |
| Win% | Winning percentage |
| # | Number of coaches[a] |
| * | Spent entire NBA head coaching career with the Packers/Zephyrs/Bullets/Wizards |
Coaches
| # | Name | Term[b] | GC | W | L | Win% | GC | W | L | Win% | Achievements | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||
| 1 | Jim Pollard | 1961–1962 | 80 | 18 | 62 | .359 | — | — | — | — | [4] | |
| 2 | Jack McMahon | 1962 | 38 | 12 | 26 | .316 | — | — | — | — | [15] | |
| 3 | Bobby Leonard | 1962–1964 (as player-coach) | 122 | 44 | 78 | .361 | — | — | — | — | [16] | |
| 4 | Buddy Jeannette | 1964–1965 | 80 | 37 | 43 | .463 | 10 | 5 | 5 | .500 | [7] | |
| 5 | Paul Seymour | 1965–1966 | 80 | 38 | 42 | .475 | 3 | 0 | 3 | .000 | [17] | |
| 6 | Mike Farmer* | 1966 (interim) | 9 | 1 | 8 | .111 | — | — | — | — | [10] | |
| — | Buddy Jeannette | 1966 (interim) | 16 | 3 | 13 | .188 | — | — | — | — | [7] | |
| 7 | Gene Shue | 1966–1973 | 548 | 291 | 257 | .531 | 40 | 14 | 26 | .350 | 1968–69 NBA Coach of the Year[6] | [18] |
| 8 | K. C. Jones | 1973–1976 | 246 | 155 | 91 | .630 | 31 | 14 | 17 | .452 | [8] | |
| 9 | Dick Motta | 1976–1980 | 328 | 185 | 143 | .564 | 51 | 27 | 24 | .529 | NBA Championship (1978)[19] | [5] |
| — | Gene Shue | 1980–1986 | 479 | 231 | 248 | .482 | 15 | 5 | 10 | .333 | 1981–82 NBA Coach of the Year[6] | [18] |
| 10 | Kevin Loughery | 1986–1988 | 122 | 57 | 65 | .467 | 8 | 2 | 6 | .250 | [20] | |
| 11 | Wes Unseld | 1988–1994 | 547 | 202 | 345 | .369 | 5 | 2 | 3 | .400 | [9] | |
| 12 | Jim Lynam | 1994–1997 | 210 | 82 | 128 | .390 | — | — | — | — | [21] | |
| 13 | Bob Staak* | 1997 (interim) | 1 | 0 | 1 | .000 | — | — | — | — | [11] | |
| 14 | Bernie Bickerstaff | 1997–1999 | 149 | 77 | 72 | .517 | 3 | 0 | 3 | .000 | [22] | |
| 15 | Jim Brovelli* | 1999 (interim) | 18 | 5 | 13 | .278 | — | — | — | — | [12] | |
| 16 | Gar Heard | 1999–2000 | 44 | 14 | 30 | .318 | — | — | — | — | [23] | |
| 17 | Darrell Walker | 2000 (interim) | 38 | 15 | 23 | .395 | — | — | — | — | [24] | |
| 18 | Leonard Hamilton* | 2000–2001 | 82 | 19 | 63 | .232 | — | — | — | — | [13] | |
| 19 | Doug Collins | 2001–2003 | 164 | 74 | 90 | .451 | — | — | — | — | [25] | |
| 20 | Eddie Jordan | 2003–2008 | 421 | 197 | 224 | .468 | 26 | 8 | 18 | .308 | [26] | |
| 21 | Ed Tapscott* | 2008–2009 (interim) | 71 | 18 | 53 | .254 | — | — | — | — | [14] | |
| 22 | Flip Saunders | 2009–2012 | 181 | 51 | 130 | .282 | — | — | — | — | [27] | |
| 23 | Randy Wittman | 2012–2016 | 377 | 178 | 199 | .472 | 21 | 12 | 9 | .571 | [28] | |
| 24 | Scott Brooks | 2016–2021 | 390 | 183 | 207 | .469 | 24 | 10 | 14 | .417 | [29] | |
| 25 | Wes Unseld Jr.* | 2021–2024 | 207 | 77 | 130 | .372 | — | — | — | — | [30] | |
| 26 | Brian Keefe* | 2024–present (interim) | 39 | 8 | 31 | .205 | — | — | — | — | ||
Doug Collins coached the Wizards for two seasons from 2001 to 2003.
Eddie Jordan was the head coach for the Wizards from 2003 to 2008.
Randy Wittman was the head coach for the Wizards from 2012 to 2016.
Scott Brooks was the head coach for the Wizards from 2016 to 2021.
Wes Unseld Jr. was the head coach for the Wizards from 2021 to 2024.
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Notes
References
- General
- "Washington Wizards Coach Register". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 25, 2008.
- Specific