List of Cleveland Cavaliers head coaches explained

The Cleveland Cavaliers are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. The Cavaliers play in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team joined the NBA in 1970 as an expansion team and won their first Eastern Conference championship in 2007.^[1] The Cavaliers have played their home games at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, formerly known as Quicken Loans Arena and Gund Arena, since 1994.^[2] The Cavaliers are owned by Dan Gilbert, with Koby Altman as their general manager.^[3] American R&B-pop singer Usher Raymond is a minority owner.^[4]

There have been 24 head coaches for the Cavaliers franchise. The current head coach is Kenny Atkinson. The franchise's first head coach was Bill Fitch, who coached for nine seasons. Fitch is the franchise's all-time leader for the most regular-season games coached (738); Lenny Wilkens is the franchise's all-time leader for the most regular-season game wins (316); Mike Brown is the franchise's all-time leader for the most playoff games coached (71) and the most playoff game wins (42). David Blatt has the highest regular-season winning percentage (.675) and the highest playoff winning percentage (.700). Tyronn Lue is the only coach to lead the Cavaliers to an NBA championship, in 2016. Chuck Daly, Wilkens and Fitch have been elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame as head coaches, partly due to their work with the Cavaliers. Fitch, Daly and Wilkens were also named as 3 of the top 10 coaches in NBA history. Fitch and Brown are the only Cavaliers coaches to have won the NBA Coach of the Year Award.

Key

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

Coaches

Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the .

#! rowspan="2" scope="col"

Name	Term	GC	W	L	Win%	GC	W	L	Win%	Achievements	Reference
Regular season				Playoffs
1		–	738	304	434	.412	18	7	11	.389	NBA Coach of the Year One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history^[5]	^[6]
2			82	37	45	.451	—	—	—	—		^[7]
3			71	25	46	.352	—	—	—	—		^[8]
4	^[9]		26	7	19	.269	—	—	—	—		^[10]
5	^[11]		3	0	3	.000	—	—	—	—		^[12]
6	^[13]		41	9	32	.220	—	—	—	—	One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history	^[14]
—	^[15]		23	2	21	.087	—	—	—	—
7		–	164	51	113	.311	—	—	—	—		^[16]
8		–	149	61	88	.409	4	1	3	.250		^[17]
9	^[18]		15	4	11	.267	—	—	—	—		^[19]
10		–	574	316	258	.551	41	18	23	.439	One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history	^[20]
11		–	460	248	212	.539	14	2	12	.143		^[21]
12		–	164	62	102	.378	—	—	—	—		^[22]
13		–	124	37	87	.298	—	—	—	—		^[23]
14	^[24]		40	9	31	.225	—	—	—	—		^[25]
15		–	146	69	77	.473	—	—	—	—		^[26]
16	^[27]		18	8	10	.444	—	—	—	—		^[28]
17		–	410	272	138	.663	71	42	29	.592	Eastern Conference championship (2007) NBA Coach of the Year^[29]	^[30]
18		–	230	64	166	.278	—	—	—	—		^[31]
—			82	33	49	.402	—	—	—	—
19		–	113	83	40		20	14	6		Eastern Conference championship (2015)
20	^[32]	–	211	128	83		61	41	20		NBA championship (2016) Three Eastern Conference championships (2016–2018) 2016 ESPY Award for Best Coach/Manager	^[33]
21	^[34]		76	19	57		—	—	—	—
22			54	14	40		—	—	—	—
23	^[35]	–	329	170	159		17	6	11			^[36]
24		–present	0	0	0		—	—	—	—

Notes

• A running total of the number of coaches of the Cavaliers. Thus, any coach who has two or more separate terms as head coach is only counted once.
• Each year is linked to an article about that particular NBA season.

References

General

• Web site: Year-By-Year Finish and Coaching Records. NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. November 29, 2008. December 2, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20081202025408/http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/history/alltime_coaches.html. live.
• Web site: Cleveland Cavaliers Coach Register. basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. November 29, 2008. January 4, 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20090104053710/http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/CLE/coaches.html. live.

Specific

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2006-07 Cleveland Cavaliers Statistics. basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. November 26, 2008. November 12, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201112030847/http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/CLE/2007.html. live.
2. Web site: Gund Arena to be renamed Quicken Loans Arena. ESPN.com. August 2, 2005. November 29, 2008. April 28, 2006. https://web.archive.org/web/20060428001749/http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2122670. live.
3. Web site: Executive Bios and Directory. Cleveland Cavaliers. NBA.com. July 9, 2015. July 8, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150708170718/http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/team/executives. live.
4. Web site: Usher About To Become Part-Owner Of Cleveland Cavaliers. MTV. Davis. Carolyn E.. November 30, 2008. February 25, 2005. December 7, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20081207004324/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1497521/20050225/usher.jhtml. dead.
5. Web site: Top 10 Coaches in NBA History. NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive. November 29, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20100119011709/http://www.nba.com/history/top_10_coaches.html. January 19, 2010. dead.
6. Web site: Bill Fitch Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. November 26, 2008. April 14, 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20090414154459/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/fitchbi99c.html. live.
7. Web site: Stan Albeck Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. November 26, 2008. May 16, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170516090229/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/albecst99c.html. live.
8. Web site: Bill Musselman Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. November 26, 2008. December 20, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20081220225255/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/mussebi99c.html. live.
9. Musselman was fired 71 games into the 1980–81 season. Delaney served as interim head coach for the remaining eleven games and the first fifteen games of the 1981–82 season.
10. Web site: Don Delaney Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. November 26, 2008. August 18, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170818214640/https://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/delando99c.html. live.
11. Delaney was fired fifteen games into the 1981–82 season. Kloppenburg served as interim head coach for three games before being fired.
12. Web site: Bob Kloppenburg Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. November 26, 2008. December 24, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20081224002044/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/kloppbo99c.html. live.
13. Kloppenburg was fired after serving as interim head coach for three games in the 1981–82 season. Daly served as head coach for 41 games before being fired.
14. Web site: Chuck Daly Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. November 26, 2008. January 17, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130117192947/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/dalych99c.html. live.
15. Daly was fired after serving as head coach for 41 games in the 1981–82 season. Musselman served as head coach for the remaining fifteen games.
16. Web site: Tom Nissalke Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. November 26, 2008. March 9, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110309125921/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/nissato99c.html. live.
17. Web site: George Karl Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. November 26, 2008. November 24, 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20101124081001/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/karlge01c.html. live.
18. Karl was fired 67 games into the 1985–86 season. Littles served as interim head coach for the remaining fifteen games.
19. Web site: Gene Littles Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. November 26, 2008. September 5, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080905024344/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/littlge01c.html. live.
20. Web site: Lenny Wilkens Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. November 26, 2008. January 8, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120108224137/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/wilkele01c.html. live.
21. Web site: Mike Fratello Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. November 26, 2008. August 11, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110811013549/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/fratemi99c.html. live.
22. Web site: Randy Wittman Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. November 26, 2008. January 18, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130118005742/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/wittmra01c.html. live.
23. Web site: John Lucas Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. November 26, 2008. March 12, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110312042338/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/lucasjo01c.html. live.
24. Lucas was fired 42 games into the 2002–03 season. Smart served as interim head coach for the remaining forty games.
25. Web site: Keith Smart Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. November 26, 2008. December 30, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20081230155201/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/smartke01c.html. live.
26. Web site: Paul Silas Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. November 26, 2008. February 8, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110208075846/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/silaspa01c.html. live.
27. Silas was fired 64 games into the 2004–05 season. Malone served as interim head coach for the remaining eighteen games.
28. Web site: Brendan Malone Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. November 26, 2008. December 25, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20081225085345/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/malonbr99c.html. live.
29. Web site: Coach of the Year. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. NBA.com. November 29, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20100915001144/http://www.nba.com/history/awards_coachofyear.html. September 15, 2010. dead.
30. Web site: Mike Brown Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. May 14, 2010. May 10, 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100510072607/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/brownmi99c.html. live.
31. Web site: Byron Scott Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. December 18, 2012. February 20, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110220230401/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/scottby01c.html. live.
32. Blatt was fired 41 games into the 2015–16 season. Lue served as head coach for the remaining 41 games.
33. Web site: Tyronn Lue Coaching Record. basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. June 30, 2021. September 5, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150905182458/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/luety01c.html. live.
34. Lue was fired six games into the 2018–19 season. Drew served as interim head coach for the remaining 76 games.
35. Beilein resigned 54 games into the 2019–20 season. Bickerstaff served as head coach for the remaining 11 games before the season's suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
36. Web site: J.B. Bickerstaff Coaching Record. Basketball-Reference.com. February 20, 2020. January 26, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210126083614/https://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/bickejb01c.html. live.