List of Indiana Pacers head coaches explained

The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Pacers play in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team began playing in 1967 as a charter member of the American Basketball Association (ABA), and joined the NBA as part of the ABA–NBA merger. The team has played their home games at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse since the 1999–2000 NBA season. The Pacers are owned by Herbert and Melvin Simon, and David Morway is their general manager.^[1] Nate Bjorkgren was the team's head coach in 2020–21 and was fired after one season. Rick Carlisle was hired to replaced Bjorkgren, becoming the coach of the Pacers for the second time.

There have been 14 head coaches for the Pacers franchise. The franchise's first head coach was Larry Staverman, who coached for two seasons. Bobby Leonard is the franchise's all-time leader for the most regular-season games coached (985), the most regular-season game wins (529), the most playoff games coached (116), and the most playoff game wins (69). Leonard is also the only coach to win an ABA championship with the Pacers, with 3 (1970, 1972, 1973). Larry Bird, who coached three seasons with the Pacers, is the Pacers' all-time leader for the highest winning percentage with .687. Bird is also the only coach to win an NBA Eastern Conference championship with the Pacers, but lost the 2000 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers.^[2] Mel Daniels is the only Pacers coach to have coached less than one season. Jack Ramsay, Larry Brown, and Bobby Leonard are the only Pacers' coaches to be elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach. Ramsay was also named one of the top 10 coaches in NBA history. Jack McKinney and Larry Bird have won the NBA Coach of the Year Award, in and, respectively, with the Pacers. Dick Versace and Bird have spent their entire NBA coaching careers with the Pacers. Frank Vogel was named interim head coach after Jim O'Brien was fired midway through the 2010–11 season.^[3]

Key

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

Coaches

Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the .

	Name	Term	GC	W	L	Win%	GC	W	L	Win%	Achievements	Reference
			Regular season				Playoffs
1		1967–1968	87	40	47	.460	3	0	3	.000		^[4]
2		1968–	985	529	456	.537	116	69	47	.595	3 ABA championships (1970, 1972, 1973)^[5]	^[6]
3		–	328	125	203	.381	2	0	2	.000	NBA Coach of the Year	^[7]
4		–	164	48	116	.293	—	—	—	—		^[8]
5		–	171	79	92	.462	4	1	3	.250	One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history^[9]	^[10]
6			2	0	2	.000	—	—	—	—		^[11]
—			20	6	14	.300	—	—	—	—
7		–	160	73	87	.456	3	0	3	.000		^[12]
8		–	221	113	108	.511	12	3	9	.250		^[13]
9		–	328	190	138	.579	38	22	16	.579		^[14]
10		–	214	147	67	.687	52	32	20	.615	NBA Coach of the Year^[15]	^[16]
11		–	246	131	115	.533	15	5	10	.333		^[17]
12		–	328	181	147	.552	35	18	17	.514		^[18]
13		–	290	121	169	.417	—	—	—	—		^[19]
14		–	431	250	181		59	30	29			^[20]
15		–	319	183	136		19	3	16			^[21]
16			72	34	38		—	—	—	—		^[22]
—		–present	246	107	139		13	8	9

Notes

• A running total of the number of coaches of the Pacers. 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, except for the seasons spent in the ABA.

References

General

• Web site: Indiana Pacers Coach Register. Sports Reference LLC. basketball-reference.com. November 22, 2008. October 13, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20081013082608/http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/IND/coaches.html. live.

Specific

Notes and References

1. Web site: Year by Year with the Pacers. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. NBA.com. November 22, 2008. November 3, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20121103181312/http://www.nba.com/pacers/history/franchise_history.html. live.
2. Web site: Shaq Makes Mark in New Millennium. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. NBA.com. November 22, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20120222173711/http://www.nba.com/history/finals/19992000.html. February 22, 2012. dead.
3. Web site: Pacers relieve O'Brien of coaching duties . NBA.com . January 30, 2011 . January 30, 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120113072802/http://www.nba.com/pacers/news/obrien_release_110130.html . January 13, 2012.
4. Web site: Larry Staverman Coaching Record. Sports Reference LLC. basketball-reference.com. November 22, 2008. December 23, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20081223121932/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/stavela01c.html. live.
5. Web site: Playoff Index. Sports Reference LLC. basketball-reference.com. November 22, 2008. March 20, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190320191403/https://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/. live.
6. Web site: Slick Leonard Coaching Record. Sports Reference LLC. basketball-reference.com. November 22, 2008. March 9, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110309013209/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/leonasl01c.html. live.
7. Web site: Jack McKinney Coaching Record. Sports Reference LLC. basketball-reference.com. November 22, 2008. December 19, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20081219071740/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/mckinja99c.html. live.
8. Web site: George Irvine Coaching Record. Sports Reference LLC. basketball-reference.com. November 22, 2008. January 17, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130117193148/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/irvinge01c.html. live.
9. Web site: Top 10 Coaches in NBA History. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. NBA.com. July 30, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20120209033542/http://www.nba.com/history/top_10_coaches.html. February 9, 2012. dead.
10. Web site: Jack Ramsay Coaching Record. Sports Reference LLC. basketball-reference.com. November 22, 2008. March 23, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190323195610/https://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/ramsaja99c.html. live.
11. Web site: Mel Daniels Coaching Record. Sports Reference LLC. basketball-reference.com. November 22, 2008. December 1, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20081201084733/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/danieme01c.html. live.
12. Web site: Dick Versace Coaching Record. Sports Reference LLC. basketball-reference.com. November 22, 2008. December 22, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20081222053255/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/versadi99c.html. live.
13. Web site: Bob Hill Coaching Record. Sports Reference LLC. basketball-reference.com. November 22, 2008. June 14, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080614002246/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/hillbo99c.html. live.
14. Web site: Larry Brown Coaching Record. Sports Reference LLC. basketball-reference.com. November 22, 2008. April 12, 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100412131750/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/brownla01c.html. live.
15. Web site: Coach of the Year. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. NBA.com. July 30, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20100915001144/http://www.nba.com/history/awards_coachofyear.html. September 15, 2010. dead.
16. Web site: Larry Bird Coaching Record. Sports Reference LLC. basketball-reference.com. November 22, 2008. March 23, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190323195855/https://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/birdla01c.html. live.
17. Web site: Kevin Pritchard Coaching Record. Sports Reference LLC. basketball-reference.com. November 16, 2008. December 29, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20081229003943/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/pritcke01c.html. live.
18. Web site: Rick Carlisle Coaching Record. Sports Reference LLC. basketball-reference.com. November 22, 2008. July 4, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110704054401/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/carliri01c.html. live.
19. Web site: Jim O'Brien Coaching Record. Sports Reference LLC. basketball-reference.com. November 22, 2008. July 1, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080701072025/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/obrieji99c.html. live.
20. Web site: Frank Vogel Coaching Record. Sports Reference LLC. basketball-reference.com. December 18, 2012. June 29, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110629045703/http://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/vogelfr99c.html. live.
21. Web site: Nate McMillan Coaching Record. Sports Reference LLC. basketball-reference.com. May 16, 2015.
22. Web site: Nate Bjorkgren Coaching Record. Sports Reference LLC. basketball-reference.com. May 21, 2021. April 21, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210421173150/https://www.basketball-reference.com/coaches/bjorkna99c.html. live.