The Mount Rushmore of NBA Coaches

It’s been said more times than can be counted, and will continue to be said – championships define success. I don’t necessarily agree with that, except when it comes to individual sports. When you are part of a team, your part can play only so much. If you’re the coach of a team, you can coach your heart out and be a wizard at x’s and o’s. But you are relegated to the talent that is on your roster as a coach. With that, the task of creating a Mt. Rushmore of all-time NBA coaches has been placed on my plate.

As always, with articles like these, it’s a subjective list, open to interpretation and individual thought. For example, Jerry Sloan, former head coach of the Utah Jazz, compiled 1,221 career wins (4th most in the history of the league)…but zero NBA titles. He was fortunate to have John Stockton and Karl Malone lacing up their sneakers and running the pick and roll to near perfection for many years. But, Sloan never cashed in on that regular season success, and it equated to a goose egg in NBA titles for Sloan and the Jazz…not the sweet music many had thought they’d hear during that memorable run of excellence. Therefore, I leave Jerry Sloan on some other random mountain, just not the one called Rushmore.

Red Auerbach

Arnold Jacob “Red” Auerbach is some 300 career wins behind Jerry Sloan (Auerbach totalled 938 victories during his NBA coaching career), but his legacy is eternal. First, those 938 wins were the most in the storied history of the league when Auerbach retired. Secondly, the Coach who hailed from Brooklyn, amassed an NBA-best nine championships during his elite run. That’s the second most, next to a guy who got to coach Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kobe Bryant, among others. More about that guy momentarily.

Auerbach’s importance to the game went beyond the box scores. He was a true ambassador of the game, and helped several facets of it as well. Auerbach was instrumental in creating diversity in the NBA. In 1950, his Celtics drafted Chuck Cooper, the first black player to ever be drafted into the NBA. Auerbach went a step further, trotting out the league’s first all-black starting five, a move that undoubtedly had people scratching their heads at the time.

Auerbach was brash with his moves, and brash with his voice as well. He often found himself in verbal altercations with officials, and got himself ejected many, many times.

But next to his nine NBA titles, Auerbach, along with that famous cigar he was always known to have, showed his merit most in the fact that he coached 13 players who would eventually make it to the Hall of Fame.

Phil Jackson

It’s hard to quantify if Phil Jackson made Michael Jordan, and that probably isn’t the case. MJ would likely be talked about as the GOAT of the NBA regardless of who was drawing up the plays. But Jackson was instrumental in the success of the Bulls, as well as the Lakers, with his cutting-edge triangle offense. Jackson only comes in at #7 with his career win total of 1,155. But, as the antithesis to Jerry Sloan, the postseason is where Jackson made his bones. When it came to life after the regular season, Phil filled up the record books with his accolades. He guided teams to 229 postseason victories, 13 conference titles, and 11 championships, the most by any coach in NBA history.

His coaching prowess was evident even when he was a player for the New York Knicks. Limited physically, Jackson competed well and had a solid career as an NBA player, as he utilized superior intelligence and high dedication to work ethic…much like teams he would end up coaching to championships during his illustrious career as a head coach.

During his nine seasons with the Bulls, Jackson and company made the playoffs every one of the years, and won six titles in the form of two separate three-peats.

Yes, Phil Jackson was beyond blessed to have Jordan, Pippen, Dennis Rodman, and a string of heady, capable role players in Chicago. But it may have been his adoption of the triangle offense that helped the franchise finally leapfrog over the Detroit Pistons, who had been a thorn in the Bulls’ side for several seasons prior. To close the book on the greatness of Phil Jackson, one only needs to read this quote from Michael Jordan about Jackson, “Jackson was a coach who sees beyond your limits and guides you to greatness.”

Pat Riley

This guy is slick. Still. Always has been. And literally. His high-end Armani suits and gelled-back hair were visual trademarks of Pat Riley. It was what was in that high-IQ basketball brain underneath the movie star hair that has earned him countless championships, induction to the Hall of Fame, and a place on my Mt. Rushmore of all-time NBA head coaches.

So, what did Pat Riley accomplish while pacing back and forth on the hardwood sidelines? A quick examination of his resume tells you all you need to know about the Rome, New York native. As much of an artist as he was, you’d almost expect him to have been born in Rome, Italy, centuries earlier, hanging with the likes of DaVinci and Michelangelo. But, no, Riley wasn’t born in the wrong era. Basketball was his canvas, and he painted brilliantly.

Did you know Riley is the first sports figure from North America to win a championship as a player, an assistant coach, a head coach, and as an executive. He has served as the Miami Heat’s president since 1995. Starting as a player, and in other future roles, Pat Riley has reached the pinnacle of the game. He has been to 19 NBA Finals over the course of six decades. Break it down a bit further, and the math says Riley has appeared in one capacity or another in 25 percent of every NBA Finals the sport has ever had.

Gregg Popovich

As a former sports television producer for FOX Sports Arizona, I became a rabid Phoenix Suns fan. One squad that utterly destroyed the Suns…and me…was the San Antonio Spurs. It seemed every year, the Suns had a date with destiny into the NBA Finals, but Gregg Popovich and his intensely smart, competitive Spurs thwarted those hopes and dreams.

I gave plenty of kudos to Pat Riley and his resume earlier, but for the coach simply known as Pop, his credentials also jump out of the gym. Time to drill through some numbers that indicate just how amazing Popovich was as a head coach. His 1,390 career wins are unmatched by any other person with the title of NBA Head Coach. He ran the show in San Antonio for 29 years, and that earned him the title of the longest-tenured head coach in all major sports leagues in America. He guided the Spurs to consecutive winning seasons in each of his first 22 years at the helm down by the Rio Grande, an NBA-best. Pre-Pop, the Spurs had a total of zero championships. Once Popovich got there, the franchise won five.

Upon his retirement, the Spurs have not since tasted championship champagne. There are only four other coaches in league history to have captured five titles. He led the U.S. to a gold medal as head coach of the national team in 2020. And fittingly, in 2023, Pop got the call from the Hall, earning his well-deserved induction.

In Closing

There are some names on this list you don’t agree with. There might be a name or two you think are absolutely worth having their head plastered on the NBA Coach Mt. Rushmore. Like I said at the outset, one beauty of making up a list or ranking and defending it– it’s all subjective. I’d love to get your thoughts if I got this one right, or if you have an alteration or two to make. Sports debates are fun, not to be taken too seriously. The one thing that is serious about this article, is how damn amazing these four NBA head coaches were, and the indelible legacy they have all left on the game.