Bulls Head Coaches, From Kerr to Donovan

 

Today, the Bulls introduced Billy Donovan as their next head coach. "Once he became available," executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas said, "we were relentless in terms of trying to find ways to continue communication and kind of to prove to Billy that we are the spot for him. And we were able to do it." 

     Donovan explained why he chose the Bulls over other suitors. "I mean, it's an iconic franchise," he said, "and certainly to be a part of trying to help build it back up was certainly very, very appealing and exciting. I know it's going to take a lot of work."  

     We'll take it as a good sign that Donovan brings a much more impressive resume than any of his predecessors carried into the job. Only time will tell how well he does, but it's safe to say that he could hardly do worse than his immediate predecessor, Jim Boylen (not to be confused with Jim Boylan, who also served as head coach of the Bulls).

    

PHIL JACKSON with MICHAEL JORDAN.

Phil Jackson, of course, is the most successful coach in Bulls history by a wide margin. Strangely, both he and the Bulls' second most successful coach, Tom Thibodeau, were each succeeded in the job by a college coach from Iowa State who had never coached in the NBA before and never would again after leaving the Bulls. (Apologies to Cyclones fans for that one.)

     Jackson and Jerry Sloan are the only Bulls coaches to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. As a player, Sloan was the heart and soul of some excellent Bulls teams in the early 1970s. He earned his place in the Hall during a long run as head coach of  the Utah Jazz. 

     The irrepressible Johnny "Red" Kerr was the Bulls' first head coach, and he is one of four to have won the NBA Coach of the Year award. The others are Dick Motta (1971), Jackson (1996), and Thibodeau (2011). Kerr is best remembered today as a Bulls broadcaster from 1975 to 2008. He loved the Bulls as much as Ron Santo loved the Cubs.

     Rod Thorn was the Bulls' general manager when he assumed coaching duties for the latter part of the 1981-82 season. A more enduring claim to fame is that he drafted Michael Jordan in 1984.

     Below is the complete list of Bulls head coaches, with their regular-season records.

 

 

Years	Coach	W.	L.	Pct.
1966 - 1968	Johnny "Red" Kerr	62	101	.380
1968 - 1976	Dick Motta	356	300	.543
1976 - 1978	Ed Badger	84	80	.512
1978 - 1979	Larry Costello	20	36	.357
1979	Scotty Robertson	11	15	.423
1979 - 1982	Jerry Sloan	94	121	.437
1982	Phil Johnson	0	1	.000
1982	Rod Thorn	15	15	.500
1982 - 1983	Paul Westhead	28	54	.341
1983 - 1985	Kevin Loughery	65	99	.396
1985 - 1986	Stan Albeck	30	52	.366
1986 - 1989	Doug Collins	137	109	.557
1989 - 1998	Phil Jackson	545	193	.738
1998 - 2001	Tim Floyd	49	190	.205
2001	Bill Berry	0	2	.000
2001 - 2003	Bill Cartwright	51	100	.338
2003	Pete Myers	0	1	.000
2003 - 2007	Scott Skiles	146	125	.539
2007	Pete Myers	0	1	.000
2007 - 2008	Jim Boylan	24	32	.429
2008 - 2010	Vinny Del Negro	82	82	.500
2010 - 2015	Tom Thibodeau	255	139	.647
2015 - 2018	Fred Hoiberg	115	155	.426
2018 - 2020	Jim Boylen	39	84	.317

  

 

Check out our book Heydays: Great Stories in Chicago Sports on Amazon. 

 

Chicago Sports Memories is Back!

THEO EPSTEIN

A lot of water has flowed under the proverbial bridge since you last heard from us at the end of 2011. Here are some highlights of the Chicago sports landscape at that time.

• The Bulls' Derrick Rose was the NBA's reigning MVP (the youngest in league history at age 22), head coach Tom Thibodeau was the incumbent coach of the year, and the Bulls were coming off a season in which they had racked up the best record in the league (62-20) and made it to the Eastern Conference finals. To say the future looked bright for all concerned would be a gross understatement.
• The Blackhawks, a year and a half removed from their first Stanley Cup championship since 1961, were in the midst of a stretch under head coach Joel Quenneville during which they would qualify for the NHL playoffs for nine consecutive seasons and capture the Cup twice more. Their core group of young players (including Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, Patrick Sharp, Brent Seabrook, and Corey Crawford) would remain together for years to come.
  
• The Bears had just completed an 8-8 season which ranked as a profound disappointment after a trip to the NFC championship game the year before. Quarterback Jay Cutler remained an enigma; he had not yet attained the superstardom predicted for him, and it was beginning to look as if he never would. Head coach Lovie Smith and future Hall of Fame linebacker Brian Urlacher would both be gone a year later.
  
• The White Sox had just parted ways with blustery manager Ozzie Guillen and replaced him with the placid Robin Ventura, who had never publicly expressed interest in managing until the day he was hired. Guillen's tumultuous tenure, of course, had produced (in 2005) the franchise's first world championship since 1917, so his place in Pale Hose history was secure. Lanky lefthander Chris Sale, just twenty-two, was poised to emerge as a major star.
• The Cubs had just endured a 71-91 slog under overmatched manager Mike Quade. Shortstop Starlin Castro, twenty-one, made the All-Star team and led the National League in hits; he appeared to be a perennial star in the making. Most importantly, Theo Epstein had just been hired to lead the Cubs' baseball operations. Just thirty-seven years old, he had already been general manager of the Boston Red Sox for nine years and in 2004 had engineered their first world championship since 1918. He had joined the Cubs to try and end the world-famous drought that stretched all the way back to 1908.
  

60-Win Bulls

    

PHIL JACKSON and MICHAEL JORDAN

     When LeBron James announced last summer, on his now-infamous live TV show "The Decision," that he was taking his talents to South Beach, the Bulls appeared to be in a bad way. Like a number of other teams, the Bulls had feverishly pursued James, and when they failed to land him, it wasn't clear whether they had a Plan B--and if so, what that plan was. At the time, the Bulls had but a handful of players under contract, not enough to field a team, having cleared roster space and salary-cap space to accommodate James and/or Dwayne Wade and/or Chris Bosh, all three of whom ended up in Miami.
     Well, Plan B has worked out nicely. The Bulls signed a big-name free-agent, power forward Carlos Boozer, brought in some well-chosen complementary players, and saw continued improvement from their own young veterans Luol Deng, Joakim Noah, and the sensational Derrick Rose.
     Under rookie head coach Tom Thibodeau, the retooled Bulls have surpassed all expectations. They have notched 60 wins, and they will enter the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. We don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves, but reaching the 60-win plateau would seem to bode well. Five previous Bulls teams have won 60 or more games in a season, and each captured the world championship.

50-Win Bulls teams (in ascending order)

1987-88
50-32 (.610)
Head coach: Doug Collins
Playoff record: 4-6 (lost Eastern Conference semifinals)

1970-71
51-31 (.622)
Head coach: Dick Motta
Playoff record: 3-4 (lost Western Conference semifinals)

1972-73
51-31 (.622)
Head coach: Dick Motta
Playoff record: 3-4 (lost Western Conference semifinals)

1973-74
54-28 (.659)
Head coach: Dick Motta
Playoff record: 4-7 (lost Western Conference finals)

1993-94
55-27 (.671)
Head coach: Phil Jackson
Playoff record: 6-4 (lost Eastern Conference semifinals)

1989-90
55-27 (.671)
Head coach: Phil Jackson
Playoff record: 10-6 (lost Eastern Conference finals)

1971-72
57-25 (.695)
Head coach: Dick Motta
Playoff record: 0-4 (lost Western Conference semifinals)

1992-93
57-25 (.695)
Head coach: Phil Jackson
Playoff record: 15-4 (won NBA championship)


60-Win Bulls teams (in ascending order)

1990-91
61-21 (.744)
Head coach: Phil Jackson
Playoff record: 15-2 (won NBA championship)

1997-98
62-20 (.756)
Head coach: Phil Jackson
Playoff record: 15-6 (won NBA championship)

1991-92
67-15 (.817)
Head coach: Phil Jackson
Playoff record: 15-7 (won NBA championship)

1996-97
69-13 (.841)
Head coach: Phil Jackson
Playoff record: 15-4 (won NBA championship)


70-Win Bulls teams

1995-96
72-10 (.878 -- NBA record)
Head coach: Phil Jackson
Playoff record: 15-3 (won NBA championship)

History in the Making: Derrick Rose

    

DERRICK ROSE

       Resume of Bulls point guard Derrick Rose:

• McDonald's All-American, representing Chicago's Simeon Career Academy, in his final year of high school, 2007.
• Third-team All-American, representing the University of Memphis, in his first and only year of college ball, 2008.
• First player selected in NBA draft, 2008.
• NBA Rookie of the Year, 2009.
• NBA All-Star in his second year in the league, 2010.
• All-Star Game starter and a serious contender for the Most Valuable Player award in his third year in the league, 2011.

     This site usually focuses on players, teams, and events from decades ago, but in Rose we are witnessing Chicago sports history being made before our eyes. Rose is a player that Bulls fans will be talking about decades from now. He is everything that you'd want in a superstar. In addition to his amazing talent, Rose has the complete package of intangibles. He is confident, dedicated, selfless, focused, dignified, mature--use any adjective you want. "If you don't see something special in Derrick Rose," Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said, "then you're blind."
     By Reinsdorf's definition, Horace Grant is not blind. The former Bulls star was talking to reporters the other day in anticipation of the ceremony this coming Saturday in which he and his teammates from the 1991 championship team will be honored. Though he wasn't asked, Grant felt compelled to talk about Rose. "Derrick Rose--wow!" he exclaimed. "What a humble star! I haven't seen one of those like that in my era. How humble is that kid and how great is he and will he be. That's one young man I will seek out to shake his hand."
     During his career, Grant played with greats such as Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Shaquille O'Neal, and Kobe Bryant, so he knows an all-timer when he sees one. None other than Jordan himself also has expressed admiration for Rose. "MVP of the season," Jordan declared. "He deserves it. He's playing that well. He deserves it, without a doubt."
     If Rose does win the award, which looks more likely every day, he will be the youngest MVP ever, at the age of 22. "The award," he said, "it will come if we keep winning. But we're just trying to play hard, play together, and keep playing aggressive and play with an edge."
     Under first-year coach Tom Thibodeau, the Bulls have exploded into the ranks of the very best teams in the league. They are 45-18 for the season, and they are 8-0 in their most recent meetings with the other top teams, including two recent wins over the Miami Heat, who considered the championship to be a foregone conclusion after loudly signing LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh last summer.
     There's a long way yet to go, but Rose and the Bulls haven't been shown any reason to doubt that they are legitimate contenders."I think the sky's the limit for us right now," said Rose. "Who's to say that we can't win it this year?"