The

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Sou ...

are an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

team based in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. They play in the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA). The team began playing in 1946 as a member of the National Basketball League (NBL), and joined the NBA in 1949. The team has had five names since its inception; the Buffalo Bisons (1946), the Tri-Cities Blackhawks (1946–1951), the Milwaukee Hawks (1951–1955), the St. Louis Hawks (1955–1968), and the Atlanta Hawks (1968–present). The Hawks won their only

NBA championship The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awa ...

in 1958, and have not returned to the

NBA Finals The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awa ...

since 1960. The team has played its home games at the

Philips Arena State Farm Arena (formerly Philips Arena) is a multi-purpose arena located in Atlanta, Georgia. The arena serves as the home venue for the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s Atlanta Hawks. It also served as home to the National Hockey Leag ...

since 1999. The Hawks are owned by

Atlanta Spirit, LLC Atlanta Hawks, LLC (formerly known as Atlanta Spirit LLC) was an Atlanta, Georgia-based parent company formerly the holder of the franchise of the Atlanta Hawks, a professional basketball team in the NBA, and the Atlanta Thrashers, a former prof ...

, and

Danny Ferry Daniel John Willard Ferry (born October 17, 1966) is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and an All-American college player at Duke University. He most recently served as interim genera ...

is their general manager. There have been 30

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

es for the Hawks franchise since joining the NBA. The team's first head coach while in the NBA was

Roger Potter Roger Potter (October 5, 1907 – June 1982) was an American basketball coach, who was the first coach for the National Basketball Association's Tri-Cities Blackhawks (now the Atlanta Hawks). He lasted seven games (going 1-6) and was replaced wit ...

, who coached for seven games.

Richie Guerin Richard Vincent Guerin (born May 29, 1932) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. He played with the National Basketball Association's (NBA) New York Knicks from 1956 to 1963 and was a player-coach of the St. Louis/Atlan ...

, who coached the Hawks for eight seasons, is the franchise's all-time leader in regular-season games coached (618), regular-season games won (327), playoff games coached (60), and playoff games won (26).

Alex Hannum Alexander Murray Hannum (July 19, 1923 – January 18, 2002) was a professional basketball player and coach. Hannum coached two National Basketball Association (NBA) teams and one American Basketball Association (ABA) team to league championships. ...

is the only head coach to have won an NBA championship with the Hawks, doing so in the 1958 NBA Finals. Five Hawks coaches have won the

NBA Coach of the Year Award The National Basketball Association's Coach of the Year is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given since the 1962–63 NBA season. The winner receives the Red Auerbach Trophy, which is named in honor of the head coach who le ...

, four have been elected into the

Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...

as coaches, and three were listed among the

Top 10 Coaches in NBA History The 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, also referred to as NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team, were chosen in 1996 to honor the 50th anniversary of the founding of the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was the third anniversary team ...

in 1996. The current head coach is

Quin Snyder Quin Price Snyder (born October 30, 1966) is an American basketball coach who most recently served as the head coach for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After being named a McDonald's All American as a high school pla ...

Key

Coaches

''Note: Statistics are correct through April 10, 2023. This list does not include NBL seasons.'' File:RedAuerbach.jpg, Hall of Famer

Red Auerbach Arnold Jacob "Red" Auerbach (September 20, 1917 – October 28, 2006) was an American professional basketball coach and executive. He served as a head coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA), most notably with the Boston Celtics. ...

coached the Blackhawks for one season. File:Lenny Wilkens 2013.jpg,

Lenny Wilkens Leonard Randolph Wilkens (born October 28, 1937) is an American former basketball player and coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been inducted three times into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, first in 1989 as ...

was the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks from to . File:Mike Fratello TNT.jpg,

Mike Fratello Michael Robert Fratello (born February 24, 1947) is an American sports broadcaster and a professional basketball coach. Fratello is currently an analyst for Fox Sports Ohio for the Cavaliers and a part-time color commentator for Fox Sports West f ...

was the coach for the Hawks in and from –. File:Mike Woodson (cropped).jpg,

Mike Woodson Michael Dean Woodson (born March 24, 1958) is an American basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team. With coach Bob Knight's Indiana Hoosiers, Woodson played collegiatel ...

was the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks for 6 seasons, from –. Image:Coach_bud_looking_other_way.JPG,

Mike Budenholzer Michael Vincent Budenholzer (born August 6, 1969) is an American professional basketball coach who is the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Before joining the Bucks, he spent five seasons as head coac ...

coached the Hawks for 5 seasons, from to

Notes

* A running total of the number of coaches of the Hawks. 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 * ;Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:Atlanta Hawks head coaches Lists of National Basketball Association head coaches by team *

Head coaches A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...