Bernard Tyrone Bickerstaff (born February 11, 1944) is an American

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 ...

coach and front office executive, currently serving as the Senior Basketball Advisor for the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

.Cavs Media Guide
/ref> As a coach, he previously worked as the head coach for the NBA's

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly known as the Seattle Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Confe ...

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

, Washington Bullets/Wizards,

Charlotte Bobcats Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populous ...

, and

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

. He has also been an assistant for the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

, and Cavaliers. He has served in numerous other NBA front office positions, and has been a consultant for the

Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters are an American exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, and comedy in their style of play. Created in 1926 by Tommy Brookins in Chicago, Illinois, the team adopted the name ''Harlem'' because of i ...

Early years

Bickerstaff was born in

Benham, Kentucky Benham is a home rule-class city in Harlan County, Kentucky, in the United States. The city was formally incorporated by the General Assembly in 1961. The population was 512 at the 2020 census, up from 500 at the 2010 census. History Benham ...

, where his father and grandfather worked in the

coal mines Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

. He often had to endure open racism. He attended East Benham High School, where he was the starting

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

of the

team. After graduating in 1961, Bickerstaff moved to Cleveland where he had relatives, with the idea of joining the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

, but he instead accepted a

scholarship to play for

Rio Grande College The University of Rio Grande and Rio Grande Community College (originally Rio Grande College) is a private university and public community college merged into one institution in Rio Grande, Ohio. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commissio ...

. The racial tension he experienced during his time playing there made him leave school early and head back to Cleveland to work in a

steel mill A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-finish ...

. However, the difficult working conditions prompted him to accept a second opportunity to play

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

at the

University of San Diego The University of San Diego (USD) is a private Roman Catholic research university in San Diego, California. Chartered in July 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University (comprising the College for Men and Schoo ...

from 1964 to 1966. As a senior, he was named team captain and MVP, when the Toreros finished 17–11 and went on to play at the Small College Regional Playoffs. He is a member of the

Kappa Alpha Psi Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African American fraternity. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911 at Indiana University Bloomington, the fraternity has never restricted membership on the basis of color, creed ...

fraternity.

Professional career

After finishing his college eligibility, Bickerstaff was hired by his coach

Phil Woolpert Philipp D. Woolpert (December 15, 1915 – May 5, 1987) was an American basketball coach, best known as the head coach of the University of San Francisco San Francisco Dons men's basketball, Dons in the 1950s. He led them to consecutive List of NC ...

to serve as an assistant for the 1968–69 season. After three seasons at 25 years old, he was named the head coach of the

after Woolpert's abrupt resignation, keeping this position for the next four years. In 1972–1973 his team finished 19–9 and his four-year overall record was 54–49. In 1973, Bickerstaff was hired as an assistant for the

Washington Bullets The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...

by then coach

K. C. Jones K. C. Jones (May 25, 1932 – December 25, 2020) was an American professional basketball player and coach. He is best known for his association with the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA), with whom he won 11 of his 12 ...

and was a part of the 1978 Bullets NBA Championship. He left the team after 12 seasons to become head coach of the

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 ...

, who had been elevated from coach to GM in 1985, hired Bickerstaff for the head coaching position to replace himself. Bickerstaff was head coach of the Sonics from 1985–1990, with the team reaching the Western Conference Finals in 1987. Bickerstaff was the

' president and general manager from 1990 to 1997, also coaching the team from 1994 to 1996. In 1997,

Wes Unseld Westley Sissel Unseld Sr. (March 14, 1946June 2, 2020) was an American professional basketball player, coach and executive. He spent his entire National Basketball Association (NBA) career with the Baltimore/Capital/Washington Bullets. Unseld ...

hired Bickerstaff to coach the Bullets, making the playoffs for the first time since 1988 and becoming the league's all-time 34th-winningest coach. After parting ways with the team in

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, he had a two-year stint with the

International Basketball League The International Basketball League (IBL) was a semi-professional men's basketball league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States. In 2010 the Albany Legends became the first team in the Northeastern United States to join. The ...

St. Louis Swarm The St. Louis Swarm was a professional basketball team based in St. Charles, Missouri from 1999 to 2001. They were members of the International Basketball League (1999–2001), International Basketball League and won the league's only two champions ...

. Bickerstaff was twice named IBL Coach of the Year. In 2003, Bickerstaff was hired by

Ed Tapscott Edmond A. "Ed" Tapscott III (born June 11, 1953) is an American sports executive. He is the former interim head coach of the NBA's Washington Wizards. Coaching Tapscott received his bachelor's degree from Tufts University and his Juris Doctor ...

to become the expansion

' first head coach and general manager. Bickerstaff was hired by the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

as an assistant coach to Mike Brown. On November 9, 2012, Bickerstaff was named interim head coach of the Lakers after Brown was fired. Three days later, the Lakers signed former Knicks coach

Mike D'Antoni Michael D'Andrew D'Antoni (born May 8, 1951) is an Italian-American professional basketball coach and former player who is a coaching advisor for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). While head coach of the Ph ...

as their official head coach, although D'Antoni's on-court debut was delayed as he recovered from knee-replacement surgery. Bickerstaff continued to coach the Lakers in D'Antoni's absence, ending his stint with a 4–1 record, the highest winning percentage in Lakers' history, albeit in only five games. He continued with the team as an assistant coach, but was fired after the season. In the summer of 2013, Bickerstaff became an assistant coach with the

.Bernie Bickerstaff completes Mike Brown's staff: Cleveland Cavaliers Insider
/ref> The following year, he moved up to the Cavaliers' front office, serving as a senior advisor. As a member of the Cavaliers front office, he was part of Cleveland's 2016 NBA Championship team.

Head coaching record

NBA

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L.A. Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

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Awards and accolades

* In 1987, he received the Horace Mann Award for Leadership and was also named the 1987 Sports Person of the Year, presented by the New York Pro-Am Basketball Association. * In 1995, he was inducted into the

's Hall of Fame. * Inducted into the West Coast Conference's inaugural Hall of Honor. * In 2010, he was inducted into the John McClendon Minority Athletics Administrators Hall of Fame. * In 2011, he was named a Kappa Legend and Icon in Sports. * In 2012, he was inducted into the Breitbard Hall of Fame. * His hometown of

, named a street – Bernard Bickerstaff Boulevard – in his honor. * In 2014, he was awarded the NBA's

Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award is an annual award given by the National Basketball Coaches Association (NBCA) to a longtime NBA coach's life in basketball and his "standard of integrity, competitive excellence and tireless promotion" of t ...

Personal life

Bickerstaff also worked as a TV and radio analyst with the

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast D ...

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Division ( ...

, NBA.com and the Sporting News Radio. His son,

J. B. Bickerstaff John-Blair Bickerstaff (born March 10, 1979) is an American professional basketball coach who is the head coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Before that, he was the head coach for the Memphis Grizzlie ...

, is the current head coach for the

. His wife is a 4th grade teacher in Wyckoff, New Jersey. He has another son, Bernard Jr., who is his eldest.

References

External links

BasketballReference.com: Bernie Bickerstaff

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bickerstaff, Bernie 1944 births Living people African-American basketball coaches African-American basketball players African-American sports executives and administrators American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players American sports executives and administrators Basketball coaches from Kentucky Basketball players from Kentucky BSN coaches Charlotte Bobcats head coaches Charlotte Hornets executives Chicago Bulls assistant coaches Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coaches Denver Nuggets head coaches International Basketball League (1999–2001) coaches Los Angeles Lakers assistant coaches Los Angeles Lakers head coaches National Basketball Association executives People from Harlan County, Kentucky Portland Trail Blazers assistant coaches San Diego Toreros men's basketball coaches San Diego Toreros men's basketball players Seattle SuperSonics head coaches University of Rio Grande alumni Washington Bullets assistant coaches Washington Bullets head coaches Point guards 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople