Michael Vincent Budenholzer (born August 6, 1969) is 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 ...

coach who is the

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 ...

of the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

of 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). Before joining the Bucks, he spent five seasons as head coach of 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 ...

and 19 seasons with the

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 ( ...

, serving as an alternate video coordinator for the first two seasons and then as an

assistant coach A sports coach is a person coaching in sport, involved in the direction, instruction and training of a sports team or athlete. History The original sense of the word ''coach'' is that of a Coach (carriage), horse-drawn carriage, deriving ultima ...

behind head coach

Gregg Popovich Gregg Charles Popovich (born January 28, 1949) is an American professional basketball coach and executive who is the president and head coach of the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Taking over as coach of the Spur ...

. In 2021, Budenholzer coached the Bucks to their first NBA championship since 1971. As a protégé of Gregg Popovich, Budenholzer is, similar to his mentor, commonly referred to by other coaches, players and media as "Bud" or "Coach Bud".

Playing career

A native of

Holbrook, Arizona Holbrook ( nv, Tʼiisyaakin) is a city in Navajo County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city was 5,053. The city is the county seat of Navajo County. Holbrook was founded in 1881 or 1882, when the r ...

, Budenholzer attended

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became ...

, where he was a four-year

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and

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

and was named the Outstanding Senior Athlete in 1993. He graduated with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in philosophy, politics, and economics. On September 19, 2015, Budenholzer was inducted into the Pomona-Pitzer Hall of Fame.

Coaching career

After college, he spent the 1993–94 season in

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, playing professionally for Vejle Basketball Klub, where he averaged a team-high 27.5 points per game while also serving as head coach for two teams of the club's

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if ...

. Previously, he had a "cup of coffee" playing for Pentland in the Scottish League.

San Antonio Spurs

At the start of the 1994–95 season, Budenholzer was hired by the

of the

(NBA) as a video coordinator. He held that position for two years before being named an assistant coach under head coach

at the beginning of the 1996–97 season. Budenholzer was part of a staff that won four NBA championships while with the Spurs.

Atlanta Hawks

Budenholzer left San Antonio at the end of the 2013 NBA Playoffs to begin his new career as the head coach of the

. In his first season as head coach, the Hawks would qualify for the Eastern Conference playoffs as the 8th seed in the 2014 NBA Playoffs but would lose to the first-seeded

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first esta ...

in the first round. Budenholzer was named the December 2014 Eastern Conference Coach of the Month after leading the Hawks to a 14–2 record in the month. He was named the head coach of the Eastern Conference team at the 2015 NBA All-Star Game by virtue of Atlanta being in first place in the conference by the break. Budenholzer was named the January 2015 Eastern Conference Coach of the Month award after leading the Hawks to the first 17–0 record in a month in NBA history. He went on to lead the Hawks to a franchise record 60 wins, as well as their deepest playoff run in 48 years. On April 21, he was named the recipient of the

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. ...

Trophy as the 2014–15

NBA Coach of the Year 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 led ...

. On June 30, 2015, Budenholzer was promoted to president of basketball operations in addition to his duties as head coach. While Wes Wilcox was promoted to general manager, Budenholzer had the final say in all basketball matters. On August 1, 2015, Budenholzer served as Team Africa's assistant coach at the 2015 NBA Africa exhibition game. On April 25, 2018, Budenholzer and the Hawks agreed to part ways, having been removed as president of basketball operations for the Hawks on May 5, 2017.

Milwaukee Bucks

On May 17, 2018, the

announced Budenholzer as their head coach. The Bucks found success in his first season, posting a 60–22 record. In January, Budenholzer was selected as the coach of the East team in the 2019 NBA All-Star Game. At the end of the season, he won the

for the second time in his career and also won the National Basketball Coaches Association's Coach of the Year Award. On July 20, 2021, Budenholzer led the Milwaukee Bucks to an NBA championship, defeating the Phoenix Suns in six games, as the Bucks became the fifth team in NBA history to win the title after losing each of the first two games.

Head coaching record