Terry Linn Stotts (born November 25, 1957) 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 and former player. He most recently served as head coach of 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 ...

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). After a playing as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

in Europe and the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball m ...

(CBA), where he was coached by

George Karl George Matthew Karl (born May 12, 1951) is an American former professional basketball coach and player. After spending five years as a player for the San Antonio Spurs, Karl became an assistant with the team before getting the chance to become a ...

, Stotts became a part of Karl's coaching staff on multiple teams in the CBA and NBA. He later got opportunities as a head coach for 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

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 ...

, before helping the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conferenc ...

win the 2011 NBA championship as an assistant coach.

Early life and college career

Born in

Cedar Falls, Iowa Cedar Falls is a city in Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 40,713. It is home to the University of Northern Iowa, a public university. History Cedar Falls was first settled in March 1845 by ...

, Stotts grew up in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

, and

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

and graduated from

Bloomington High School North Bloomington High School North (often referred to as BHSN or simply North) opened in the fall of 1972, is a comprehensive four-year public high school located in the northern part of Bloomington, Indiana, United States. The school is accredited by ...

Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County, Indiana, Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the List of municipalities in Indiana, seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside ...

in 1976. Stotts was a member of the 1976 Indiana All-Star Team. Stotts was a starter in all his four seasons with the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

Sooners basketball team and was an

Academic All-America The Academic All-America program is a student-athlete recognition program. The program selects an honorary sports team composed of the most outstanding student-athletes of a specific season for positions in various sports—who in turn are giv ...

n selection in his junior and senior seasons and an All-

Big Eight Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Associatio ...

selection in his senior season. He graduated from Oklahoma in 1980 with a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

and a

Master in Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from Oklahoma in 1988 on a postgraduate scholarship from the NCAA.

Playing career

Stotts was a second round selection of the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its ho ...

in the 1980 NBA draft, but he could not find a place on the team. He began his professional playing career in Italy before joining

(CBA) team, the

Montana Golden Nuggets The Montana Golden Nuggets are a former Continental Basketball Association team that played from 1980 to 1983. They played their home games at Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls. Montana reached the CBA finals in 1981 and 1983, with George Kar ...

, in the early 1980s. He played for the team for three seasons. He then returned to Europe for several seasons, playing in Spain ( CB Estudiantes) and France.

Coaching career

Early career with George Karl and the CBA

After retiring as a player, Stotts joined Karl's coaching staff as an assistant with the CBA's Albany Patroons in 1990–91. During his first year, he helped lead the Patroons to an all-time CBA-best 50–6 record. Stotts then coached the CBA's

Fort Wayne Fury The Fort Wayne Fury was a professional basketball team in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) from 1991 through the cessation of the CBA on February 8, 2001. History The team played at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayn ...

for one season before rejoining Karl as part of his staff on the

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 ...

in the NBA. He then moved with Karl to the

in 1998.

Atlanta Hawks

In 2002, he decided to part ways with Karl and joined the

as an assistant coach. He was promoted to head coach 27 games into the season after

Lon Kruger Lonnie Duane Kruger (born August 19, 1952) is a retired American college and professional basketball coach who was most recently the men's basketball head coach of the University of Oklahoma. Kruger played college basketball for Kansas State Uni ...

was fired. Stotts led the Hawks on a 24-31 run before he was let go and returned to the assistant coaching ranks with the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

Milwaukee Bucks

In 2005, he became the head coach of the

. He guided them to the playoffs in his first season, but was fired towards the end of his second season on March 14, 2007.

Dallas Mavericks

He was hired as an assistant coach for the

shortly after

Rick Carlisle Richard Preston Carlisle ( ; born October 27, 1959) is an American basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has previously served as head coach of the Detroi ...

was hired as head coach in September 2008. He was credited for coordinating the Mavericks' offense that was one of the most efficient in the league in 2010–11, when they won the NBA title.

Portland Trail Blazers

The

hired Stotts as their head coach on August 7, 2012. The Blazers went 33–49 in Stotts's first year, losing their final 13 games to drop out of the playoff race. In Stotts's second season with the Trail Blazers, he coached the team to an overall record of 54–28. They beat the

in the first round of the NBA playoffs with a buzzer-beating three-point shot by

Damian Lillard Damian Lamonte Ollie Lillard Sr. (born July 15, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Weber State Wildcats and earned ...

to advance to the second round, but fell short to the eventual NBA champion

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 ( ...

in the second round, ultimately losing in five games. In Stotts's third season, he led the team to an overall record of 51–31. After sustaining some key injuries, they fell to the

Memphis Grizzlies The Memphis Grizzlies (referred to locally as the Grizz) are an American professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference ...

in the first round of the NBA playoffs 4–1. Despite losing four of his starters, including star forward

LaMarcus Aldridge LaMarcus Nurae Aldridge (born July 19, 1985) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for two seasons with the Texas Longhorns. ...

, in the off-season, Stotts's fourth season saw him lead the Trail Blazers to the second round, after defeating the

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

in the first round. In the second round, Portland played the top-seeded

to a very competitive five-game series, but eventually lost 4–1. On May 16, 2016, Stotts agreed on a contract extension with the Trail Blazers. In the 2018–19 season, Stotts led the Trail Blazers to a 53–29 regular season record and their deepest playoff run in almost 20 years. Portland defeated the

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team plays i ...

4–1 and

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 ...

4–3 in the first two rounds but were swept by the two-time defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors in the

Conference Finals Conference Finals may refer to: * NBA Conference Finals, National Basketball Association * NHL Conference Finals The National Hockey League (NHL) Conference Finals are the Eastern Conference and Western Conference championship series of the NHL. ...

. On June 4, 2021, after their fourth first-round exit in five years, Stotts and the Blazers mutually agreed to part ways. He left the club with the second-most wins in franchise history with 402.

Head coaching record

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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 ...

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Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

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Personal life

Stotts lives with his wife Jan in

Lake Oswego, Oregon Lake Oswego () is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon, primarily in Clackamas County, with small portions extending into neighboring Multnomah and Washington counties. Located about south of Portland and surrounding the Oswego Lake, the town w ...

. Outside of coaching, he enjoys cycling, traveling and golf.

References

External links

Stotts's biography
on NBA.com

on Basketball-Reference.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Stotts, Terry 1957 births Living people Albany Patroons players American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Spain American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Atlanta Hawks head coaches Basketball coaches from Indiana Basketball coaches from Iowa Basketball players from Indiana Basketball players from Iowa CB Estudiantes players Chorale Roanne Basket players Continental Basketball Association coaches Dallas Mavericks assistant coaches Golden State Warriors assistant coaches Houston Rockets draft picks Liga ACB players Milwaukee Bucks assistant coaches Milwaukee Bucks head coaches Montana Golden Nuggets players Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball players Pallacanestro Cantù players People from Cedar Falls, Iowa Portland Trail Blazers head coaches Seattle SuperSonics assistant coaches Sportspeople from Bloomington, Indiana Forwards (basketball)