The
Atlanta Hawks are an American professional
basketball team based in
Atlanta,
Georgia. They play in the
Southeast Division of the
Eastern Conference in the
National Basketball Association (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 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 is their general manager.
There have been 30
head coaches 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 is the only head coach to have won an NBA championship with the Hawks, doing so in the
1958 NBA Finals
The 1958 NBA World Championship Series was the championship series for the 1957–58 National Basketball Association (NBA) season, and the culmination of the season's playoffs. It pitted the Western Division champion St. Louis Hawks against t ...
.
Five Hawks coaches have won the
NBA Coach of the Year Award,
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 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 coached the Blackhawks for one season.
File:Lenny Wilkens 2013.jpg, Lenny Wilkens was the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks from to .
File:Mike Fratello TNT.jpg, Mike Fratello was the coach for the Hawks in and from –.
File:Mike Woodson (cropped).jpg, Mike Woodson was the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks for 6 seasons, from –.
Image:Coach_bud_looking_other_way.JPG, Mike Budenholzer 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