List of New York Knicks head coaches
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New York Knickerbockers The New York Knickerbockers were one of the first organized baseball teams which played under a set of rules similar to the game today. Founded as the "Knickerbocker Base Ball Club" by Alexander Cartwright in 1845, the team remained active unti ...
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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
team based in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. They are a member of the Atlantic 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 St ...
(NBA). They play their home games at Madison Square Garden. The franchise's official name " Knickerbockers" came from the style of pants Dutch settlers wore when they moved to America. Having joined the Basketball Association of America (BAA), the predecessor of the NBA, in 1946, the Knicks remain as one of the oldest teams in the NBA. During
Red Holzman William "Red" Holzman (August 10, 1920 – November 13, 1998) was an American professional basketball player and coach. He is best known as the head coach of the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1967 to ...
's tenure, the franchise won its only two
NBA championships 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 aw ...
, the
1970 NBA Finals The 1970 NBA World Championship Series was the championship series of the 1970 NBA Playoffs, which concluded the 1969–70 National Basketball Association (NBA) season. The Eastern Division champion New York Knicks defeated the Western Div ...
and the
1973 NBA Finals The 1973 NBA World Championship Series was the championship series of the 1972–73 National Basketball Association (NBA) season, and the culmination of that season's playoffs. The Eastern Conference champion New York Knicks defeated the Weste ...
. There have been 26
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 New York Knicks franchise. Holzman was the franchise's first
Coach of the Year Many sports leagues, sportswriting associations, and other organizations confer "Coach of the Year" awards. In some sports — including baseball and association football — the award is called the "Manager of the Year" award. Some of the ...
winner and is the team's all-time leader in regular season games coached, regular season games won, playoff games coached, and playoff games won. Holzman was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1986 as a coach. Besides Holzman,
Rick Pitino Richard Andrew Pitino (born September 18, 1952) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach for Iona College. He was also the head coach of Greece's senior national team. He has been the head coach of several teams in NCAA ...
, Don Nelson,
Pat Riley Patrick James Riley (born March 20, 1945) is an American professional basketball executive, former coach, and former player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been the team president of the Miami Heat since 1995, and he also se ...
,
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 ...
, and Larry Brown have been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as coaches. Four coaches have been named to the list of 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 ...
. Neil Cohalan,
Joe Lapchick Joseph Bohomiel Lapchick (April 12, 1900 – August 10, 1970) was an American professional basketball player, mostly known for playing with the Original Celtics in the 1920s and 1930s. He is commonly regarded as the best center of his era, overs ...
,
Vince Boryla Vincent Joseph Boryla (March 11, 1927 – March 27, 2016) was an American basketball player, coach and executive. His nickname was "Moose". He graduated from East Chicago Washington High School in 1944. He played basketball at the University of N ...
, Carl Braun,
Eddie Donovan Eddie Donovan (June 2, 1922 in Elizabeth, New Jersey – January 20, 2001) was a professional basketball coach and executive. He coached the New York Knickerbockers from 1961 through 1965, and was the coach on the opposing sideline when Philadel ...
and
Herb Williams Herbert L. Williams (born February 16, 1958) is an American former basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for eighteen seasons from 1981 to 1999. Williams served as the interim head coach and the assistant coach of the NBA ...
have spent their entire coaching careers with the Knicks. Boryla, Braun,
Harry Gallatin Harry Junior "The Horse" Gallatin (April 26, 1927 – October 7, 2015) was an American professional basketball player and coach. Gallatin played nine seasons for the New York Knicks in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1948 to 1957 ...
, Dick McGuire,
Willis Reed Willis Reed Jr. (born June 25, 1942) is an American retired basketball player, coach and general manager. He spent his entire professional playing career (1964–1974) with the New York Knicks. In 1982, Reed was inducted into the Naismith Me ...
and Williams formerly played for the Knicks.


Key


Coaches

''Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the .'' File:Knicks coach Red Holzman.jpg,
Red Holzman William "Red" Holzman (August 10, 1920 – November 13, 1998) was an American professional basketball player and coach. He is best known as the head coach of the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1967 to ...
was the
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 ...
, and won 2 championships (
1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...
,
1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...
). File:Rick Pitino.jpg, Rick Pitino was the coach for the Knicks from to . File:Pat Riley.jpg, Pat Riley was the coach for the Knicks from to . File:Jeff Van Gundy.jpg, Jeff Van Gundy was the coach for the Knicks from to . File:Mike Woodson (cropped).jpg, Mike Woodson was the Knicks' head coach from to . File:Coach Jeff Hornacek (cropped).jpg,
Jeff Hornacek Jeffrey John Hornacek (; born May 3, 1963) is an American professional basketball coach and a former player who is a coaching consultant for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He previously was the head coach for both the ...
was the Knicks head coach from to . File:David Fizdale in 2009.jpg,
David Fizdale David Sean Fizdale (born June 16, 1974) is an American professional basketball manager. He is currently the assistant general manager for the Utah Jazz. He previously was an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers, the head coach for the New ...
was the Knicks head coach from 2018 to 2019


Notes

* A running total of the number of coaches of the Knicks. 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:New York Knicks 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 asso ...