Steven Gerald Clifford (born September 17, 1961) 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 who is the head coach of the

Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division, and pla ...

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). He has previously served as the head coach of the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was establ ...

Early life

Born in

Island Falls, Maine Island Falls is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. The population was 758 at the 2020 census. The primary village of Island Falls in the town is situated at a falls in the West Branch Mattawamkeag River. Geography According to ...

, Clifford grew up in

Mattawamkeag, Maine Mattawamkeag is a town in Penobscot County, Maine, United States, located where the Mattawamkeag River joins the Penobscot River. The population was 596 at the 2020 census. The village of Mattawamkeag is in the southwest part of the town. Rail ...

, until the third grade, when he moved to

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

. He played varsity basketball under Gerald Clifford, his father and head coach at

North Country Union High School North Country Union High School (NCUHS, North Country, or NCU) is a secondary school located in Newport, Vermont, United States. It is operated by the North Country Supervisory Union school district. The school serves students from Newport C ...

in Newport, Vermont. Clifford attended the

University of Maine at Farmington The University of Maine at Farmington (UMaine Farmington or UMF) is a public liberal arts college in Farmington, Maine. It is part of the University of Maine System and a founding member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. History ...

, where he played

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 ...

for four years. In his final two seasons, he was team captain and was named Best Defensive Player. He graduated with a degree in

special education Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

Coaching career

After graduating from college, Clifford became a teacher at Woodland High School in Maine. He also gained his first coaching experience at the school, serving as their

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 ...

for two seasons while leading them to two tournaments. He then served as an assistant coach at St. Anselm College,

Fairfield University Fairfield University is a private Jesuit university in Fairfield, Connecticut. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1942. In 2017, the university had about 4,100 full-time undergraduate students and 1,100 graduate students, including full-time ...

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

and

Siena College Siena College is an American private Franciscan college in Loudonville, New York. Siena was founded by the Order of Friars Minor in 1937. The college was named after Bernardino of Siena, a 15th-century Italian Franciscan friar and preacher. St ...

. In 1995, he assumed the head coaching duties at

Adelphi University Adelphi University is a private university in Garden City, New York. Adelphi also has centers in Manhattan, Hudson Valley, and Suffolk County. There is also a virtual, online campus for remote students. It is the oldest institution of higher ed ...

and coached for four seasons leading his team to four appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament, an 86–36 (.705) record and four consecutive 20-win seasons. He was the first coach in the school's history with back-to-back 20-plus win seasons. Clifford became an NBA assistant coach with the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

and

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 ...

under

Jeff Van Gundy Jeffrey William Van Gundy (born January 19, 1962) is an American commentator for ESPN and former basketball coach. He served as head coach of the New York Knicks and the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). During his ten ...

and quickly developed a reputation as a defensive expert. He then was an assistant for

Stan Van Gundy Stanley Alan Van Gundy (born August 26, 1959) is an American former basketball coach who is a National Basketball Association (NBA) game analyst for TNT. Prior to TNT, Van Gundy was most recently the head coach for the New Orleans Pelicans of the ...

with the

. He considers both the Van Gundy brothers as mentors. He reached the NBA Playoffs in each of his five seasons with Orlando, appearing in the NBA Finals in 2009. Clifford then joined the

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 ...

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.

Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets

On May 29, 2013, Clifford was hired by the

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 ...

to be their

. Clifford implemented a defensive mentality in Charlotte during his first year as head coach turning the

into a top five defensive team when in the years prior to his tenure they ranked near the bottom of the NBA in that category. He led the Bobcats to the

2014 NBA playoffs The 2014 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 2013–14 season. The tournament concluded with the Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs defeating the defending NBA champion and Eastern Co ...

in his first year as head coach, during which he coached the Bobcats to a 43–39 record. The two years prior to him joining the Bobcats only had a combined total of 28 wins. He was named Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for April 2014 after he led the Bobcats to a 7–1 record leading to the playoffs. He finished fourth in Coach of the Year voting in his first year. On December 6, 2017, it was announced that Clifford would not coach indefinitely to deal with his health issue. On January 11, 2018, the Hornets announced that Clifford was medically cleared to return to coaching after a 21-game absence after dealing with

sleep deprivation Sleep deprivation, also known as sleep insufficiency or sleeplessness, is the condition of not having adequate duration and/or quality of sleep to support decent alertness, performance, and health. It can be either chronic or acute and may vary ...

. After the 2017–18 regular season, he was fired as head coach on April 13, 2018, after five seasons coaching the team to a 196–214 record total.

Orlando Magic

On May 30, 2018, Clifford was named the

of the

. The Magic started the 2018–19 season by splitting their first 24 games before falling 11 games under .500 after a 126–117 loss to 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 ...

. Despite the dismal start, Clifford led the Magic on a dramatic turnaround. On April 7, 2019, Orlando defeated the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

116–108 to clinch their first playoff berth since the 2011–12 season. The win also clinched the Magic's first Southeast Division title since the 2009–10 season. This was the Magic's first playoff appearance since trading

Dwight Howard Dwight David Howard II (born December 8, 1985) is an American professional basketball player for the Taoyuan Leopards of the T1 League. He is an NBA champion, eight-time All-Star, eight-time All-NBA Team honoree, five-time All-Defensive Team m ...

to the

in 2012, ending the longest playoff drought in franchise history. On June 5, 2021, Clifford and the Magic decided to part ways.

Charlotte Hornets (second stint)

After the

2021–22 NBA season The 2021–22 NBA season was the 76th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The NBA returned to a full 82-game regular season in its normal mid-October to mid-April schedule for the first time since the 2018–19 NBA season, af ...

concluded, the Hornets re-hired Clifford as their head coach on June 24, 2022.

Head coaching record