1) Rick Carlisle (Pacers)

When Larry Bird took over as Pacers president in 2003, one of his first moves was hiring Carlisle, his old teammate on the Celtics, as head coach. Indiana faced off in the 2004 Conference Finals against Carlisle’s previous team, the Pistons (who fired him to bring in Larry Brown) and a 2005 repeat seemed imminent until the “Malice at the Palace” submarined not just the ’04-’05 Pacers season but had ramifications for years to come. Bird was eventually forced to fire Carlisle in 2007 to start a rebuilding process. He re-merged a year later with the Mavericks and spent 13 years at the helm there, including a championship season in ’10-’11, but when general manager Donnie Nelson was fired in 2021, Carlisle, perhaps sensing the writing on the wall, stepped down in response. The Pacers acted quickly, hiring Carlisle to replace Nate Bjorkgren, whose one-year stint had been a disaster. It’s the first time in franchise history that a coach has returned and as he enters his sixth season at the helm in Indiana, Carlisle will likely soon pass Frank Vogel for the second most games and wins in Pacers history.

2) Paul Silas (Hornets/Bobcats)

The Hornets and Pelicans franchise histories are a bit of a mess, with the NBA applying a convoluted but necessary historical correction in 2014, when the New Orleans Hornets became the Pelicans and the Charlotte Bobcats became the Hornets. Between the four different combinations of team locations and names, there is one coach who was at the helm of three of them and that’s Silas. He manned the Charlotte Hornets from 1998 to 2002, the New Orleans Hornets in ’02-’03, and then, after a tumultuous stint coaching the Cavaliers in the early LeBron James era and then some time as a media member with ESPN, took over the Charlotte Bobcats from 2010 to 2012. His first era in Charlotte was a successful one, guiding a team without a major superstar to four consecutive playoff appearances, including back-to-back Conference Semifinals in 2001 and 2002, and setting the franchise record for coaching wins. But he was surprisingly fired in 2003. Silas eventually returned to Charlotte in ’10-’11, taking over as interim head coach of the Bobcats mid-season when Larry Brown resigned (or was fired, depending on whom you asked). He lasted less than two seasons, getting fired after the Bobcats finished the lockout-shortened ’11-’12 season with one of the worst records in NBA history. At the time, Silas technically had coached two distinct franchises but the re-alignment in 2014 means he’s now been coach twice of the franchise now distinctly known as the Charlotte Hornets.

3) Cotton Fitzsimmons (Suns)

A disciple under Tex Winter and the triangle offense at Kansas State, Fitzsimmons leveraged that experience into seven NBA head coaching gigs, spread across a career lasting nearly three decades. Three of those jobs came with the Suns, hired each time by his good friend Jerry Colangelo. Fitzsimmons first coached the Suns in the early days of the franchise and led the team to its first ever winning season in ’70-’71, though not a playoff berth. Almost 20 years and four coaching jobs later (with the Hawks, Braves, Kings, and Spurs), Fitzsimmons reunited with Colangelo in Phoenix, first in the front office and soon after as coach again, starting in the ’88-’89 season. Things were decidedly more successful this time around, as the Suns made back-to-back surprise Conference Finals appearances in 1989 and 1990, thanks in large part to some shrewd transactions by Fitzsimmons and Colangelo, quickly rebuilding around newly acquired players Kevin Johnson, Dan Majerle, Mark West, and Tom Chambers. Fitzsimmons retired as coach in 1992 but was coaxed back by Colangelo again during the ’95-’96 season, taking over for Paul Westphal. Though he wasn’t coach for any of their NBA Finals appearances, Fitzsimmons, who won Coach of the Year for the Suns in ’88-’89, is wildly popular amongst Phoenix fans and in 2018 they voted him in as “coach” of the franchise’s 50th anniversary team.

4) Pat Riley (Heat)

For the first time in 20 years of coaching, a Pat Riley team finished with a losing record in ’01-’02, when his Heat closed out the season 36-46. When things got even worse in ’02-’03, Riley stepped down as coach, half-jokingly remarking that he was “firing himself” in his capacity as the team’s general manager. He replaced himself with his longtime protege, Stan Van Gundy, and immediately turned around the team’s fortunes by drafting Dwyane Wade and trading for Shaquille O’Neal. When Miami narrowly missed the NBA Finals in 2005, expectations were sky high heading into ’05-’06 and rumors starting swirling immediately when the team got off to a slow start. It didn’t help that Riley himself had remarked that he wanted to take a “more hands on” approach with the team and Van Gundy was even more hampered by O’Neal missing time due to an ankle injury. 21 games into the season, with a disappointing 11-10 record, Van Gundy supposedly stepped down from coaching to “spend more time with his family” and Riley took back the coaching reins. In the end, it certainly worked out for Riley and the Heat, who won the championship that season, the fifth of Riley’s career as a coach, which he ended for good two years later to concentrate solely on front office responsibilities. Van Gundy got some measure of redemption soon after, taking over as coach of the Magic in 2007 and leading them to the NBA Finals in his second season.

5) John Kundla (Lakers)

While the Minneapolis Lakers are mainly remembered for the exploits of Minnesota native George Mikan on the court, there was another local product roaming the sidelines who was imperative to their success. That was Kundla, who grew up in Minneapolis, played his college ball for the Minnesota Golden Gophers, and received his first two coaching jobs in his hometown, first at the high school level and then at College of St. Thomas. The newly formed Lakers hired him as their first coach in 1947, when they were still based in the NBL. Led by Kundla and Mikan (plus a supporting cast stacked with All-Stars in Jim Pollard, Slater Martin, and Vern Mikkelsen), they won the NBL title that season and then five NBA titles in a six year stretch before Mikan retired in 1954. Kundla stayed on as coach, leading a still solid Lakers team to Conference Finals appearances in 1955 and 1957 before getting promoted to general manager. He coaxed Mikan to come along as coach and it was an absolute disaster. Unable to exert authority over his former teammates who were still on the roster, or break through to younger players, Mikan held a 9-30 record in early January when Kundla mercifully fired him and installed himself again as head coach. Things improved only slightly under Kundla that season but turned around again in ’58-’59, when superstar rookie Elgin Baylor led the way to the sixth NBA Finals appearance of Kundla’s coaching career. When the franchise’s relocation to Los Angeles was imminent for the ’59-’60 season, Kundla stepped down again, this time returning to his alma mater and coaching Minnesota for nine seasons.

6) Bob Bass (Spurs)

Now a bastion of coaching consistency, with Gregg Popovich holding the position for over a quarter century and counting, the Spurs were once notorious as a head coach revolving door. In the franchise’s first 30 years, including its stretch in the ABA, the Spurs made a head coaching replacement 22 times. In four separate cases, it was Bass taking the reigns, doing so as head coach in 1974, then in an interim capacity in 1980, 1983, and 1992. A basketball lifer, Bass started off his coaching career in 1952 with 15 years at Oklahoma Baptist, followed by stints with Texas Tech, plus the ABA squads the Miami Floridians, Denver Rockets, and Memphis Tams. He eventually settled in for over two decades with the Spurs, starting off as head coach in 1974 when they were still in the ABA, then later serving in several executive capacities, including general manager and vice president. Over the years, he installed himself as interim head coach three times, first in 1980, replacing the fired Doug Moe. He took over again in ’83-’84, when he fired Morris McHone after just 31 games, then one more time in ’91-’92, when Larry Brown’s contentious era at the reins ended. Though he was the team’s full-time head coach for just two seasons, Bass is fourth in Spurs franchise history in games coached, with 251.

7) Lenny Wilkens (SuperSonics)

Following in the footsteps of Bill Russell, Wilkens became just the second Black head coach in NBA history when he took over as Seattle’s player-coach in ’69-’70. Though the Sonics, still a young franchise going through growing pains, struggled some in his three seasons in that capacity, they showed steady signs of improvement and it was no surprise that the widely respected Wilkens was a natural as coach. He lost the job only because he was traded to the Cavaliers in 1972 but returned to Seattle as a conquering hero in 1977. Now retired as a player and just full time coaching, Wilkens immediately turned around a team that had started the season 5-17, leading them to wins in 11 of their first 12 games that he was in charge. Those Sonics eventually made an improbable run to the NBA Finals, where they lost a tough seven game series against the Bullets. ’78-’79 was then the peak of SuperSonics franchise history, as Wilkens led the team to its first ever 50-win season and then its first and only title, earned in a Finals rematch sweep of Washington. Wilkens coached the Sonics for six more seasons, then spent another 20+ plus years as an NBA head coach with the Cavaliers, Hawks, Raptors, and Knicks. Already a Hall of Fame inductee as a player, he was additionally enshrined as a coach in 1998.

8) Phil Johnson (Kings)
9) Jerry Reynolds (Kings)

If you were named head coach of the Kings in the mid ’70s through early ’90s, then it was likely pointless to even shop for real estate in the Kansas City or Sacramento area. In fact, some Kings coaches were let go before they could even unpack their suitcase. During the two decades spanning the ’73-’74 season through ’92-’93, the Kings made a coaching replacement 15 times. Most incredibly, two coaches, Johnson and Reynolds, were installed twice each during that span. Johnson first took over in ’73-’74, replacing the disappointing Bob Cousy mid-season. He earned Coach of the Year in ’74-’75 for leading the Kings to their first postseason appearance in eight years but things fell apart quickly thereafter and he was fired in 1978 after two straight losing seasons. He returned early in the ’84-’85 season, taking over after Jack McKinney stepped down following a 1-8 start. Johnson was once again successful early on, earning the distinction as the coach to lead the Kings to their first playoff berth while based in Kansas City (in 1975) and while based in Sacramento (1986). But in another case of “what have you done for me lately,” Johnson was fired midway through the ’86-’87 season, after an especially embarrassing loss in which the Kings failed to score a field goal in the first quarter, an NBA first. He was replaced on an interim basis by his assistant, Reynolds, who did an honorable job keeping the Kings respectable down the stretch. That wasn’t enough to get him a head coaching job right away (they went with Bill Russell for ’87-’88) but it was enough to get him re-promoted from assistant when Russell stepped down. This time, Reynolds hung around for essentially two full seasons, compiling a 41-93 record before stepping aside to take a player personnel director job and leaving the coaching to the veteran Dick Motta. Neither Johnson nor Reynolds ever got another NBA head coaching job in their respective careers, though Johnson did spend over 20 years as an assistant on the Jazz, much of it under Jerry Sloan.

10) Don Nelson (Warriors)

There was a pervasive feeling of unfulfilled potential when Nelson stepped down as coach of the Warriors in 1995 to take over for Pat Riley as coach of the Knicks. In seven seasons in Golden State, the “Nelly Ball” system had provided some exciting highlights but never a postseason advancement past the Conference Semifinals, despite the presence of superstars Chris Mullin, Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, Sarunas Marciulionis, and Latrell Sprewell. The Warriors floundered over the next decade, with high profile coaching failures like Dave Cowens, Mike Montgomery, Rick Adelman, and P.J. Carlisemo. So, in 2006, now general manager Mullin called up his old coach and made him an offer. His up-tempo style and laid back persona were a perfect fit for the ’06-’07 Warriors, which featured dynamic yet bullheaded players like Baron Davis, Stephen Jackson, and Al Harrington. They just barely snuck into the playoffs but then pulled one of the all-time NBA postseason stunners, upsetting the top seed Mavericks, Nelson’s former team, in the first round. Nelson couldn’t recapture that magic over the next few seasons and in 2010, he stepped down as coach and retired for good.

11) Alex Hannum (Nationals/76ers)

In his rookie season as a player with the Syracuse Nationals, Hannum was a key contributor at power forward as the team reached the 1950 NBA Finals. 18 years later, he coached the same franchise, which had since moved to Philadelphia and become the 76ers, to one of the greatest seasons in NBA history in ’66-’67, culminating in a championship. In between, Hannum was a player-coach and then just coach for the St. Louis Hawks, guiding them to a title in 1958, in an upset Finals victory over Bill Russell’s Celtics. He also was coach of the Nationals for three seasons, starting in ’60-’61, and the Warriors for three seasons, which included an NBA Finals appearance in 1964. The ’66-’67 76ers were his true magnum opus, as his equitable approach and pre-existing relationship with Wilt Chamberlain (from their time together on the Warriors) seemed to be the final missing elements of one of the greatest teams of all time. Hannum is one of just three head coaches to win NBA championships with two different teams, joining Pat Riley and Phil Jackson on that list. He later added an ABA title as well for good measure, leading the Oakland Oaks to the ’68-’69 championship.

“He’s undoubtedly one of the biggest playing legends in Nuggets history but given his notoriously hotheaded reputation, it’s still shocking in retrospect that the franchise granted [Dan] Issel not one but two chances at being the coach.”

12) Mike Brown (Cavaliers)

There was plenty of blame to go around when LeBron James left the Cavaliers for the Heat as a free agent in 2010. Much of it was laser focus aimed at Brown, who coached James for five seasons, the last three of which ended with playoff disappointment. As a longtime assistant under Gregg Popovich in San Antonio and then Rick Carlisle in Indiana, the Cavs were hoping that some of his mentors’ success would rub off on Brown when they hired him as head coach in 2005. Things got off to a strong start, with James buying into Brown’s defensive philosophy and the Cavs making a surprise run to the 2007 NBA Finals. But the 2008, 2009, and 2010 postseasons ended short of expectations and in the summer of 2010, with James’ free agency decision pending, Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert fired Brown. It seemed to be a sop to his wavering superstar, a signal that James could essentially hand pick his next coach if he hung around in Cleveland. We all know that didn’t work out and three years later, apparently regretting what he would later call a “mistake,” Gilbert re-hired Brown to coach the Cavaliers in ’13-’14. When that season ended with 49 losses and supposed bickering and dysfunction in the locker room, Gilbert swiftly sacked Brown again, replacing him with David Blatt right before James’ conquering hero return to Cleveland. Though his time as a head coach was mixed at best, Brown has remained a highly respected defensive-minded assistant, earning two more championship rings with the Warriors in 2017 and 2018 to go along with the one he won with the Spurs in 2003.

13) Gene Shue (Clippers)
14) Gene Shue (Bullets)

In an era when most All-Star level players spent their entire career with one franchise, Shue was an anomaly, getting traded four times and ultimately playing for six teams in 10 seasons. That itinerancy didn’t carry over into his coaching career, where he was head coach of just three franchises over the course of 22 seasons. But that interestingly included two different stints with both the Bullets and the Clippers. A Baltimore native who grew up a fanatic of the original Bullets, he jumped at the opportunity to take over as Bullets coach midway through the ’66-’67 season, replacing one of his basketball heroes, Buddy Jeannette. The team was in disarray but Shue quickly led them to new heights, with the franchise’s first 50-win season in ’68-’69 and then their first NBA Finals appearance in ’70-’71. But he didn’t want to move with the franchise to Washington in 1973 and immediately jumped ship for the 76ers. Shue once again led an immediate reclamation job but was still fired in 1977 after the Sixers were upset in the NBA Finals. He took over the newly moved (from Buffalo) San Diego Clippers in ’77-’78 and almost led them to a surprise playoff berth that season but was fired in 1980 after the team lost 11 straight games. This is when Shue embarked on his reunions, first with the Washington Bullets in 1980 and later with the Clippers in 1987. Both of these endeavors were less successful than the originals, though he did earn Coach of the Year with the Bullets in ’81-’82. In fact, Shue’s 861 coaching losses at the time of his 1989 retirement were the most in NBA history, as he spent so much of his career attempting to revive struggling teams.

15) Herb Williams (Knicks)

The ’00 through the early ’10s were the most tumultuous era in Knicks franchise history but one constant was Williams on the sidelines. A longtime reliable center who played to age 41, Williams spent his final seven seasons with New York, making NBA Finals appearances in 1994 and 1999. He returned to the franchise soon after as an assistant coach starting in 2003. Over the next 11 years, Williams served under six different coaches: Don Chaney, Lenny Wilkens, Larry Brown, Isiah Thomas, Mike D’Antoni, and Mike Woodson. Along the way, he took over the reins from two on them on an interim basis. The first instance came in the ’03-’04 season, when then team president Thomas fired Chaney and replaced him with Wilkens. Williams was interim coach for one game in between, a mid-January home win over the Magic. Then, Williams stepped up again in ’04-’05 when Wilkens resigned, this time on a more extended interim basis. With a mishmash roster built by Thomas that somehow featured Stephon Marbury, Vin Baker, Allan Houston, Jamal Crawford, and Penny Hardaway, Williams didn’t stand much of a chance, finishing with a coaching record of 16-27. He was replaced for ’05-’06 by Larry Brown but Williams was technically the head coach for a third consecutive season, taking over the top spot when Brown missed the last two games of the regular season due to illness. Williams remained an assistant for eight more seasons before getting fired alongside the entire coaching staff in 2014.

16) Dan Issel (Nuggets)

He’s undoubtedly one of the biggest playing legends in Nuggets history but given his notoriously hotheaded reputation, it’s still shocking in retrospect that the franchise granted Issel not one but two chances at being the coach. The first go round started off strong, with Issel leading Dikembe Mutombo and Denver to a momentous first round upset of the SuperSonics in 1994. But by the middle of the ’94-’95 season, Issel’s players had grown tired of his overbearing and abrasive style of coaching, a fact that was apparent even to the man himself, and he voluntarily stepped down. But instead of returning to his Kentucky horse farm, Issel moved into the front office. He was somehow even worse in that role, making the disastrous draft decision in 1997 to take Tony Battie over Tracy McGrady and following it up with a somehow worse selection of Raef Lafrentz in 1998 over Vince Carter, Dirk Nowitzki, and Paul Pierce. Unhappy with his mismanaged roster’s results on the court, Issel stepped in as coach again in ’99-’00 after firing Mike D’Antoni. This time around was an even bigger disaster, as Issel quickly lost his locker room veterans, most notably Nick Van Exel, who led a player revolt and boycott against the coach during the ’00-’01 season. In the end, it wasn’t his disgruntled players or three straight losing seasons that did in Issel, but an incident during the ’01-’02 season when he was caught on camera using a racial slur towards a Latino fan.

17) Lionel Hollins (Grizzlies)

Prior to their recent revival with Ja Morant, there were three distinct eras in Grizzlies history and Hollins was head coach at some point for all of them. He started as an assistant coach for the inaugural Vancouver Grizzlies season in ’95-’96 and four years became the team’s fourth ever head coach, taking over on an interim basis when Brian Hill was fired during the ’99-’00 season. Inheriting a roster stocked with lottery pick disappointments like Bryant “Big Country” Reeves and Michael Dickerson, Hollins finished the season with an 18-42 record and Vancouver hired Sidney Lowe for the ’00-’01 season. After head coaching stints in the IBL and USBL, Hollins returned to the now Memphis Grizzlies as an assistant in 2002, which once again set him up for an interim coaching chance in ’04-’05, when Hubie Brown retired due to health issues. Even though this was a much improved Grizzlies team, centered around Pau Gasol, Mike Miller, and Shane Battier, Hollins lost all four games he coached before getting replaced by Mike Fratello, who guided the team to the postseason. Even though his third chance coaching the Grizzlies happened mid-season again, this time Hollins shedded the interim label, taking over as full time head coach during the ’08-’09 season. He hung around for four more full seasons, guiding a Grizzlies team now stacked with great players like Zach Randolph, Mike Conley, and Marc Gasol to their first ever playoff series win in 2011 and their first ever Conference Finals appearance in 2013. Despite the obvious success, Hollins was let go in the summer of 2013, reportedly due to disagreements with the executive team. He is the franchise’s all-time leader in games coached, coaching wins, and playoff coaching wins. 

18) Dick Motta (Mavericks)

Though he was 63 years old and three years removed from his last coaching job, which was a disastrous tenure with the Kings, Motta made perfect sense to Mavericks fans when he was hired in 1994. After all, pretty much every successful season in the franchise’s history up to that point had came under Motta, who was hired as Dallas’ very first coach in their inaugural ’80-’81 season after leading the Bullets to the 1978 title. He guided the team to four straight playoff appearances starting in ’83-’84 and a franchise record 55 wins in ’86-’87 (which stood for 15 years) before making a surprise retirement announcement in 1987, supposedly due to conflicts with his star player, Mark Aguirre. The Mavericks fell apart in the aftermath, with replacement coaches John MacLeod, Richie Adubato, Gar Heard, and Quinn Buckner all compiling losing records. In the meantime, Motta came out of retirement to briefly coach the aforementioned Kings and in 1994, with the Mavericks coming off three consecutive 60+ loss seasons, he was welcomed back to Dallas with open arms. Expectations were lower now but still considerable thanks to the recent drafting of Jason Kidd to pair with Jim Jackson and Jamal Mashburn. But that talented trio proved to be nothing but a headache for Motta, as Mashburn missed almost the entire ’95-’96 season with a knee injury while Kidd and Jackson traded snipes with each other in the media. After two losing seasons, Motta was fired his time around and replaced with Jim Cleamons. His 329 coaching wins is third in franchise history behind Rick Carlisle and Don Nelson.

19) Kevin McHale (Timberwolves)

Almost immediately after retiring as a player in 1993, McHale embarked on a 16-year career in various roles within the Timberwolves organization. That included time as the general manager, assistant general manager, a “special assistant,” television analyst, and two separate stints as head coach. The first time on the sidelines came in ’04-’05, when McHale surprisingly fired his longtime friend (and former college teammate) Flip Saunders and took over on an interim basis. Things actually went pretty well, as McHale took over a team floundering around .500 and led them to a record of 19-12 down the stretch, almost good enough to sneak into the playoffs. But he opted not to continue dual duties in ’05-’06, returning to an executive role and hiring Dwane Casey as coach. Four years later, with the team struggling to compete due a series of disastrous decisions made by in his capacity as general manager (including trading Kevin Garnett for a mediocre return), McHale decided to try out coaching again, taking over during the ’08-’09 season after firing Randy Wittman. He managed to once again improve on his predecessor but this time with a losing record of 20-43, as Minnesota limped to 12th place in the Western Conference. T-Wolves owner Glen Taylor finally relieved McHale of all duties in the summer of 2009, replacing him with Kurt Rambis at coach and David Kahn as general manager.

20) Elgin Baylor (Jazz)

When the Jazz started play in New Orleans in 1974, they turned to local NCAA legend (at Louisiana Tech) Scotty Robertson as their inaugural head coach. The recently retired Baylor was also brought on as an assistant but found himself quickly taking over as interim coach when Robertson was fired after a 1-14 start. The Jazz appropriately lost in Baylor’s one game as interim coach and he returned to his assistant post as the team hired Butch van Breda Kolff. Baylor took back the reins from van Breda Kolff during the ’76-’77 season, this time on a permanent basis. Things started off decently, with the Jazz winning a then franchise record 39 games in ’77-’78 and Baylor developing a solid rapport with his infamously difficult superstar Pete Maravich. But that didn’t translate into any progress in ’78-’79 and when the team finished dead last in the standings, Baylor was fired as part of a house cleaning ahead of an anticipated relocation to Salt Lake City.

21) Brian Hill (Magic)

On the same day they swung a trade for Penny Hardaway to pair him on the roster with Shaquille O’Neal, the Magic made another surprise transaction, shifting Matt Guokas from head coach to a front office position and replacing him with his assistant, Hill. It was the first NBA head coaching job of Hill’s career and it was a plum position, arguably the most enviable spot in the league, especially with Michael Jordan’s retirement. In Hill’s first season as coach the Magic had their first winning season, first 50-win season, and first playoff appearance. In his second season, they made it all the way to the NBA Finals, losing to the Rockets in a sweep but showing signs of being a dominant team for years to come. But then Jordan came back and defeated Orlando in the 1996 Conference Finals, followed by O’Neal departing for the Lakers and then Hardaway leading a player revolt against the seemingly authoritarian Hill during the ’96-’97 season. Even with his ignominious firing, Hill was undeniably successful as Orlando’s coach, finishing with a 191-104 record. After the Magic failed to win a playoff series in the eight years after Hill’s firing, they re-hired him for the ’05-’06 season, announcing the move by playing the theme song to “Welcome Back, Kotter” at his introductory press conference. But this honeymoon didn’t last long, as Hill failed to quickly develop his young star Dwight Howard and was fired again after just two seasons. Undoubtedly still the most successful coach in Magic history, Hill was inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame in 2022.

22) Red Holzman (Knicks)

Hanging from the rafters at Madison Square Garden is a jersey with the name “Holzman” along with the number 613. Though he never played for the Knicks, Holzman was their head coach for basically 15 seasons, compiling two championships and 613 wins, which was the second most all-time behind Red Auerbach at the time of his retirement. We use the qualifier “basically” because for a little over one season, Holzman stepped down as coach and turned over duties to his former MVP player, Willis Reed. When the Knicks struggled out of the gate under Reed in ’78-’79, Holzman was coaxed back of retirement to return to the New York sidelines, with his signature stat sheet in hand and empty chairs on each side of him. Re-instilling a defensive philosophy to a young team centered around Micheal Ray Richardson and Bill Cartwright, Holzman had some initial success in his comeback but by the end of the ’81-’82 season, exhausted and lacking control of his roster, he retired again, this time for good.