1) Rick Pitino (Celtics)

Only one coach has led three different schools to the Final Four and only one coach has responded to valid criticism from the Boston media and fanbase with a bizarre speech about Larry Bird not walking through the door. That man is Pitino, who established himself as one of the greatest coaches in NCAA history by reaching the National Semifinals with Providence in 1987, winning his first NCAA Tournament title with Kentucky in 1996, and taking home a second title with Louisville in 2013. Sandwiched in between those successful runs were wildly contrasting stints with two of the NBA’s premier franchises. Pitino was hired by his hometown Knicks in 1987 and turned around the franchise quickly, taking them from 24 wins in ’86-’87 to 52 wins and a Conference Semifinals appearance in ’88-’89. But he resigned abruptly in 1989, famously labeling himself “a college coach” and taking the job at Kentucky. That mantra lasted for less than a decade, as Pitino was enticed again by call of the NBA in 1997, becoming not just head coach of the Celtics but also team president. Perhaps it was that secondary job which was his downfall in Boston, as Pitino was notoriously impatient with personnel decisions, most notably in his brusque trading of a rookie Chauncey Billups. But his coaching was also intractable, as he took a square peg in a round hole approach by attempting to carry over his full-court press and mass substitution systems from Kentucky. As defeats mounted and Celtics players became noticeably disgruntled, Pitino exploded after a 2000 loss to the Raptors, giving his now immortalized rant about cynical Boston fans’ reverence to past legends like Bird. Less than four seasons into his massive 10-year contract, Pitino stepped down as Celtics coach with a total record of 102-146, zero playoff appearances, and one unforgettable sound bite.

2) Clair Bee (Baltimore Bullets)

Rick Pitino is the most infamous example of an NCAA legend being overwhelmed by the pressures and challenges of NBA coaching but he’s hardly the first. In fact, we can trace the concept all the way back to the early days of the league in Bee. A Naismith Hall of Fame inductee, Bee was one of the key figures of basketball in the pre-NBA era. Not only was he a successful coach, turning Long Island University into arguably the greatest NCAA program of the ’30s and ’40s, but he was also an innovator, most notably developing the 1-3-1 zone defense scheme. Bee later became a successful author, writing both coaching instructional books and a popular series of young adult novels about a wholesome, heroic athlete named Chip Hilton. The time in between those phases of Bee’s life is the one you don’t typically see in biographies of him. It started with losing his job at Long Island after the school was implicated in the 1951 point shaving scandal. A couple years later, he was offered a job as not just coach of the Baltimore Bullets but also a part owner. A former ABL franchise that had won a stunning NBA title in 1948, the Bullets had fallen on hard times by the ’53-’54 season and Bee only exacerbated the issues. He was erratic, due largely to his growing alcoholism, and often wouldn’t even travel with the team on road trips, leaving the assistant coaching staff in charge. The results showed, as the Bullets set an NBA record with 32 consecutive road losses (one which stood until 1990) before folding just a few weeks into the ’54-’55 season. When the Bullets played what ended up being their final game in Fort Wayne against the Pistons, Bee had bungled things so thoroughly that the team lacked funds to pay for their hotel and had to sneak out the back door to catch a ride (which they also didn’t pay for) to the airport to fly home.

3) John Beilein (Cavaliers)

It was shocking news when the Cavaliers hired Beilein as their new head coach in 2019. Hadn’t they learned from the other 13 examples on this list how difficult the transition is from the NCAA level to the NBA? Perhaps emboldened by the recent success of Brad Stevens progressing from Butler to the Celtics, the Cavs put Beilein in charge of a talented but raw roster for the ’19-’20 season. Owing to his attention to detail, demanding practices, and precision schemes, Beilein is part of three rare groups of coaches: 1) ones who succeeded at four NCAA levels (JuCo, Division III, Division II, and Division I), 2) ones who won 700+ games, and 3) ones who took four different teams to the NCAA Tournament. But as expected, none of his stratagem translated well to the NBA and Beilein did little to adjust even as things were obviously deteriorating. It went south quickly too, with Beilein reportedly agitating his entire roster in training camp with extended practice and film sessions, and stubborn adherence to his collegiate offensive play calls. As the season wore on and the Cavaliers labored at the bottom of the standings, even normally polished veterans like Kevin Love began to display outward disgust for their coach and the organization employing him. The final straw seemed to be when Beilein referred to his lackadaisical players as “thugs” during a film session. He attempted to backtrack the comment but was soon after “re-assigned” within the organization. J.B. Bickerstaff took over as interim coach and has since guided the Cavaliers back to respectability with a more nuanced and respectful approach.

4) Lon Kruger (Hawks)

Falling for the same fallacy that plagued many other franchises on this list, the Hawks figured that the best thing for a young, developing roster was to bring in a coach with a track record of NCAA success. Thus, their replacement for departing legend Lenny Wilkens in 2000 was Kruger, who had revived previously moribund programs in Kansas State, Florida, and Illinois. Not only did Kruger fail to do the same with Atlanta, he arguably set them back a few years in a rebuild that would eventually become a lengthy playoff drought. Not that Hawks management did Kruger many favors with a roster that rotated a weird mix of youthful potential (Jason Terry, Nazr Mohammed, Brevin Knight) with mid-career malcontents (Jim Jackson, Isaiah Rider, Glenn Robinson) and past-their-prime former stars (Dikembe Mutombo, Toni Kukoc). With pressure mounting after he compiled a 58-106 record in his first two seasons as coach, Kruger tried an intriguing but misguided motivational ploy, guaranteeing a postseason appearance in ’02-’03 and convincing the team’s front office to promise season ticket holders a partial refund if they fell short. But if you think that kind of tactic galvanizes a guy like Robinson, well, you’re obviously not fit to be an NBA coach. When the Hawks started off the season 11-16, Kruger was fired and replaced by Terry Stotts (the Hawks subsequently missed the playoffs, finishing 35-47). Kruger returned to the college ranks and found success again with both UNLV and Oklahoma, eventually becoming the first coach ever to win an NCAA Tournament game with five different schools.

5) Roy Rubin (76ers)

Nobody seemed interesting in coaching the 76ers in 1972 and with good reason. Adolph Rupp, Red Holzman, K.C. Jones, and Al McGuire were amongst the luminaries who wisely turned down the opportunity to coach a team in disarray, coming off a 50 loss season with a disjointed roster. The Sixers therefore turned to a relative unknown, at least amongst the pro circuit, in Rubin, who had garnered a reputation at the high school and college levels as a defensive savant. Rubin had taken over at Long Island University for Clair Bee and guided the program to continued success, including after their transition to Division I in 1965. The problem is that Rubin’s defensive savvy was intermingled with his authoritarian management style, which could work at the high school and college levels but had no chance in the NBA. This was especially true on a 76ers roster centered around notoriously unwieldy personalities like Fred Carter and John Trapp. The entire Sixers squad balked at Rubin’s strict dress code for road trips, his antiquated defensive schemes, and especially his ban on dunking, dribbling behind-the-back, and anything else the embattled coach considered “showboating” behavior. Rubin wound up coaching just 51 games before getting fired, only four of which were wins. With assistant Kevin Loughery in charge for the remainder of the season, the 76ers finished with 73 losses, which still stands as the all-time record. Rubin never coached basketball again at any level, instead spending the rest of his life in Miami teaching middle school and managing an IHOP.

6) Reggie Theus (Kings)

This one might be a little bit unfair to Theus, who stepped into what was essentially an impossible situation and arguably exceeded expectations. With the team mired in mediocrity after the (myopic) dismissal of Rick Adelman in 2006, the Maloof brothers turned to a former star player in Theus. A two-time All-Star with the Bulls, Theus was traded to the Kings in 1984 and was the team’s best player during the transitory period in which they re-located from Kansas City to Sacramento. He moved into coaching in 2005 and was immediately successful, transforming New Mexico State in just two years from a 6-24 record to a conference title and NCAA Tournament appearance. How this was going to translate to NBA success was anybody’s guess, especially on a Kings roster decimated by poor draft decisions, free agency misfires, and a glut of injuries. Sacramento actually improved in Theus’ first season, finishing above projections with a 38-44 record but Mike Bibby and Ron Artest were traded away, Kevin Martin was sidelined by a sprained ankle, and the Kings slumped out of the gate in ’08-’09. Ultimately, it probably wasn’t Theus’ win-loss record that got him fired in December of 2008 but his perceived lack of influence on ticket sales, which continued to stagnate. Kenny Natt took over as interim coach, then was replaced in the offseason by Paul Westphal, who also struggled. In fact, the next seven coaches hired by the Kings all departed Sacramento with a worse winning percentage than Theus, as did eight of the nine coaches who preceded him (with Adelman as the only exception).

7) Larry Krystkowiak (Bucks)

A tough defender and preternatural rebounder, Krystkowiak was a fan favorite during his playing days with the Bucks in the late ’80s. One of his biggest boosters was team owner Herb Kohl, who opted to bring back Krystkowiak as head coach in 2007 to address his team’s perceived lack of mental fortitude and defensive prowess. Stacked around his bookended stints with the Bucks, Krystkowiak had also served as both player and coach at Montana. In the latter capacity, he was an instant success, taking over a Grizzlies program mired in mediocrity and immediately guiding them to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, including a first round upset of Nevada in 2006. In the 15 years in between when Krystowiak was traded away from the Bucks as a player in 1992 and returned as their head coach in 2007, the franchise had just three winning seasons and two total playoff series victories. What a feel good story it would have been if Krystkowiak had restored the collapsed Bucks franchise to its previous glory but as you can likely infer from his inclusion on this list, that was not the case. Though the team’s young core of Michael Redd, Charlie Villanueva, and Andrew Bogut seemed to enjoy playing for him, Krystkowiak failed to improve Milwaukee’s defense or mental toughness and was fired after one season and change, finishing with a 31-69 record. After a brief stint as an assistant coach on the Nets, Krystkowiak returned to the college ranks, taking over at Utah for a decade with mixed results.

“The slick, smooth-talking shtick has served [John] Calipari well in college tenures at Massachusetts, Memphis, and Kentucky, but his antithetical results in the NBA speak for themselves.”

8) Leonard Hamilton (Wizards)

One of the main themes of Michael Jordan’s NBA executive career has been his stubborn, nostalgic insistence on collegiate accomplishments being a reliable indicator of future NBA success. This led to some severe draft busts in his tenure, including Adam Morrison, Sean May, Juan Dixon, D.J. Augustin, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Emeka Okafor, and Raymond Felton. At one point, that disposition also carried over into his coaching hires, when Jordan hand selected Hamilton to take over the Wizards in ’00-’01. Hamilton had certainly been successful in the NCAA, reviving the Oklahoma State program in the late ’80s and then Miami in the ’90s, ultimately leading the team to its first Sweet 16 appearance in 2000. He was obviously in over his head in the NBA but Jordan and the Wizards front office also did Hamilton no favors, saddling him with a roster decimated by salary cap bloat (most notably Juwan Howard and Mitch Richmond) and no first round draft pick (traded away years earlier for Chris Webber, who had since been shipped off to Sacramento). But Hamilton is notable in finding new depths of atrociousness, setting the still standing franchise record with 63 losses, while Rod Strickland, Michael Smith, and Jordan himself all publicly questioned his authority. Hamilton resigned at the end of the season, nulling the final four years of his contract. Jordan replaced him with his former Bulls coach Doug Collins and then inserted himself back into the lineup for an ill-fated comeback in ’01-’02.

9) Tim Floyd (Bulls)
10) Fred Hoiberg (Bulls)

When he took over as Bulls head coach in 1998, Floyd was reportedly under the impression that his roster would include Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Instead, owner Jerry Krause left Floyd with essentially an expansion team, relying much too heavily on guys like Randy Brown, Dickey Simpkins, and Brent Barry. To make matters worse, volatile personalities like Charles Oakley, Ron Artest, and Eddy Curry were soon after added into the mix, and it didn’t take long for Floyd to completely lose control of the team. He was fired early into his fourth NBA season, compiling a record of 49-190, good for the second worst winning percentage of all time for a coach who lasted more than 200 games. This was a far cry from his days at Iowa State, where Floyd led the program to new heights in the ’90s. One of his star players on the Cyclones was Hoiberg, a sharp shooting guard who eventually reunited with Floyd on the Bulls when he signed with the team as a free agent in 1999. In an instance of history maybe not repeating itself but for sure rhyming, Hoiberg eventually coached at Iowa State, taking over a program that had been decimated since Floyd’s departure and re-building it into a national power. He was then plucked from the college ranks to coach the Bulls in 2015. Krause was no longer in charge but the new management obviously didn’t learn any coach hiring lessons from the previous regime. Unlike Floyd’s paltry roster, Hoiberg inherited a talented, cohesive unit but gave the team whiplash, trying to convert what was a defensive juggernaut under previous coach Tom Thibodeau into an up-tempo offensive force. When the Bulls missed the playoffs in Hoiberg’s first season, the front office gave him a fair shake by re-shaping the roster into something more matching his image, jettisoning Jimmy Butler, Kirk Hinrich, Derrick Rose, Pau Gasol, Joakim Noah, and Mike Dunleavy in an attempt to rebuild on the fly. But when young talent like Lauri Markkanen, Zach LaVine, and Kris Dunn weren’t developing quickly enough, Hoiberg was fired during the ’18-’19 season. Both Floyd and Hoiberg retreated immediately to the NCAA ranks with diminishing returns. Floyd resigned in disgrace at USC due to recruiting scandals and then struggled at UTEP, while Hoiberg has failed to revive the Nebraska program since taking over in 2019.

11) Jerry Tarkanian (Spurs)

Citing concerns over his ability to connect with pro players, Tarkanian declined a job offer from the Lakers in 1979, opting instead to remain Grand Poobah at UNLV for another decade-plus. His insight at the time would prove to be prescient, as Tarkanian’s eventual foray into the NBA was an unmitigated disaster. With the Runnin’ Rebels program under intense scrutiny for player benefit violations, Tarkanian stepped down in 1992 and soon after took over as Spurs coach. His first conflict came not with his players but the front office, which let starting point guard Rod Strickland walk as a free agent and didn’t sign anyone whom Tarkanian considered a suitable replacement. “Tark the Shark” quickly butted heads with his players as well, especially veterans like Antoine Carr and Vinnie Johnson, who didn’t appreciate his authoritarian style and started to subtly rebel. Tarkanian was mercifully fired just 20 games into the season, finishing his NBA coaching career with a 9-11 record. That doesn’t look too bad in a vacuum but the key context is that the Spurs had won 50 games in the prior season, then wrapped up ’92-’93 with a 40-22 record post Tarkanian’s dismissal. He was one of seven coaches employed by the Spurs in a six-year stretch during the ’90s until Gregg Popovich finally brought stability to the franchise. While Tarkanian wasn’t the first successful NCAA coach to fail at the NBA level, he was arguably the inaugural prominent one, setting the stage for the high profile shortcomings of John Calipari, Rick Pitino, and Tim Floyd later in the decade.

12) Mike Montgomery (Warriors)

There wasn’t much of a basketball history at Stanford when Montgomery was hired as coach in 1986. In 18 years at the helm, he built the Cardinal into a premier program, making 11 straight NCAA Tournament appearances at one point, including a Final Four run in 1998. When Warriors vice president Chris Mullin offered him the head coaching job, Montgomery made the brief drive up I-880 to Oakland, hoping to work his magic again. Montgomery was Golden State’s 10th coach in an 11-year stretch that didn’t include a single playoff appearance. Well respected in the Bay Area for his coaching mind, Montgomery brought a cerebral approach to the job and his young, brash Warriors team almost immediately rejected it. At the nexus point was the volatile Baron Davis, who was acquired during the ’04-’05 season from Charlotte and didn’t cotton to Montgomery’s meticulous, old-fashioned style. The injury prone Davis would reportedly feign soreness or regression to sit out practices to prove his point and the rest of the Warriors roster were agitated when Montgomery let these transgressions slide. When Golden State finished the ’04-’05 and ’05-’06 seasons with identical 34-48 records, Montgomery was fired by Mullin, setting the stage for Don Nelson’s triumphant return. The Warriors immediately broke their playoff drought in 2007 under Nelson and even made a shocking run to the Conference Semifinals. Montgomery returned to the college ranks and remained in the Bay Area, taking over at California for seven years before retiring in 2014.

13) John Calipari (Nets)

The slick, smooth-talking shtick has served Calipari well in college tenures at Massachusetts, Memphis, and Kentucky, but his antithetical results in the NBA speak for themselves. Not that Calipari was a complete disaster for the Nets. Taking over as not just coach but vice president for a franchise coming off back-to-back 50-loss seasons, Calipari made some shrewd personnel moves. He selected franchise cornerstone Kerry Kittles in his first draft, in 1996, then remade the remainder of the roster, swapping out under-performers Shawn Bradley, Ed O’Bannon, Khalid Reeves, and Greg Graham, moving on from decaying veterans Rick Mahorn, Vern Fleming, and Tim Perry, and stocking up on solid pieces Keith Van Horn, Sam Cassell, Lucious Harris, and Don MacLean. The Nets made a quick turnaround, finishing 42-40 in Calipari’s second season as coach and reaching the playoffs for the first time in four years. But Calipari was continually collecting enemies along the way, with his brash and demanding style agitating players, staff members, front office executives, fans, and the notably bellicose New York area media. As soon as things went wrong, those factions were ready to pounce and that opportunity presented itself quickly in ’98-’99. Not only did the lockout stunt the chemistry of the Nets’ rebuilt roster, they were also beset by early season injuries to Cassell and Kittles. As losses piled up, the players turned on their coach, especially his laborious emphasis on defensive pressure and trapping. In mid March, when the Nets extended a losing streak to seven games with an embarrassing 26-point defeat to the Heat, Calipari was fired. He took an assistant position on Larry Brown’s 76ers staff for a while before returning to the college ranks in 2000, first with Memphis, whom he led to the Final Four in 2008, then with Kentucky, with whom he won a national championship in 2012.

14) Dick Vitale (Pistons)

Most people know him now for his larger-than-life television persona (“diaper dandy, baby!”) but in the ’70s, Vitale was considered one of the hottest young coaching talents in the country. His career took a strikingly linear path, starting with an elementary school job in his native Garfield, New Jersey, followed by the post at his high school alma mater in East Rutherford, which he led to back-to-back state titles in the late ’60s. After a brief stint as an assistant at Rutgers, Vitale was handed the head coaching job at the University of Detroit, taking over in 1973. Within four years he had led the program to new heights, winning the first NCAA Tournament game in school history in 1977, thanks to high profile recruits Terry Tyler and John Long. Vitale’s on-court success and growing local celebrity status caught the eye of Pistons owner Bill Davidson, who hired him as head coach in 1978. Detroit had struggled in ’77-’78 but were only two years removed from a Conference Semifinals appearance and had retained the core talent of that squad, most notably perpetual All-Star center Bob Lanier. In his dual capacity as general manager, Vitale also drafted his collegiate stars Terry and Long, who both made immediate contributions as rookies (Tyler was even named 1st-Team All-Rookie while Long was third on the team in scoring in his first year) as a launching point for solid NBA careers. But Vitale was obviously in over his head coaching at the NBA level and it manifested physically, with the stress leading to a brief hospitalization at one point for stomach pain. The Pistons finished a disappointing 30-52 in ’78-’79 and things somehow got even worse a year later when Vitale was swindled by Red Auerbach, trading M.L. Carr and two first round picks to the Celtics in exchange for a beat-up, disinterested Bob McAdoo. When the Pistons lost five straight games early in the ’79-’80 season to fall to 4-8, Vitale was fired as coach and general manager. His coaching replacement, Richie Adubato, was arguably even worse, eventually finishing ’79-’80 with a 16-66 record, which still stands as the worst season in franchise history. But his substitute as general manager, Jack McCloskey, soon after turned the team around completely, crafting the “Bad Boys” roster that would eventually win back-to-back titles in 1989 and 1990 (and Long was still there for the first title). Just a few days after his firing, Vitale was hired by the fledgling ESPN and on December 5, 1979, while the Pistons were losing to the Kings to fall to 8-18, Vitale was the color commentator for the network’s first college basketball broadcast.