Worst Hawks coach.

[Diesel]

For whatever reason, people might not like Hawks coaches of certain times. Maybe they didn't do enough. Maybe they were just plain ole bad. Today, Let's crown one...

[bronnt]

I kinda want to know who voted for Lenny Wilkins.

[DrReality]

how about Stotts, was that his name. The guy from the Bucks?

[Murat]

Lon Kruger easily.

[diamond_dave]

Weiss. This is not even close.....

[TheNorthCydeRises]

LOL . . . that's the exact question I was about to type.

Woody and Krueger should be getting 85% of the votes, with the rest going to Weiss.

[Diesel]

I wonder how many of those who voted Woody were around for Kruger and Weiss??

[Watchman]

Wow, to me that's a toss up between Weiss and Kruger. I guess I'd have to say Weiss though.

[jaywalker72]

Kruger was a terrible fit, except for his enjoyment of the country club lifestyle the pro life offered, and his legitimate good guy attitude. His schemes and approach were collegiate, and it did not play with the players and the former pros who had been players in the league.

Terry Stotts had a misguided approach to offense, and it derailed him over time, but he was a pro coach at least.

And yet I would take the above easily over the guy I voted for:

Bob Weiss

Clueless and a hinderance, he took a talented team and did less with it. And he did it with such conviction, and had an arrogance about it that was appalling. Later, after getting a job with the Clips, Weiss was asked about the Hawks and he responded with vulgarity, blaming the franchise instead of himself for his departure.

Hey Bob, how did that Clippers gig turn out?

[sturt]

I recall thinking as Kevin Loughery was announced as the Hawks' new coach, that this had to be a joke... an absolutely terrible hire... turned out, we didn't do so bad under his tenure.

I recall even earlier thinking that the team has done nothing with this Cotton Fitzsimmons guy as the coach and they really need to find someone else... turned out, the man turned into one of the all-time winningest, with two career CotY awards with two different franchises, and became a legend in Phoenix.

With all due respect, I think this is the area where us fans are left to evaluate on less actual data than in almost any other area where we like to toss out our perceptions... the cameras are on during the games, so there is that much evidence... but we do not hear what the players are told, so it's an unknown the degree to which some mistakes are the players fault vs. the coach's, and on balance, when some successes are more attributable to players execution vs. the coach's actual insight. Just can't quantify it. And the other large piece--one that it isn't subject to being either quantified or even observed--is what happens beyond the game... what happens in practice... what's said informally in hotel rooms and during meals... that kind of thing.

So, while it's an interesting question... for all any of us will ever know, Loughery and Fitzsimmons WERE absolute jokes as coaches, and just happened to be in the right place at the right time... or, one or both may have been among the best coaches the league has ever seen. My point is, to distinguish one way or the other is a qualitative question, not quantitative... thus, far more open to justifiable disagreement.

[Diesel]

I didn't have a problem with Stotts at all. I thought that with the right assistants in place, Stotts might be OK. However, Kruger and Weiss were probably the worse coaches in the history of basketball. They make Isiah look like Red.

[Diesel]

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I recall thinking as Kevin Loughery was announced as the Hawks' new coach, that this had to be a joke... an absolutely terrible hire... turned out, we didn't do so bad under his tenure.

I

Loughery era was a fun era. You had the end of the fast breaks. Wasn't that what the Cheerleaders were called back then.. the fast breaks? Anyway, Loughery actually brought some defensive intensity to the team. Something that we really didn't see until Lenny got here and put Deke, Corbin, and Mookie together.

I think Weiss just totally blew talent! How do you not win with Nique? He had the excuse that Nique broke his achilles (or whatever happened to Nique)... in his 2nd yr.. but in neither year was he doing anything but holding the clip board and looking tall.

[Buzzard]

Lon Kruger hands down. The Falcons did the same thing with Petrino (sp). College coaches just cannot keep up with the pro game and its older, faster, and more talented players. Almost every player in the NBA was a all-something in highschool; totally different enviroment from the college ranks....

[Diesel]

I think the problem is that good college coaches are used to doing recruiting and getting the best players. They also have the ability to bench the best players if the best players don't do what they say because of that recruiting. In the pros, you get what you get and you can't bench anybody.

I won't say that College coaches won't do well in the NBA..

PJ did and will do well.

Pitino did and will do well.

However, what you need to find if you get a college coach is a guy from a program that is not so great and a guy that doesn't have the best recruits but still finds a way to win games.

For that purpose, I would say whoever is at Gonzaga (or was at Gonzaga)... Maybe the coach at Washington. Possibly Gillipse from Texas A&M. You need a down to earth coach who knows how to teach the game but at the same time would be able to work with assistants. Larry Bird was not a great coach. Let's not fool ourselves. But he surrounded himself with experienced and good assistants and he trusted them.

[Buzzard]

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However, what you need to find if you get a college coach is a guy from a program that is not so great and a guy that doesn't have the best recruits but still finds a way to win games.

I agree there are probably a few college coaches that could succeed at the NBA level. But I also think hiring any coach that has not been proven a winner in the NBA playoffs is a crapshoot; and it just becomes a bigger crapshoot if they are from the college ranks.

Kruger is the poster boy for this post...

[Diesel]

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However, what you need to find if you get a college coach is a guy from a program that is not so great and a guy that doesn't have the best recruits but still finds a way to win games.

I agree there are probably a few college coaches that could succeed at the NBA level. But I also think hiring any coach that has not been proven a winner in the NBA playoffs is a crapshoot; and it just becomes a bigger crapshoot if they are from the college ranks.

Kruger is the poster boy for this post...

You can put Floyd in that class too.

My thing is didn't Larry Brown coach UCLA & Kansas before he became a pro coach?

[Swish]

Shouldn't you swap Wilkins for Stotts? Wilkins wasn't that bad, was he? I mean, I'm young and didn't watch much 90s ball but I didn't think he was that bad. Stotts did two things-lose, and lose well, that I remember.

[Buzzard]

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My thing is didn't Larry Brown coach UCLA & Kansas before he became a pro coach?

Yes he did. And as far as I can tell, he is the only hall of fame pro coach that went straight from being a head coach in college to being a head coach in the pro ranks....

[AHF]

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My thing is didn't Larry Brown coach UCLA & Kansas before he became a pro coach?

Yes he did. And as far as I can tell, he is the only hall of fame pro coach that went straight from being a head coach in college to being a head coach in the pro ranks....

He coached in the ABA for almost four years prior to taking the UCLA job so the pro game wasn't new to him. (He coached the Denver Nuggets team in the ABA.)

[Buzzard]

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My thing is didn't Larry Brown coach UCLA & Kansas before he became a pro coach?

Yes he did. And as far as I can tell, he is the only hall of fame pro coach that went straight from being a head coach in college to being a head coach in the pro ranks....

He coached in the ABA for almost four years prior to taking the UCLA job so the pro game wasn't new to him. (He coached the Denver Nuggets team in the ABA.)

That is good info. I tend to forget about the ABA years as a whole.