The Milwaukee Bucks recently canned Adrian Griffin after 43 games as head coach. The Bucks were 30-13, but that wasn’t good enough for the Bucks. Instead, Milwaukee hired Doc Rivers to take over as head coach of the team moving forward.
Therefore, let’s look at the shortest head coach tenures in the NBA’s history, and remember to check out our favorite NBA betting sites if you’re planning on putting your money on basketball.
5 Gar Heard (Washington Wizards 1999)
Gar Heard signed a three-year deal with the Washington Wizards in June 1999. However, this was when Michael Jordan was heading into the end of his career with Washington.
In seven months with the Wizards, Heard went 14-30. Jordan went to the team’s president of basketball operations in January and asked for him to be removed.
Within two weeks, Jordan got his wish, and Heard was out as the Washington head coach after 44 games. That was officially the only time Heard ever coached an NBA team. No team wanted him after that stint with Washington.
The Wizards had confidence in Heard for the future after a three-year deal. But they let an older Michael Jordan dictate the head coaching position.
4 Rudy Tomjanovich (Los Angeles Lakers 2004)
Rudy Tomjanovich took over for Phil Jackson in 2004 when Phil Jackson left. Tomjanovich was dealing with health issues prior to taking over. That ultimately played a role in to why he only lasted 43 games with the Lakers as head coach.
Tomjanovich resigned from his role with the team in the middle of the season due to mental and physical health-related reasons.
It was later released that Kobe Bryant tried to talk Tomjanovich out of resigning from the Lakers. However, not even Bryant was able to get Tomjanovich to stay. Looking back, Tomjanovich believes he should’ve never taken the job in the first place.
3 Adrian Griffin (Milwaukee Bucks 2023)
The Milwaukee Bucks had some tension and struggles that led to Adrian Griffin’s departure this season. The Bucks were winning plenty of games and at the top of the East this season. However, the entire team believed that they’d be better off with a veteran head coach who could lead the team better.
The Bucks ultimately discussed their mistake of hiring a rookie coach and then elected to hire Doc Rivers, who has an NBA title and lots of NBA Playoff experience.
BREAKING: Bucks are hiring Doc Rivers as HC, per @cnnsport pic.twitter.com/3e4NibmG55
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 24, 2024
It’s unclear if Griffin intends to ever be a head coach again. However, if he doesn’t land another head coaching job, he’ll have an insane record percentage as head coach in the NBA.
2 Bob Weiss (Seattle SuperSonics 2006)
The Seattle SuperSonics hired Bob Weiss in 2005. However, the SuperSonics ended their season 13-17 after winning 52 games from the previous season. Weiss and the SuperSonics were way below the standards, which was enough for Seattle to pull the trigger quickly on getting rid of Weis.
Weiss stayed with the franchise in an advisory role, but the SuperSonics finished the season 35-47 and missed the playoffs with players like Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis on the roster.
He reflected many years later, admitting that he wasn’t having any fun as coach of the SuperSonics. He acknowledged that he was in a tough situation and believed that the SuperSonics fired him a little bit early.
His firing was the second-earliest in NBA history. He has a point.
1 Jerry Tarkanian (San Antonio Spurs 1992)
In 1992, the San Antonio Spurs brought in Jerry Tarkanian to be the head coach. He was formerly head coach at UNLV but never really won over the locker room in San Antonio. Tarkanian later admitted that he was taking medicine for high blood pressure due to the stress that came with being an NBA coach. After 20 games, the Spurs let Tarkanian walk after a 9-11 record with the team.
Tarkanian built a dynasty with UNLV. He brought them to four Final Fours and won a National Championship in 1990.
In 19 seasons, he finished 509-105 in 19 seasons. But sometimes, coaching in college doesn’t translate into the NBA. We’ve seen it time and time again. This was just another instance.
He was replaced by John Lucas, who helped the Spurs finish the season 49-33. The Spurs made the Western Conference semifinals but lost to the Suns in six games.
Eventually, Tarkanian went back to college basketball and helped Fresno State from 1995-2002. He led them to six straight 20-win seasons. College basketball was where he belonged from the start.
