List of Minnesota Timberwolves head coaches

Tom Thibodeau is the current head coach for the Timberwolves.

The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA).[1] There have been 10 head coaches for the Timberwolves.

The franchise's first head coach was Bill Musselman, who coached for two complete seasons. Musselman, along with Kurt Rambis and Rick Adelman, are the only Timberwolves head coaches to have not been involved in a mid-season replacement. In the 2003–04 season, Flip Saunders, who coached the team from 1995–96 when he replaced Bill Blair until being replaced mid-season in 2004–05, became the first and only Timberwolves head coach to have led the team to a division championship as well as the Western Conference Finals, with a playoffs record of 17 wins and 30 losses. His 819 regular season games coached, 427 regular season wins, 392 regular season losses and his regular season winning percentage of .521 lead all Timberwolves head coaches. Saunders and Adelman are the only two who have been Timberwolves head coach for more than two complete seasons. Saunders returned to the Timberwolves in 2013 as President of Basketball Operations and part-owner, and became head coach once again in 2014.[2]

Though none of the Timberwolves coaches have been elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach, Kevin McHale has been elected into the Hall of Fame as a player in 1999.[3] McHale coached the Timberwolves in two separate stints, and was the Timberwolves Vice President of Basketball Operations from 1995 to 2009.[4] Sidney Lowe is the only person to have been both a player (1989–1990) and a head coach (1993–1994) for the Timberwolves.[5]

Key

Key of abbreviations
Abbreviation Definition
GC Games coached
W Wins
L Losses
Win% Winning percentage
# Number of coaches[a]
Does not apply

Head coaches

Kurt Rambis in front of Timberwolves players.
Kurt Rambis coached the team for two seasons.
Flip Saunders
Saunders was the head coach of the Timberwolves for 10 seasons, and is the only one to have led them to the playoffs.

Note: Statistics are correct through the start of the 2015–16 season.

On October 25, 2015, Saunders passed away and Mitchell took head coaching duties.
Minnesota Timberwolves head coaches
Name Term[b] GC W L Win% GC W L Win% Achievements Reference
Regular season Playoffs
1 Musselman, BillBill Musselman 19891991 164 51 113 .311 &
&
&
&
[6]
2 Rodgers, JimmyJimmy Rodgers 19911993 111 21 90 .189 &
&
&
&
[7]
3 Lowe, SidneySidney Lowe 19931994 135 33 102 .244 &
&
&
&
[8]
4 Blair, BillBill Blair 19941995 102 27 75 .265 &
&
&
&
[9]
5 Saunders, FlipFlip Saunders 19952005 737 411 326 .558 47 17 30 .362 2003–04 Midwest Division championship [10]
6 McHale, KevinKevin McHale 2005 31 19 12 .613 &
&
&
&
[11]
7 Casey, DwaneDwane Casey 20052007 122 53 69 .434 &
&
&
&
[12]
8 Wittman, RandyRandy Wittman 20072008 143 38 105 .266 &
&
&
&
[13]
McHale, KevinKevin McHale 2008–2009 63 20 43 .317 &
&
&
&
[11]
9 Rambis, KurtKurt Rambis 20092011 164 32 132 .195 &
&
&
&
[14]
10 Adelman, RickRick Adelman 20112014 230 97 133 .422 &
&
&
&
[15]
Saunders, FlipFlip Saunders 2014–2015 82 16 66 .195 &
&
&
&
[10]
11 Mitchell, SamSam Mitchell 2015–2016 82 29 53 .354 &
&
&
&
12 Thibodeau, TomTom Thibodeau 2016–present &
&
&
&

Head coaches with multiple tenures

Minnesota Timberwolves head coaches
with multiple tenures
Name Term[b] GC W L Win% Reference
Regular season
McHale, KevinKevin McHale 2005; 2008–2009 94 39 55 .415 [11]
Saunders, FlipFlip Saunders 19952005; 2014–2015 819 427 392 .521 [10]

Notes

References

General
Specific
  1. "Teams". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
  2. "Timberwolves Basketball Operations Staff". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
  3. "Kevin McHale Playing Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved April 28, 2010.
  4. "McHale says he wanted to remain coach". ESPN.com. June 20, 2009. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
  5. "Sidney Lowe Playing Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
  6. "Bill Musselman Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
  7. "Jimmy Rodgers Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
  8. "Sidney Lowe Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
  9. "Bill Blair Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
  10. 1 2 3 "Flip Saunders Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
  11. 1 2 3 "Kevin McHale Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
  12. "Dwane Casey Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
  13. "Randy Wittman Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
  14. "Kurt Rambis Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
  15. "Rick Adelman Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 23, 2011.
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