List of Philadelphia 76ers head coaches

Philadelphia 76ers Head Coach Jim Lynam in 1990

The Philadelphia 76ers are an American professional basketball team based in Philadelphia,. They are a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Formerly known as the Syracuse Nationals, the 76ers joined the NBA when it was founded in 1949. The Nationals had a record of 51–13 in their first NBA season under coach Al Cervi and won the Eastern Division crown. The franchise were purchased by Philadelphian Irv Kosloff and Ike Richma in the spring of 1963; the NBA approved their franchise shift on May 22 and name change to the Philadelphia 76ers on August 6. This brought professional basketball back to the city, which had been without a team since the Golden State Warriors left Philadelphia in 1962.[1][2] After coaching the 76ers since 2010, Doug Collins resigned as head coach on April 18, 2013, following the 2012–13 season.[3] Brett Brown was hired to be the head coach of the 76ers on August 15, 2013, prior to the start of the 2013–14 season.[4] Brown was released as head coach after a 4–0 loss to the Celtics in the 2020 playoffs. On October 3, 2020 Doc Rivers was announced as his replacement.[5]

There have been 24 head coaches for the Philadelphia 76ers franchise. The franchise won their first NBA championship as the Syracuse Nationals in the 1955 NBA Finals under coach Cervi. Their second title was won as the Philadelphia 76ers in 1967, coached by Alex Hannum, who has the highest career winning percentage for the 76ers.[6][7] Billy Cunningham, who played and coached with the 76ers for 17 years, is the franchise's all-time leader in both regular season and playoff games coached and wins.[8][9] He coached the team to their most recent title in 1983.[6][8]

Hannum, Jack Ramsay, and Larry Brown are the only members of the franchise to have been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as coaches.[7][10][11] Cervi, Paul Seymour, and Kevin Loughery served as a player-coaches, and Cervi, after retiring as a player, continued to coach the team for the rest of the season that he retired during and five additional seasons.[12][13][14] Six other former players, Hannum, Dolph Schayes, Cunningham, Matt Guokas, Fred Carter, and Maurice Cheeks went on to coach for the franchise.[7][8][15][16][17][18]

  1. ^ "Syracuse Nationals Index". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on February 18, 2015. Retrieved May 28, 2008.
  2. ^ "2007-08 Warriors Media Guide: Warriors History (pg. 170)" (PDF). NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 5, 2008. Retrieved May 29, 2008.
  3. ^ "Doug Collins resigns as 76ers coach". Associated Press. ESPN Internet Ventures. April 18, 2013. Archived from the original on April 24, 2013. Retrieved May 5, 2013.
  4. ^ "Sixers Name Brett Brown Head Coach | THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE PHILADELPHIA 76ERS". Archived from the original on 2013-08-17. Retrieved 2013-10-21.
  5. ^ "Team Names Doc Rivers Head Coach". Philadelphia 76ers. Archived from the original on October 7, 2020. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
  6. ^ a b "Philadelphia 76ers". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on February 23, 2011. Retrieved May 28, 2008.
  7. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference hannum was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference cunninghamcoach was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "Billy Cunningham Playing Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on November 15, 2010. Retrieved May 28, 2008.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference ramsay was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference brown was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference cervi was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference seymour was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference loughery was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference cheeks was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference schayes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference guokas was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference carter was invoked but never defined (see the help page).