List of Charlotte Hornets head coaches

The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They play in the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Hornets began playing in 1988 as an expansion team, before relocating to New Orleans in 2002 and renaming themselves as the Pelicans in 2013. Charlotte was then awarded a new expansion team named the Bobcats in 2004, which reassumed the Hornets name in 2014. In a deal with the NBA and Pelicans, the renamed Hornets also reclaimed the history and records of the original Hornets from 1988 to 2002, while all of the original Hornets' records from 2002 to 2013 will remain with the Pelicans.

The Hornets franchise have played their home games at the Spectrum Center, formerly known as the Charlotte Bobcats Arena and the Time Warner Cable Arena, since 2005. The Hornets are owned by Michael Jordan.

There have been 10 head coaches for the Hornets franchise. The franchise's first head coach was Dick Harter, who coached for two seasons. Allan Bristow and Steve Clifford are the franchise's all-time leader for the most regular-season games coached (410); Bristow is also the franchise's all-time leader for the most regular-season game wins (207); Dave Cowens is the franchise's all-time leader for the highest winning percentage in the regular season (.609); Paul Silas is the franchise's all-time leader for the most playoff games coached (23), and the most playoff-game wins (11). Harter, Bristow, Sam Vincent and Mike Dunlap have spent their entire NBA coaching careers with the Hornets franchise. Larry Brown is the only coach of the franchise to have been elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach. The most recent head coach of the Hornets was Steve Clifford.

Key

Coaches

Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the .

Notes

A running total of the number of coaches of the Bobcats/Hornets. Thus, any coach who has two or more separate terms as head coach is only counted once. Each year is linked to an article about that particular NBA season. Paul Silas has a combined total of 401 regular season games coached, with a W–L record of 193–208, for a winning percentage during his non-consecutive tenures in Charlotte.

Franchise leaders

All-time leaders – as of the end of the 2021–22 NBA season. Bold denotes active coach with the team.

Most Games Coached

Steve Clifford – 492

Allan Bristow – 410

Paul Silas – 401

James Borrego – 301

Bernie Bickerstaff – 246

Most Wins Coached

Steve Clifford – 223

Allan Bristow – 207

Paul Silas – 193

James Borrego – 138

Dave Cowens – 109

Best Winning %

Dave Cowens – .609

Allan Bristow – .505

Paul Silas – .481

Larry Brown – .458

Steve Clifford – .453

Most Playoff Games Coached

Paul Silas – 23

Allan Bristow – 13

Dave Cowens – 12

Steve Clifford – 11

Larry Brown – 4

Most Playoff Wins Coached

Paul Silas – 11

Allan Bristow – 5

Dave Cowens – 4

Steve Clifford – 3

Best Playoff Winning %

Paul Silas – .478

Allan Bristow – .385

Dave Cowens – .333

Steve Clifford – .273

References

General

Specific

Lists of National Basketball Association head coaches by team

Head coaches