George Karl
From Hoopedia
| George Karl | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Title | Head coach | |
| Personal information | ||
| Born | May 12, 1951 | |
| Place of birth: | Penn Hills, Pennsylvania | |
| Nationality |  American
| |
| Coaching career | ||
| Overall Record | 986-671 | |
| Championships | 0 | |
| Career history | ||
| ||
| Career highlights and awards | ||
| 4x NBA All-Star Game Head Coach | ||
George Matthew Karl (born May 12, 1951) is an American professional basketball player and current head coach of the NBA's Denver Nuggets. Karl is currently 12th on the all-time win list for coaches in the NBA. His son Coby Karl is currently playing in the NBA.
George Karl was introduced as the 19th head coach in Nuggets history on January 27, 2005 and subsequently engineered one of the greatest turnarounds in NBA history.
When he assumed head coaching duties, the Nuggets were 17-25 and stood in 11th place in the Western Conference – a full six games out of the playoffs. Karl led the Nuggets to a 32-8 (.800) record and a seventh seed in the postseason. His winning percentage is the best in NBA history for a coach that took over in the middle of the season (minimum 20 games). The Nuggets went 25-4 after the All-Star break, the fifth-best post-All-Star break record ever in the NBA.
This past season, Karl guided an injury-riddled Nuggets team to 44 wins and a Northwest Division title – the club’s first division crown since 1987-88. He became the fifth coach in NBA history to lead at least three different teams to division titles.More
Biography
Karl was born in Penn Hills, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After a college career at the University of North Carolina he signed with the ABA's San Antonio Spurs in 1973. When the Spurs joined the NBA in 1976, Karl began his two-year NBA playing career. After his playing career, Karl became an assistant coach for the Spurs. Karl then moved on to the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) as head coach of the Montana Golden Nuggets (Great Falls). As coach of the Golden Nuggets, Karl won CBA Coach of the Year twice, in 1981 and 1983.
In 1984, Karl became the head coach of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers until he was fired in 1986. He later coached the Golden State Warriors until 1988, achieving a winning record and a first-round playoff upset in his first season, before being fired after a terrible start to the 1987-88 campaign. Karl returned to the CBA in 1988 as coach of the Albany Patroons, winning the coach of the year award in 1989.
Karl returned to the NBA as coach of the Seattle SuperSonics from 1991-1998, leading them to the NBA Finals in 1996 where they lost to the Chicago Bulls in six games. In all seven of his seasons in Seattle, the team made the postseason, winning three division titles, and eclipsing the 50-win mark in every year that he was the full-time coach. The biggest disappointment of Karl's tenure in Seattle came in 1994, when the 63-win Sonics were upset in the first round by the Denver Nuggets, marking the first time in NBA history that an eight seed defeated a number one seed.
In 1998, Karl moved to the Milwaukee Bucks as head coach, lured by an excellent contract. He rebuilt a struggling team in his first three years, steadily increasing win totals, and guiding the team within one game of the NBA Finals in 2001. However, his team collapsed down the stretch in 2002, falling from the number one spot in the Eastern Conference in January to a season that ended out of the playoffs. He was fired after another underachieving season in 2003, where his team made the playoffs with a win total of just over the .500 mark.
He coached the US national team in the 2002 FIBA World Championship.
He returned to the NBA in 2005 when he became head coach of the Nuggets, taking over from interim head coach Michael Cooper on January 27 and leading the team on an incredible run to the postseason. He also spent two years in Spain coaching the Real Madrid basketball team in 1989-90 and 1991-92.
On July 27, the Nuggets announced that Karl had prostate cancer. He has enjoyed a resurrection of his career with the Denver Nuggets, guiding them to an unprecedented 32-8 record in the second half of the 2004-05 season. Karl's son Coby was a reserve guard for the Los Angeles Lakers, after a career as starting point guard for Boise State University. Coby came out for the 2006 NBA Draft after a bout with thyroid cancer, but withdrew his name before the draft and returned to Boise State for his senior year.
On December 28, 2006, Karl became just the 12th coach in NBA history to reach the 800-win mark when his Denver Nuggets defeated the Seattle SuperSonics 112-98.
On December 31, 2008, Karl reaches 900 Coaching Career Wins with his Denver Nuggets as he beats the Toronto Raptors.
Coaching record
| Legend | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular season | G | Games coached | W | Games won | L | Games lost | |
| Post season | PG | Games coached | PW | Games won | PL | Games lost | |
| Team | Year | G | W | L | W–L% | Finish | PG | PW | PL | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CLE | 1984–85 | 82 | 36 | 46 | .439 | 4th in Central | 4 | 1 | 3 | Lost in First Round |
| CLE | 1985–86 | 66 | 25 | 42 | .373 | (fired) | — | — | — | — |
| GSW | 1986–87 | 82 | 42 | 40 | .512 | 3rd in Pacific | 10; | 4 | 6 | Lost in Conf. Semifinals |
| GSW | 1987–88 | 64 | 16 | 48 | .250 | (fired) | 10 | 6 | 4 | — |
| SEA | 1991–92 | 42 | 27 | 15 | .643 | 4th in Pacific | 9 | 4 | 5 | Lost in Conf. Semifinals |
| SEA | 1992–93 | 82 | 55 | 27 | .671 | 2nd in Pacific | 19 | 10 | 9 | Lost in Conf. Finals |
| SEA | 1993–94 | 82 | 63 | 19 | .768 | 1st in Pacific | 5 | 2 | 3 | Lost in First Round |
| SEA | 1994–95 | 82 | 57 | 25 | .695 | 2nd in Pacific | 4 | 1 | 3 | Lost in First Round |
| SEA | 1995–96 | 82 | 64 | 18 | .744 | 1st in Pacific | 21 | 13 | 8 | Lost in NBA Finals |
| SEA | 1996–97 | 82 | 57 | 25 | .695 | 2nd in Pacific | 12 | 6 | 6 | Lost in Conf. Semifinals |
| SEA | 1997–98 | 82 | 61 | 21 | .744 | 1st in Pacific | 10 | 4 | 6 | Lost in Conf. Semifinals |
| MIL | 1998–99 | 50 | 28 | 22 | .560 | 4th in Central | 3 | 0 | 3 | Lost in First Round |
| MIL | 1999–00 | 82 | 42 | 40 | .512 | 5th in Central | 5 | 2 | 3 | Lost in First Round |
| MIL | 2000–01 | 82 | 52 | 30 | .634 | 1st in Central | 18 | 10 | 8 | Lost in Conf. Finals |
| MIL | 2001–02 | 82 | 41 | 41 | .500 | 5th in Central | — | — | — | Missed Playoffs |
| MIL | 2002–03 | 82 | 42 | 40 | .512 | 4th in Central | 6 | 2 | 4 | Lost in First Round |
| DEN | 2004–05 | 40 | 32 | 8 | .800 | 2nd in Northwest | 5 | 1 | 4 | Lost in First Round |
| DEN | 2005–06 | 82 | 44 | 38 | .537 | 1st in Northwest | 5 | 1 | 4 | Lost in First Round |
| DEN | 2006–07 | 82 | 45 | 37 | .549 | 2nd in Northwest | 5 | 1 | 4 | Lost in First Round |
| DEN | 2007–08 | 82 | 50 | 32 | .610 | 2nd in Northwest | 4 | 0 | 4 | Lost in First Round |
| DEN | 2008–09 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | 1493 | 879 | 614 | .589 | 145 | 62 | 83 |
