In basketball, a great coach can’t make you the best team in the league all on their lonesome. Just like a bad coach can’t make you the worst team in the league on their own. At the end of the day, players are the ones who do the majority of the winning/losing, not the coaches.
However, a great coach can unlock something special in their group and extract a couple more wins out of them than otherwise thought possible (for example, Erik Spoelstra and the Miami Heat). Meanwhile, a bad coach can keep a great roster from reaching their ceiling (we’re not going to cite a specific example because that would be unnecessary).
So, coaches do matter to some degree. And since this is a website dedicated to covering the New Orleans Pelicans, we are going to use this post to catalog all of the coaches in Pelicans (and Hornets) history.
Being that they are a relatively new franchise (this season will be their 22nd), the Pelicans haven’t had too many coaches. Their latest hire, current Head Coach Willie Green, is only the eighth person to don the mantle as head coach for New Orleans.
With that said, here are all the head coaches in Pelicans (and Hornets) history:
New Orleans Pelicans Head Coaches (Regular Season Record)*
1. Paul Silas 2002-03 (47-35)
2. Tim Floyd 2003-04 (41-41)
3. Bryon Scott 2004-09 (203-216)
4. Jeff Bower 2009-10 (34-39)
5. Monty Williams 2010-15 (173-221)
6. Alvin Gentry 2015-20 (175-225)
7. Stan Van Gundy 2020-21 (31-41)
8. Willie Green 2021-Present (78-86)
*Data Provided by Basketball Reference
Some things to point out here. First, one of the eight head coaches, Jeff Bower, never even coached a full season. He just came in as the interim head coach after then Head Coach Byron Scott was fired nine games into the 2009-10 season.
Another thing you may have noticed from looking at the list of coaches above is that the only ones to post a .500 or better record are the ones who only lasted a single season – Paul Silas and Tim Floyd. Although Silas was technically the coach of the team for five years (he was their head coach for four seasons when they were the Charlotte Hornets).
The coach with the most playoff success would have to be the aforementioned Scott. He coached in 17 playoff games during his tenure in New Orleans, finishing 8-9 during that time.
Green’s win percentage as the head coach of New Orleans currently ranks fourth in franchise history, and his number of playoff games (6) is tied for fifth (with Silas).