The 10 Greatest Coaches in Indiana Pacers History

Jon Washburn

Mar 21, 2015; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indiana Pacers head coach Frank Vogel calls out a play from the bench in the second half of the game against the Brooklyn Nets at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The Brooklyn Nets beat the Indiana Pacers by the score of 123-111. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

Indiana Pacers Frank Vogel — Mar 21, 2015; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indiana Pacers head coach Frank Vogel calls out a play from the bench in the second half of the game against the Brooklyn Nets at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The Brooklyn Nets beat the Indiana Pacers by the score of 123-111. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

The Indiana Pacers have had many coaches over the years, fourteen to be exact. Some, like Larry Bird and Larry Brown are NBA legends. Others would only be recognized by the most hardcore of Pacers historians.

#11. Dick Versace

Overall: 73-87 Playoff Record: 0-3

1988-89: 22-31 10th (out of 12) in the East
1989-90: 42-40 8th (out of 13) in the East | 0-3 in playoffs
1990-91: 9-16 Fired mid-season

While Versace did help get the Indiana Pacers to the playoffs in back to back seasons, it might be argued that he underachieved considering the talented roster that he inherited. The 1990 Indiana Pacers featured five guys (Reggie Miller, Detlef Schrempf, Chuck Person, Rik Smits, and Vern Fleming) that averaged more than 14 points a game, yet the team barely finished above .500.

Next: Up Next: #10. The Original

#10. Larry Staverman

Overall: 40-47*

1967-68: 38-40 3rd (out of 5) in the East; 0-3 in playoffs
1968-69: 2-7 Fired mid-season

Coach Larry Staverman was the very first coach in Indiana Pacers history. The Kentucky native was an unlikely choice for the Indiana franchise, but he did “lead” a pretty loaded roster to the playoffs in year one.

Importantly, Staverman started off the next season dreadfully.

And this made way for some guy nicknamed “Slick” to come in and lead the Pacers to the ABA Finals.

*Pacers played in the ABA

Next: Up Next: #9. Indy's First Coach of the Year

#9. Jack McKinney

Overall: 125-203

Playoff Record: 0-3

1981 NBA Coach of the Year

1980-81: 44-38 6th (out of 11) in East; 0-3 in Playoffs
1981-82: 35-47 8th (out of 11) in East
1982-83: 20-62 Last in East
1983-84: 26-56 Last in East

It’s unclear whether Jack McKinney really elevated Indiana in 1981 on his way to winning the NBA’s Coach of the Year award.

It’s exceedingly possible that he was simply a new face and a change of pace from Slick Leonard, who had lost the ear of his team after successfully leading them for so many years.

After the small turnaround in 1981, McKinney’s teams got progressively worse in each of his three remaining years before he eventually gave way to George Irvine. McKinney deserves a lot of credit for leading the Pacers to their first winning season in the NBA, but it’s possible that he was just a mediocre coach that was in the right place at the right time in 1981.

Next: Up Next: #8. The Good Doctor

#8. Dr. Jack Ramsay

Overall: 79-92

Playoff Record: 1-3

1986-87: 41-41 7th (out of 11) in the East; 1-3 in Playoffs
1987-88: 38-44 9th (out of 11) in the East
1988-89: 0-7 Fired mid-season

By almost any metric, Dr. Jack Ramsay will go down as one of the ten greatest coaches in NBA history. He did a lot for the league stylistically, and even won a title with the Trail Blazers in 1977.

His career with Indiana, however, was a little more miss than hit.

While he did gut out a hard-fought playoff victory over the Hawks in 1987 (the Pacers’ first playoff victory in the NBA), he also underachieved with a pretty decent roster in 1988 and was almost immediately fired near the beginning of Indiana’s disastrous 1988-89 campaign.

Dr. Ramsay remains loved by all NBA fans, and many Hoosiers are proud that the man once coached their team.

Still, he’s the last coach on the list that couldn’t break the .500 mark for his career.

Next: Up Next: #7. The Underachiever

#7. Isiah Thomas

Overall: 131-115

Playoff Record: 5-10

2000-01: 41-41 8th (out of 15) in the East; 1-3 in Playoffs
2001-02: 42-40 8th (out of 15) in the East; 2-3 in Playoffs
2002-03: 48-34 3rd (out of 15) in the East; 2-4 in Playoffs

In all honesty, Thomas probably deserves to be even lower on this list than seventh.

In 2000, he took the reigns from Larry Bird on a team that made the Finals the year before, and promptly ran them in to mediocrity. Sure, Mark Jackson and Chris Mullin had gone, but the Pacers were still reasonably loaded. Going 41-41 with that roster was unconscionable.

Things never got better for Isiah, who was routinely out-coached tactically and never figured out basic rotations and roles for his star players.

In 2003, the team improved slightly, but proceeded to lose to a Celtics team that was supremely outclassed. The Pacers probably had ten of the twelve best players in the entire series, and still lost in just six games despite home court advantage.

Thomas made the playoffs in each of his three seasons with the Pacers, but his tenure was nothing short of a resounding disappointment.

Next: Up Next: #6. The Unheralded Bridge to Success

#6. Bob Hill

Overall: 113-108

Playoff Record: 3-9

1990-91: 32-25 7th (out of 13) in East; 2-3 in Playoffs
1991-92: 40-42 7th (out of 14) in East; 0-3 in Playoffs
1992-93: 41-41 8th (out of 14) in East; 1-3 in Playoffs

Very few Pacers fans remember Bob Hill, as the coach that replaced him in 1994 took the organization to heights previously unseen.

However, Hill deserves more credit than he often gets in helping to turn around the Pacers franchise.

After struggling in mediocrity despite decent talent at the end of the 80s, Hill helped to implement a fighting spirit into the Pacers and their star, Reggie Miller.

His most shining moment came in the 1991 Playoffs against the Larry Bird-led Boston Celtics.

The overmatched Pacers somehow pushed the series to five games, and probably would have won game 5 if not for a classic, throwback 32-point performance from Larry Legend himself. Hill got the absolute most out of Chuck Person and Reggie Miller in 1991, and nearly earned Indiana its first ever playoff series win.

The Pacers never quite got over the hump with Hill, but he taught them some valuable skills that eventually paid big time dividends.

Next: Up Next: #5. An Emerging Mastermind

#5. Rick Carlisle

Overall: 181-147

Playoff Record: 18-17

2003-04: 61-21 1st in East, reached Conference Finals; 10-6 in Playoffs
2004-05: 44-38 6th (out of 15) in East, reached Conference Semi-Finals; 6-7 in Playoffs
2005-06: 41-41 6th (out of 15) in East; 2-4 in Playoffs
2006-07: 35-47 9th (out of 15) in East

Larry Bird’s old assistant coach took over for Isiah Thomas in 2003 and immediately led the Pacers to the Conference’s best record.

The 2004 Conference Finals between the Pacers and Pistons has gone down as one of the most complex and competitive “hidden series” of the decade. Sure, it’s hidden because those games were brutal to watch and nobody would ever choose to watch them again, but Carlisle and Larry Brown took turns making series-changing tactical adjustments from game to game.

Carlisle tinkered with Austin Croshere in some small-ball action, while the Pistons kept things big with the Wallace brothers. In the end, the Pistons just had a few more creators and went on to win the NBA Finals over the Lakers.

The next season, the Pacers looked to be the class of the league when The Brawl happened, and Carlisle’s tenure with Indiana was ultimately doomed. Looking back, some of Carlisle’s best work was probably done with his less-loaded teams. Somehow, he got that Brawl-depleted roster to the Eastern Conference semi-finals and even managed to win 35 games with a team that revolved around a young Danny Granger and Jermaine O’Neal’s creaky knees.

One could easily envision a different scenario where Carlisle is much higher on this list, but as it stands, he finishes just outside of Indiana’s Mt. Rushmore.

Next: Up Next: #4. The Man, The Myth, The Legend

#4. Larry Bird

Overall: 147-67

Playoff Record: 32-20

1997-98: 58-24 2nd in the East, reached Conference Finals; 10-6 in Playoffs
1998-99: 33-17* 2nd in the East, reached Conference Finals; 9-4 in Playoffs
1999-2000: 56-26 1st in the East, reached NBA Finals; 13-10 in Playoffs

No coach has taken the Pacers further than Larry Bird, and it’s possible that no human, outside of Reggie Miller, means more to the franchise.

The Legend took over where Larry Brown had left off and launched the Pacers to heights that they literally had never seen and would never see again. The 1998 Conference Finals represents the closest any team ever came to dethroning Michael Jordan in the 90s, and Larry Bird got more out of his players than any previous coach.

So why is he only fourth on this list?

First of all, he would be the first to acknowledge that he wasn’t alone. He famously said that his assistants (Rick Carlisle and Dick Harter among others) did most of the coaching.

Secondly, his team was simply out-coached and out-played by a far inferior team in the 1999 Conference Finals. Of course, Jess Kersey deserves his fair share of blame for the catastrophe against the 8th seeded and Ewing-less New York Knicks, but the Pacers failed to break 100 in any game and missed out on what was probably their best chance at winning a title.

Indiana came back in 2000 and gave young Shaq and Kobe all that they could handle in the Finals, but I’m sure that Larry Legend himself would admit that one definitely got away in 1999.

*Lockout-shortened season

Next: Up Next: #3. Jersey Frank

#3. Frank Vogel

Overall: 197-139

Playoff Record: 28-26

2010-11: 20-18 8th in East; 1-4 in Playoffs
2011-12: 42-24 3rd in East, reached Conference Semi-Finals; 6-5 in Playoffs
2012-13: 49-32 3rd in East, reached Conference Finals; 11-8 in Playoffs
2013-14: 56-26 1st in East, reached Conference Finals; 10-9 in Playoffs
2014-15: 30-39

Frank Vogel was a little-known defensive-minded assistant coach when he took over for the disastrous Jim O’Brien in the middle of the 2010 season.

Almost immediately, he gave the Indiana Pacers an identity, and turned them into a tough-nosed, defensive juggernaut that gave the top-seeded Chicago Bulls all they could handle in five — close and competitive — first-round games.

The next year, Vogel devised an ingenuous defensive system around a slow, almost immobile big man named Roy Hibbert, and the Pacers finally escaped a half-decade of mediocrity. Vogel’s teams were consistently out-classed from a talent standpoint over the next three playoff stretches, but were rarely out-coached en route to giving LeBron James and Dwyane Wade everything and more in three consecutive trips to the playoffs.

In less than five seasons, Vogel has become the winningest coach in Pacers history, and will most likely be in Indiana for years to come.

According to Indiana’s television broadcaster, Chris Denari, one of Vogel’s best traits has been his consistency. “I have known Frank for a long time, and he did not change from when he was an assistant to when he became the head coach,” said Denari. Throughout many of the Pacers’ struggles in the end of 2014, Larry Bird remained steadfastly in support of Vogel, and his presence has given stability to the entire organization, which has been able to develop a real culture in a league where most franchises seek to reinvent themselves every two or three seasons.

“There are so many brand new coaches and veteran coaches in the [NBA], but Vogel is easily one of the top ten coaches in the league,” said Denari. “He’s only five years in, and he’s got more longevity than most coaches in the entire league.”

Early on, there was some concern that Vogel didn’t have the right temperament for the professional ranks and that this nice-guy routine would wear thin closely. But that hasn’t been the case, and Denari looks at him similarly as he does another young, rising coach with Indiana ties.

“When you look at the relationships that he has with his players, [Vogel] and Brad Stevens are very similar,” said Denari. “The way that they relate to their players is a little different than how a lot of coaches do it … Some people have it, and some people don’t, but Vogel has the ability to praise and reward, but also be critical in a genuine way, and it has given him his success. When ‘Jersey Frank’ gets mad, his players know it’s real. But I see enough of it to know that he has real relationships with his players.”

Next: Up Next: #2. The Grand Teacher

#2. Larry Brown

Overall: 190-138

Playoff Record: 22-16

1993-94: 47-35 5th in East, reached Conference Finals; 10-6 in Playoffs
1994-95: 52-30 2nd in East, reached Conference Finals; 10-7 in Playoffs
1995-96: 52-30 3rd in East; 2-3 in Playoffs
1996-97: 39-43 10th in East

Larry Brown isn’t revered and loved in Indiana like Larry Bird. He isn’t as recent as Frank Vogel. He lacks the creative ingenuity of Rick Carlisle. He’s coached 462 teams in his career.

But make no mistake: Larry Brown is one of the most important figures in Indiana Pacers history.

When I sat down with Mark Boyle to talk about the coaches he has covered, I made the mistake of leaving Larry Brown off of my personal “Mt. Rushmore” of Indiana coaches. He was quick to point out my omission.

“Besides Slick, there’s one guy I would put ahead of all of those guys, and that’s Larry Brown,” said Boyle. “It’s not necessarily that he’s a better coach. They’re all good. But his impact on the franchise, I think, was the equal of anyone’s except Slick. If you’ll remember, when he came, the Pacers had never had any success in the NBA. Even Slick, all of his success was in the ABA. They just couldn’t get out of the first round of the playoffs, and Larry [Brown] got them to that place … Those first two years, his impact on the franchise was undeniable.”

Brown’s career ended unceremoniously in Indiana.

In Boyle’s own words, year four was a “disaster” as his personality had worn on the players so much that they had begun to tune him out. And after his time in Indiana fizzled out, and he began making the rounds to teams all across the league, Brown’s impact on the Pacers began to be underrated.

But without Larry Brown, Reggie Miller may never have battled in the Garden in the playoffs. Without Larry Brown, “Winning Time” never gets made. Without Larry Brown, there’s probably no 8 points in 9 seconds.

That alone should be cause for all Pacers fans to remember and honor one of the greatest teachers the game has ever seen.

Next: Up Next: #1. Boom Baby

#1. Bobby “Slick” Leonard

Overall: 529-456*

3-Time ABA Champion

1968-69:* 42-27 Reached ABA Finals
1969-70:* 59-25 ABA Champions
1970-71:* 58-26 Reached ABA Semi-Finals
1971-72:* 47-37 ABA Champions
1972-73:* 51-33 ABA Champions
1973-74:* 46-38 Reached ABA Semi-Finals
1974-75:* 45-39 Reached ABA Finals
1975-76:* 39-45 Reached ABA Quarter-Finals
1976-77: 36-46
1977-78: 31-51
1978-79: 38-44
1979-80: 37-45

Bobby “Slick” Leonard isa legend in central Indiana. Countless young people grew up hearing him yell “Boom Baby!!!” every time Reggie Miller or someone else connected on an important 3-pointer. Most fans know that he coached the Pacers in the ABA, but very few understand just how great of a coach he was.

The Pacers, quite simply, owned the ABA, and they did so in large part because of Slick Leonard.

Oh sure, Roger Brown was one of the greatest high school players to ever play the game, and George McGinnis was a prolific scorer, but it was Slick’s decision to revolve the team’s offense and defense around an under-sized center named Mel Daniels. Daniels has been called the “Bill Russell of the ABA,” and under his and Slick’s leadership, the Pacers dominated the league for nearly a decade.

Jim Chones, power forward for the 1979 NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers, fondly remembers playing against Daniels and Leonard as a member of both the New York Nets and Carolina Cougars.

“The main thing you gotta know about Slick is that he’s easy to deal with,” said Chones. “He’s approachable. He’s accessible. And in his mind, by his body language, he thinks like a player. When he was younger, he could go out there and shoot, and his players would love that. But he did something to the game that a lot of people copied. He had a great center by the name of Mel Daniels who didn’t know he wasn’t big enough to play center. He was only 6’9” but he had the tenacity of a Wilt Chamberlain and a Bill Russell, and they built their whole team around his energy. The team was loaded, but Slick made it work with everyone. Roger Brown, Bob Netolicky, George McGinnis, all those guys … but Slick knew how to make those guys play and he gave them just enough so that they could use their creativity and get things done. Slick had a ‘Celtics mentality.’ Slick figured out whatever his players could do best, and then made them do that every single night.

Chones should know. He is now an announcer for the Cleveland Cavaliers, but he actually played for Larry Brown against Slick Leonard in 1974. And just like seemingly everyone who competed with or against Slick, Chones holds the Pacers legend in the highest esteem.

“He was a man,” said Chones. “A man’s man. Out of all of the coaches in the ABA, Slick Leonard and Hubie Brown stuck out above everyone. They were the class of that league.”

Slick Leonard was definitely a man’s man, and he remains the cream of the crop among Indiana coaches.

*Pacers were in the ABA

**For a more detailed discussion on this post, and a cool story about Slick Leonard, listen to MillerTimePod Episode #108: Always wear a bowtie.

Next: Ranking the Best Jerseys in Pacers History

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Jon Washburn