Mark Berman: John Lucas on the late Bill Fitch: “I was really sad.That guy taught me coaching.1st of all he saved my life. He’s the 1st coach that told me no more when I was going thru my problems.I always tell him he saved my life.He always told me a lot of people r mad at him for doing that” pic.twitter.com/y1qCopzc1m
Tag: bill fitch
Boston Celtics champion Hall of Fame head coach Bill Fitch passes away at 89
Fitch helped Boston win its first title with Larry Bird in 1981.
Per multiple accounts, former Boston Celtics Hall of Fame head coach Bill Fitch has passed away at age 89, confirmed by Fitch’s daughter Marcy Ann Coville by way of Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle. Via Substack’s Marc Stein, Carlisle said “I am sad to announce that NBA Hall of Famer Bill Fitch passed away Wednesday evening … He died peacefully surrounded by his loving family in Lake Conroe, Texas.”
A 25-year coaching veteran in a league that is as unforgiving to that profession as any, Fitch helmed the Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets, New Jersey (now Brooklyn) Nets, and Los Angeles Clippers, winning a title with the Celtics in 1981, and Coach of the Year twice, once with Cleveland (1975-76) and once with Boston (1979-80).
He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019 and before that, was awarded the National Basketball Coaches Association’s Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013.
Hall of Famer Bill Fitch, twice Coach of the Year and a champion with Boston in 1981 as Larry Bird’s first NBA coach, has died at age 89.
Fitch’s passing was confirmed by daughter Marcy Ann Coville via Indiana's Rick Carlisle, who broke into coaching under Fitch in New Jersey. pic.twitter.com/IsTcCDOAMR
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) February 3, 2022
This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!
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Former Houston Rockets coach Bill Fitch passes away at 89 years old
Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Fitch, who was head coach of the 1986 Western Conference champion Houston Rockets, has passed away at 89 years old.
Hall of Famer Bill Fitch, a two-time NBA Coach of the Year and a champion with Boston in 1981 as Larry Bird’s first professional coach, has died at 89 years old. Longtime NBA writer Marc Stein, who said Fitch passed away peacefully with family, broke the news late Wednesday.
Fitch is the second-longest-tenured head coach in Rockets history, having coached the franchise for five seasons from 1983 until 1988. In those years, Fitch’s teams went 216-194 (.527), and he led Houston to the 1986 NBA Finals after winning the Western Conference. Fitch was also the first professional coach for Rockets legend Hakeem Olajuwon.
Fitch ranks third in all-time wins with the Rockets, trailing only Mike D’Antoni (217) and fellow Hall of Famer Rudy Tomjanovich (503) in regular-season victories. His 21 wins in the NBA playoffs are third in franchise history, as well, behind D’Antoni (28) and Tomjanovich (51).
Fitch entered the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019 and was named a top-10 coach during the league’s 50th anniversary season of 1996-97. In nearly 30 years as an NBA head coach from 1970 until 1998, Fitch led the Rockets, Celtics (1979-83), Cleveland Cavaliers (1970-79), New Jersey Nets (1989-92), and Los Angeles Clippers (1994-98).
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I am so sad to learn that Hall of Fame coach Bill Fitch has passed away. Fitch was the coach of the Rockets when I fell in love with the team and led Houston on a thrill ride to the Finals in 1986 when the city really became crazy about the "unbeatable" Rockets. RIP. pic.twitter.com/QcV5FJaKN5
— ClutchFans (@clutchfans) February 3, 2022
Hall of Famer Bill Fitch, twice Coach of the Year and a champion with Boston in 1981 as Larry Bird’s first NBA coach, has died at age 89.
Fitch’s passing was confirmed by daughter Marcy Ann Coville via Indiana's Rick Carlisle, who broke into coaching under Fitch in New Jersey. pic.twitter.com/IsTcCDOAMR
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) February 3, 2022
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Can you name all six Hall of Fame coaches of the Boston Celtics?
Better yet, can you do it in order?
The Boston Celtics have plenty of former players in Springfield, Massachusetts Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame, and plenty more who may yet one day help people its ranks. But the storied franchise has had plenty of stellar leadership on the other side of the clipboard as well, with six former coaches having earned immortalization in basketball’s Mount Olympus.
Celtics fans may not be very crazy about at least one of the five among the franchise’s least popular alumni, but he still counts, and puts Boston among the league’s most decorated teams when it comes to historically recognized coaches on its payroll.
Let’s take a look at those Hall of Fame Celtics coaches, from the evil emperor himself to the greatest head coach in the history of the NBA.
Every player in Boston Celtics history who wore No. 50 https://t.co/KbHrkMZuXK
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) September 4, 2021
On this day: Fitch resigns; Lakers crushed in Game 1 of ’85 NBA Finals
The Boston Celtics saw head coach Bill Fitch resign on this day in 1983. Two years later, they would trounce the Lakers in Game 1 of the 1986 NBA Finals.
On this day in 1976, former Boston Celtics small forward Fred Saunders signed with the team as a free agent.
Saunders played his college ball with the Syracuse Orangemen before being drafted 31st overall by the Phoenix Suns in the 1974 NBA Draft.
He would play for the Suns for two seasons before joining Boston, where he played just two seasons, averaging 5.1 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1 assist over 13.8 minutes per game.
He would be dealt to the New Orleans Jazz for draft assets in 1978, where he would play just 30 games before being waived, his final stop in the NBA.
Three Syracuse players have played for the Celtics: Dave Bing, Sherman Douglas and Fred Saunders. Douglas spent parts of 5 years in Boston.
— Syracuse Basketball (@syrbasketball) June 29, 2012
On this day: Fitch hired; Westphal/Scott trade; ‘Beat L.A.’ chant born
On this day, the Boston Celtics hired Bill Fitch as their head coach, Paul Westphal was dealt for Charlie Scott, and the ‘Beat L.A.’ chants were born in a loss.
On this date in 1979, former Boston Celtics head coach Bill Fitch was hired shortly after his resignation from the same role with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Fitch, who had coached at a number of collegiate posts before joining the NBA as coach of the Cavs, was a former Marine drill instructor whose rigorous approach to training made him popular with incoming rookie Larry Bird, who credits the Iowan with helping instill his high-energy work ethic.
The Davenport native would win an NBA championship with the Celtics at the end of the 1980-81 season and would win his second league Coach of the Year honors for the season prior with the team.
Fitch would resign at the end of the 1982-83 season after being swept in the East Semis by the Milwaukee Bucks in four games after amassing a 242-86 regular season record and a 26-19 postseason record, good for .738 and .578 winning records, respectively.
On this day: Garnett, Fitch born; Bird triple-doubles vs DET in 87 ECF
On this day, Celtics luminaries Kevin Garnett and Bill Fitch were born, and Larry Bird logged a triple-double vs. Detroit in the ’87 East Finals.
On this day in 1976, former Boston Celtics champion big man Kevin Garnett was born in Greenville, South Carolina.
Garnett did not play NCAA basketball, and was instead one of the most successful players to go directly from high school (and the first to do so in two decades) to the NBA after spending high school at Chicago’s Farragut Career Academy.
He entered the 1995 NBA Draft and would be drafted fifth overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves, where he found some limited success. While he made the playoffs eight of his 12 seasons with the team, eventually Garnett became frustrated, and would be dealt to Boston in the summer of 2017.
He would win his first championship at the end of his first season with the Celtics, but injuries and bad luck kept KG from having more than one more NBA Finals appearance (2010) with Boston.
He would be dealt to the Brooklyn Nets along with Paul Pierce and guard Jason Terry in 2013, and then later signed with Minnesota to close out his Hall of Fame career.
He averaged 15.7 points, 11 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game with the Celtics.
Today in Nets history: Bill Fitch sets NBA coaching record
Bill Fitch’s run as head coach of the New Jersey Nets wasn’t particularly great, but he did achieve one major milestone throughout his run.
With the NBA on hiatus and New York continuing its battle against the novel coronavirus outbreak, Brooklyn Nets games will not be played for the foreseeable future.
For the Nets, as much as any team, this comes at an odd time — Brooklyn was battling the Orlando Magic for the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference standings. At the stoppage of play, the Nets had a half-game advantage over the Magic.
Since there aren’t any games, each day Nets Wire will highlight impressive individual performances and major moments throughout Nets history:
The New Jersey Nets weren’t particularly good during Bill Fitch’s run as head coach. Between his first two seasons, the Nets won a combined 43 games.
Things went a little better in his third and final season, as the Nets made it back to the NBA Playoffs as the No. 6 seed. But New Jersey still went 40-42. They would ultimately lose in the first round to the third-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers 3-1.
While making their final postseason push, the Nets needed every win they could get, so their 105-100 win over the Miami Heat on April 14, 1992 was important (full box score).
But something more significant happened that day.
This was the 1,720th Fitch ever coached in the NBA — which meant he had become the new record-holder for most games coached in the league.
Upon his retirement, Fitch had coached 2050 NBA games. That mark would eventually be surpassed by Don Nelson (2,398) and Lenny Wilkens (2,487), the latter of which now holds the record.