A first-time head coach has his team ranked second in the NBA halfway through the season. In normal times, this would be a great success. But when your team has two generational talents like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, and the cultural pressure to win a championship is perhaps higher than ever, winning 30 of your first 43 games apparently isn’t enough.
On Tuesday, head coach Adrian Griffin was fired by the Bucks.
Griffin’s time in Milwaukee was… odd, including the leadup to it.
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What a Weird Nine Months
Within two weeks of the Bucks being unceremoniously bounced in the first round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs in April, less than two years after bringing a championship to Milwaukee for the first time in 50 years, coach Mike Budenholzer was fired. This would’ve been a surprise move maybe a few decades ago when coaches often had a longer leash. But, pro sports front offices have adopted more of a “What have you done for me lately?” mindset this decade, making both Budenholzer’s and Griffin’s firings not too surprising. The Bucks failed to even compete for the conference championship in three of Coach Bud’s final four years in Milwaukee, and they seem to be surrounded by bad juju this year despite the winning record.
In June 2023, Griffin – a former NBA journeyman and longtime assistant coach – was hired out of a crowd of well-resumed applicants.
Three months later, still before the season began, there was the major drama of local favorite Jrue Holiday being traded away in September in the transaction that brought superstar Lillard to Milwaukee. It was a major shakeup and a surprise that Lillard went from Portland to another “small-market team,” but was a surprise largely welcomed by the fan base as Lillard brought an offensive dominance the team has largely lacked, even at the expense of losing a defensive like Holiday. (Lillard landing in Milwaukee led Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler to accuse the Bucks of “tampering,” but Butler has also admitted to being an untrustworthy source, so let’s just leave the label on that situation as nothing more than “weird.”)
Perhaps the biggest Griffin-related drama was yet to come: Reportedly, on Oct. 17, Griffin yelled at (and embarrassed) a respected assistant coach – Terry Stotts – during a preseason practice when Stotts didn’t immediately huddle up with the coaches when Griffin wanted him to. Stotts resigned soon after.
Once the season began, perhaps the biggest indicator that Griffin was underwhelming was that the Bucks have statistically been the 10th worst defense in the NBA so far this season, even though Griffin had been brought in supposedly for his defensive mindset. Last season, the Bucks finished with the fourth-best defense.
The team’s vibe has also been… just… off.
After the Bucks’ In-Season Tournament loss to the Indiana Pacers in December, Bobby Portis and Lillard both made their disagreements with the coaching scheme’s lack of structure known.
Jim Owczarski of the Journal-Sentinel described “a prevailing unease over the locker room” throughout the season.
For the Bucks in 2024, “It’s championship or nothing,” Camille Davis said on the Locked On Bucks Podcast after Griffin was fired. “Where they want to go: Griffin is not going to be the guy to take them there.”
A new coach could be announced as soon as Wednesday. Doc Rivers – a one-time Marquette standout in the ‘80s who coached the Boston Celtics to a championship in 2008 but would develop a penchant for overseeing playoff collapses – is the frontrunner. He’s been advising the Bucks this season behind the scenes, The Athletic reported.
The (Lack of) Precedent
The last time the Bucks changed coaches midseason was in January 2018 when Jason Kidd was fired. Again, that came when the Bucks were above .500 – albeit only one game above that mark. However, Kidd had been leading the team for three-and-a-half seasons without postseason success. Griffin barely had half a season under his belt when he was let go.
Excluding Joe Prunty, who was head coach on an interim basis after Kidd was fired and who is expected to take the role again unless a hire is made ASAP, Griffin has the shortest tenure of a head coach in Bucks history at only 43 games. Only three other coaches have had a tenure of one season or less. They are:
- Jim Boylan, whose team in 2013 lost 28 of the 50 games under his tutelage but still made the playoffs, was not brought back after his half-season stint. However, Boylan was only considered an interim coach, having taken over when Scott Skiles was fired.
- Frank Hamblen likewise was never supposed to be the head coach. He was the interim coach in 1991-92, and the team went 23-42 with him. Oof.
- Now excluding Griffin, Larry Drew had the shortest tenure as the Bucks head coach of anyone who wasn’t supposed to be “interim.” But unlike Griffin, Drew oversaw the Bucks’ worst statistical season in history, winning a mere 15 games in Antetokounmpo’s rookie season.
If you’re wondering: The longest-tenured coaches in Bucks history were the first two:
- Larry Costello coached the Bucks through their first eight seasons, including the 1971 NBA Championship. The Bucks won 410 out of 674 games under Costello.
- In 1976, future Hall of Famer Don Nelson took over, under whom the team won 540 out of 884 games in 11 seasons.
- Budenholzer was the Bucks’ third-longest tenured coach, overseeing 391 games and winning the 2021 championship in Fiserv Forum.
So if Griffin has the shortest head coaching tenure in Bucks history, how does he stack up in the annals of NBA history?
Well, only two non-interim coaches in NBA history were cut loose sooner, per Sports Illustrated.
There actually has been exactly one other coach who lasted exactly as long as Griffin: Rudy Tomjanovich, who resigned from the Los Angeles Lakers in 2004, citing health reasons. That Laker team was 24-19 when Tomjanovich departed, but ended up missing the playoffs.
As for those with shorter tenures:
- Bob Weiss was fired after his Seattle SuperSonics started the 2005-06 season 13-17 despite having Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis on their roster. Weiss would never be an NBA head coach again.
- In 1992, a San Antonio Spurs coach lasted only 20 games. ONLY 20!
Basketball Hall of Famer Jerry Tarkanian admitted experiencing health issues due to the stress of being a first-time NBA coach. Still, he’s a legend of the game at the college level, coaching UNLV stars and future NBA players Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon and Greg Anthony to the 1990 NCAA Championship. His collegiate coaching is an incredible 706-198, much more impressive than his NBA record of 9-11.
