Who's The Greatest New York Knicks Coach Ever?

In this series, we’ll take a look at the illustrious list of head coaches in each NBA franchise’s history. To make a case for ‘greatest coach,’ we’ll look at win-loss record, player development, and (most importantly) team accomplishments under that coach’s tutelage.

As one of the oldest teams in the NBA, the New York Knicks have a rich history of coaching highs and lows.

On the one hand, there are coaches who have won upwards of 200 regular season games; on the other hand, the Knicks franchise has been around for 80 years but there are coaches who didn’t even come close to that number in terms of their win count with the team. Several mentors fell short of the goal to reach the playoffs, while others are dripping with postseason victories.

To date, there have been 32 individuals who have taken on the role of Knicks head coach. The discussion of the greatest Knicks coach ever is a healthy barber shop debate any day of the week.

In 1947, Joe Lapchick became the second head coach of the Knickerbockers. A Yonkers native, Lapchick honed the team into a formidable playoff contender over the next nine years. Harnessing the talents of players like Connie Simmons, Max Zaslofsky, and Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton, Lapchick steered the Knicks to three straight Finals appearances from 1951 to 1953.

Lapchick’s squads fell short of the championship, but two decades later, the Knicks struck pay dirt. The head coach of their title-clinching teams in 1970 and 1973 was Red Holzman, who was also named NBA Coach of the Year in the same year that the Knicks won their first NBA title. Willis Reed and Walt “Clyde” Frazier won championship gold under Holzman’s tutelage, as did future coaching great Phil Jackson and future U.S. Senator Bill Bradley.

Another memorable period in the Knicks’ history was the early 90s, in which gritty competitors like Patrick Ewing, John Starks, and Charles Oakley powered their way to the NBA Finals. The tactician on these Knicks’ bench was Pat Riley, who’d arrived in New York after a highly successful 80s run with the “Showtime” Lakers.

No Knicks coach comes close to the success of Holzman in terms of the regular season as well as the playoffs. As the winningest of 32 mentors over a course of 80 years, Holzman gets the nod as greatest Knicks coach ever.