The Hawks moved to Atlanta from St. Louis in 1968, and have employed thirteen head coaches since then. Legendary coaches, like Cotton Fitzsimmons and Hubie Brown arrived early in their coaching career, and enjoyed short stints in Atlanta before moving on to greener pastures. On the other end of the spectrum, coaches like Lon Kruger and Kevin Loughery are left as footnotes in a Hawks history book filled with disappointment.
Showing the truly great coaches their due isn’t as easy as it seems: winning in the NBA is supposed to be a certainty, not a possibility.