Terry Stotts

Terry Linn Stotts (born November 25, 1957) is an American retired professional basketball forward and the current head coach for the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA. After a playing career in Europe and the Continental Basketball Association, where he played for George Karl, Stotts became a part of Karl's coaching staff on multiple teams in the CBA and NBA. He later got opportunities as a head coach for the Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks, before helping the Dallas Mavericks win the 2011 NBA Championship as an assistant coach.

Born in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Stotts grew up in Illinois, Wisconsin, Guam, and Indiana and graduated from Bloomington High School North in Bloomington, Indiana in 1976.

Stotts was a starter in all his four seasons with the University of Oklahoma Sooners basketball team and was an Academic All-American selection in his junior and senior seasons and an All-Big Eight Conference selection in his senior season. He graduated from Oklahoma in 1980 with a B.S. in zoology and a Master's in Business Administration from Oklahoma in 1988 on a postgraduate scholarship from the NCAA.

Stotts was a second round selection of the Houston Rockets in the 1980 NBA Draft, but he couldn't find a place on the team. He began his professional playing career in Italy before joining George Karl's Continental Basketball Association (CBA) team, the Montana Golden Nuggets, in the early 1980s. He starred for the team for 3 seasons. He then returned to Europe for several seasons, playing in Spain (Estudiantes) and France.

Early career with George Karl and the CBA

After retiring as a player, Stotts joined Karl’s coaching staff as an assistant with the CBA’s Albany Patroons in 1990–91. During his first year, he helped lead the Patroons to an all-time CBA-best 50–6 record. Stotts then coached the CBA’s Fort Wayne Fury for one season before rejoining Karl as part of his staff on the Seattle SuperSonics in the NBA. He then moved with Karl to the Milwaukee Bucks in 1998

Atlanta Hawks

In 2002, he decided to part ways with Karl and joined the Atlanta Hawks as an assistant coach. He was promoted to head coach 27 games into the season after Lon Kruger was fired. Stotts led the Hawks to a 52–85 record before he was let go and returned to the assistant coaching ranks with the Golden State Warriors.

Milwaukee Bucks

In 2005, he became the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks. He guided them to the playoffs in his first season, but was fired towards the end of his second season on March 14, 2007.

Dallas Mavericks

He was hired as an assistant coach for the Dallas Mavericks shortly after Rick Carlisle was hired as head coach in September 2008. He was credited for coordinating the Mavericks' offense that was one of the most efficient in the league in 2010–11, when they won the NBA title.

Portland Trail Blazers

Terry Stotts in action as coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, 2015.

The Portland Trail Blazers hired Stotts as their head coach on August 7, 2012. At the time, his NBA coaching record was 115–168. The Blazers went 33–49 in Stotts' first year, losing their final 13 games to drop out of the playoff race.

In Stotts' second season with the Trail Blazers, he coached the team to an overall record of 54–28. They beat the Houston Rockets in the first round of the NBA Playoffs with a buzzer-beating three point shot by Damian Lillard to advance to the second round, but fell short to the eventual NBA champion San Antonio Spurs in the second round, ultimately losing in five games.

In Stotts' third season, he led the team to an overall record of 51–31. After sustaining some key injuries, they fell to the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the NBA Playoffs 4–1.

Despite losing 4 of his 5 starters, including star forward LaMarcus Aldridge in the offseason, Stotts' fourth season saw him lead the Trail Blazers to the second round, after dispatching the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round. In the second round, Portland played top seed Golden State to a very competitive five-game series, but eventually lost 4–1. On May 16, 2016, Stotts agreed on a contract extension with the Trail Blazers.