Terry Linn Stotts (born November 25, 1957) is an American professional basketball coach and former player. He previously served as head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA from 2012 to 2021 and as an assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks and Golden State Warriors.
After playing as a forward in Europe and the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), where he was coached by George Karl, Stotts became a part of Karl's coaching staff on multiple teams in the CBA and NBA. He later worked 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.
Early life and college career
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 member of the 1976 Indiana All-Star Team.
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 in Business Administration from Oklahoma in 1988 on a postgraduate scholarship from the NCAA. He then returned to Europe for several seasons, playing in Spain (CB Estudiantes) and France. Stotts led the Hawks to a 24–31 record before he was let go, and returned to the assistant coaching ranks with the Golden State Warriors.
Milwaukee Bucks
In 2005, Stotts 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
Stotts 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
thumb|right|270px|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. The Blazers went 33–49 in Stotts's first year, losing their final 13 games to drop out of the playoff race.
In Stotts's second season, 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 to the eventual NBA champion San Antonio Spurs in the second round, ultimately losing in five games.
In Stotts's third season, he led the team to an overall record of 51–31. After sustaining key injuries, they fell to the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the NBA playoffs, 4–1.
Despite losing four of his starters including star forward LaMarcus Aldridge, in the off-season, Stotts's fourth season saw him lead the Trail Blazers to the second round, after defeating the Los Angeles Clippers in the first. In the second round, Portland played the top-seeded Golden State Warriors to a competitive five-game series, but eventually lost 4–1. On May 16, 2016, Stotts agreed to a contract extension with the Trail Blazers.
In the 2018–19 season, Stotts led the Trail Blazers to a 53–29 regular-season record and their deepest playoff run in almost 20 years. Portland defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 4–1 and Denver Nuggets 4–3 in the first two rounds, but got swept by the two-time defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors in the Conference finals.
On June 4, 2021, after falling to the Denver Nuggets in six games for their fourth first-round exit in five years, Stotts and the Blazers mutually agreed to part ways. He left the club with the second-most wins in franchise history with 402. On October 19, 2023, one day before the final game of the Bucks’ preseason, he resigned.
Head coaching record
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| align="left"|Atlanta
| align="left"|
| 55||24||31|||| align="center"|5th in Central|||—||—||—||—
| align="center"|Missed playoffs
|-
| align="left"|Atlanta
| align="left"|
| 82||28||54|||| align="center"|7th in Central|||—||—||—||—
| align="center"|Missed playoffs
|-
| align="left"|Milwaukee
| align="left"|
| 82||40||42|||| align="center"|5th in Central||5||1||4||
| align="center"|Lost in First round
|-
|-
| align="left"|Milwaukee
| align="left"|
| 64||23||41|||| align="center"|(fired)|||—||—||—||—
| align="center"|—
|-
| align="left"|Portland
| align="left"|
| 82||33||49|||| align="center"|4th in Northwest|||—||—||—||—
| align="center"|Missed playoffs
|-
| align="left"|Portland
| align="left"|
| 82||54||28|||| align="center"|2nd in Northwest||11||5||6||
| align="center"|Lost in Conference semifinals
|-
| align="left"|Portland
| align="left"|
| 82||51||31|||| align="center"|1st in Northwest||5||1||4||
| align="center"|Lost in First round
|-
| align="left"|Portland
| align="left"|
| 82||44||38|||| align="center"|2nd in Northwest||11||5||6||
| align="center"|Lost in Conference semifinals
|-
| align="left"|Portland
| align="left"|
| 82||41||41|||| align="center"|3rd in Northwest||4||0||4||
| align="center"|Lost in First round
|-
| align="left"|Portland
| align="left"|
| 82||49||33|||| align="center"|1st in Northwest||4||0||4||
| align="center"|Lost in First round
|-
| align="left"|Portland
| align="left"|
| 82||53||29|||| align="center"|2nd in Northwest||16||8||8||
| align="center"|Lost in Conference finals
|-
| align="left"|Portland
| align="left"|
| 74||35||39|||| align="center"|4th in Northwest||5||1||4||
| align="center"|Lost in First round
|-
| align="left"|Portland
| align="left"|
| 72||42||30|||| align="center"|3rd in Northwest||6||2||4||
| align="center"|Lost in First round
|- class="sortbottom"
| align="center" colspan="2"|Career||1,003||517||486|||| ||67||23||44||||
Personal life
Stotts and his wife Jan lived in Lake Oswego, Oregon, while he was with the Blazers. Outside of coaching, he enjoys cycling, traveling and golf.
References
External links
- Stotts's biography on NBA.com
- Coaching statistics on Basketball-Reference.com