Milwaukee Bucks: All-Time Greatest Coaches
By Adam McGee
Larry Costello
Larry Costello may not have been the most personable of coaches the Bucks have had in the history of the franchise, but he may well be the most important.
When the Bucks entered the NBA as an expansion team in 1969, it was Costello who was tasked with coaching them into shape. Sure, he was to receive a massive slice of luck with a young Kareem Abdul-Jabbar falling his team’s way, but there was still work to be done.
You won’t find any of the players who played under Costello quoted as saying anything other than that he made them better players.
Costello had a relentless drive, and an encyclopaedic knowledge of the game. His playbook was famed not only for its size, but for the fact that it got bigger with every passing loss. He was an innovator too, and the earliest iteration of a triangle-like offense that Phil Jackson has become so synonymous with was more than likely a design of Costello’s to get Abdul-Jabbar as many touches as possible.
Of course, Costello’s legacy was secured in 1971 as he was the man calling the plays as Oscar Robertson and Kareem’s Bucks secured their title, but as his overall NBA winning percentage of .589 shows, the New York native’s impact was much longer lasting than that too.
Next: George Karl