After a 271-120 record in five seasons as head coach in Milwaukee, Mike Budenholzer has been fired as Bucks’ coach. Coach Bud led the Bucks to an NBA title in 2021 and had the team in the playoffs in each of his five seasons.
Here are four stats you may not know about Budenholzer’s career and his firing.
4 stats you may not know about former Bucks’ coach Mike Budenholzer
One: Budenholzer is one of 16 head coaches in Milwaukee’s history. His 391 regular season games are the third-most in franchise history behind Don Nelson (884) and Larry Costello (674). His regular season winning percentage with the Bucks was .693, the best of the Bucks’ coaches. His 65 playoff games at the helm of the Bucks are second-best (Nelson-88), and his 39 playoff wins with Milwaukee are also second-most (Nelson-42). He had a 39-26 record in the playoffs for the Bucks, a .600 winning percentage (second-best behind Costello-.617).
Two: Of the 346 NBA coaches in league history, Coach Bud has been the head coach for 801 games (410 with Atlanta, 391 for the Bucks). That ranks 46th among the 346 coaches. His 484 regular season wins rank 37th. His regular season record was 484-317, a winning percentage of .604. That ranks 10th among all NBA coaches with a minimum of 500 games coached. He is also one of 24 coaches who have coached in at least 100 NBA playoff games, and he is tied for 20th among NBA coaches for most playoff wins in league history.
Three: Budenholzer is not the first Bucks’ coach who did not return to the team after a winning season. Budenholzer will end his career with the Bucks with a 58-24 record in 2022-23. Don Nelson had a 50-32 record as Bucks’ head coach in 1986-87 and then resigned. Del Harris was the Milwaukee head coach in 1990-91 when the team was 48-34. After an 8-9 start the following season, Harris resigned and was replaced by Frank Hamblen.
George Karl’s Bucks were 42-40 in 2002-03, but after losing in the first round of the playoffs that year, Karl was fired. Finally, Jason Kidd was in his third year as the Bucks’ head coach in 2016-17 when the team ended the season 42-40. When the team started 23-22 the following season, Kidd was fired and replaced by assistant Joe Prunty.
Four: Budenholzer became the 20th coach in NBA history to win an NBA title and then no longer be the coach of that team that won the championship within two years. He is the sixth coach since 2000 to suffer this fate. In 2004, Larry Brown won a title with the Detroit Pistons, and then he and the Pistons parted ways after the 2004-05 season. Pat Riley won the title with Miami in 2006 and then resigned to become team president two years later.
Phil Jackson won the 2010 championship with the Los Angeles Lakers then announced his retirement after the 2010-11 playoffs when diagnosed with prostate cancer. Ty Lue led the Cleveland Cavaliers to the title in 2016 and then took a leave of absence to deal with health issues in May of 2018. Frank Vogel led the Lakers to a title in 2020 during COVID. He was fired by the team in April 2022.
It will be interesting to see which direction the Bucks go in for their next coach.
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