The Best Indiana Pacers Coaches Of All Time

Ranker NBA
Updated July 2, 2022 333 votes 68 voters
Over 60 Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The Best Indiana Pacers Coaches Of All Time
Voting Rules

Vote up the best Indiana Pacers head coaches ever.

Who are the best Indiana Pacers coaches of all time? In their time as an NBA franchise, the Indiana Pacers have gone through many different head coaches, all with different personalities and coaching styles. With that said, who is the best Indiana Pacers coach of all time? Which Indiana Pacers coaches do you love?

Bobby Leonard is the only Pacers coach to win a championship for the organization. Leonard's Pacers won three ABA championship in 1970, 1972, and 1973. Larry Bird holds a team records for highest post season win percentage with .615. Bird also won the 1997-1998 NBA Coach of the Year Award. 

Vote up the best Indiana Pacers coaches of all time, and help us decide who are the top Pacers head coaches ever.

Ranked by
  • Larry Brown
    1

    Larry Brown

    31 votes

    1993–1997 

    Lawrence Harvey Brown (born September 14, 1940) is a former American basketball coach and player who was most recently the head coach for Auxilium Torino of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) and EuroCup Basketball. Brown is the only coach in basketball history to win both an NCAA national championship (Kansas Jayhawks, 1988) and an NBA title (Detroit Pistons, 2004). He has a 1,275-965 lifetime professional coaching record in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) and is the only coach in NBA history to lead eight teams to the playoffs. He also won an ABA championship as a player with the Oakland Oaks in the 1968–69 season, and an Olympic Gold Medal in 1964. He is also the only person ever to coach two NBA franchises in the same season (Spurs and Clippers during the 1991–92 NBA season). Before coaching, Brown played collegiately at the University of North Carolina and professionally in the ABA. Brown was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach on September 27, 2002. Although widely considered one of the greatest coaches in basketball history, he has developed a reputation for constantly looking for better coaching opportunities and frequently switching teams or programs before the expiration of his contract.
  • Bobby Leonard
    2

    1968–1980 

    William Robert "Slick" Leonard (born July 17, 1932) is an American former professional basketball player and coach.
  • Larry Bird
    3

    Larry Bird

    39 votes

    1997–2000 

    Larry Joe Bird (born December 7, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player, former coach, and former executive who most recently served as President of Basketball Operations for the Indiana Pacers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "The Hick from French Lick," Bird is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Drafted into the NBA by the Boston Celtics with the sixth overall pick in the 1978 NBA draft, Bird started at small forward and power forward for the Celtics for 13 seasons. Bird was a 12-time NBA All-Star and received the NBA Most Valuable Player Award three consecutive times (1984–1986). He played his entire professional career for Boston, winning three NBA championships and two NBA Finals MVP awards. Bird was also a member of the gold-medal-winning 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team known as "The Dream Team". He was voted to the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1996, was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame again in 2010 as a member of "The Dream Team". After retiring as a player, Bird served as head coach of the Indiana Pacers from 1997 to 2000. He was named NBA Coach of the Year for the 1997-1998 season and later led the Pacers to a berth in the 2000 NBA Finals. In 2003, Bird was named President of Basketball Operations for the Pacers, holding the position until retiring in 2012. He was named NBA Executive of the Year for the 2012 season. Bird returned to the Pacers as President of Basketball Operations in 2013 and remained in that role until 2017. As of 2019, Bird is the only person in NBA history to be named Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, NBA Finals MVP, All-Star MVP, Coach of the Year, and Executive of the Year.
  • Rick Carlisle
    4

    2003–2007, 2021 - 

    Richard Preston Carlisle ( KAR-lyle; born October 27, 1959) is an American basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has also served as head coach of the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons. As a player, Carlisle played for the Boston Celtics, New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets. He is also one of only 11 people to win an NBA championship both as a player and as a coach.
  • Frank Vogel
    5

    Frank Vogel

    26 votes

    2011–2016 

    Frank Paul Vogel (born June 21, 1973) is an American professional basketball coach. He previously served as the head coach for the Los Angeles Lakers, Indiana Pacers and Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Vogel also previously served as an assistant coach of the Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics. He coached the Lakers to an NBA championship in 2020.
  • Bob Hill
    6

    Bob Hill

    15 votes

    1990–1993 

    Robert W. Hill (born November 24, 1948) is an American basketball coach. Hill grew up in Mount Sterling, Ohio, moving to Worthington, Ohio for high school. Hill attended Bowling Green State University.