Bill Fitch obit

Hall of Fame NBA Coach Bill Fitch Dies at 89

 

He was not on the list.

He coached five different franchises throughout his more than two-decade-long career.

Bill Fitch, who was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019 for his accomplishments as a coach, died Wednesday, his daughter Marcy Ann Coville confirmed via Pacers coach Rick Carlisle.

Fitch was 89.

“I am sad to announce that NBA Hall of Famer Bill Fitch passed away Wednesday evening,” Carlisle, president of the National Basketball Coaches Association, said, per Marc Stein. “He died peacefully surrounded by his loving family in Lake Conroe, Texas.”

Fitch spent time with five different franchises: the Cavaliers, Celtics, Rockets, Nets and Clippers. Throughout his 25 years coaching in the NBA, he took home two Coach of the Year honors, in 1975–76 (with Cleveland) and in 1979–80 (with Boston). He led the Celtics to the NBA title in the 1981 season, and later lost to the Celtics in the 1983 Finals while coaching the Rockets.

Fitch finished with an all-time NBA record of 944–1,106 as well as a 181–115 mark in college. He remains 11th on the NBA's career wins list and is one of just two coaches—Lenny Wilkens being the other—who lost more than 1,100 games in their NBA career.

He developed multiple teams into playoff contenders and won an NBA championship with the Boston Celtics in 1981. Before entering the professional ranks, he coached college basketball at the University of Minnesota, Bowling Green State University, the University of North Dakota, and his alma mater, Coe College. Fitch's teams twice qualified for the NCAA tournament. He won the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013, and was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019.

He led the North Dakota Fighting Hawks to three NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournaments and he led the Bowling Green Falcons to the 1968 NCAA University Division Basketball Tournament in his only season with the team after winning the Mid-American Conference title with an 18–7 record and 10–2 in conference play. At Minnesota, he coached the Golden Gophers to 12–12 and 13–11 in his two seasons there.

Fitch was hired by the Cleveland Cavaliers as coach on March 19, 1970 by owner Nick Mileti, for the 1970–71 season, the inaugural season for the team. In his first season, the Cavaliers went 15–67, led by their first all-star John Johnson. The Cavaliers did not have a season as bad as that one until the 1981–82 season, which also garnered 15 wins. The team gradually rose in wins for the next two years, winning 32 in his third season, although they slipped slightly the following year. In his first four years, they finished last each time in the Central Division.

His fifth season (1974–75) resulted in marked improvement as the Cavs won 40 games while finishing third, their first season without a last-place finish. By this point, the team had a clear leader in its #1 draft pick from 1971, Austin Carr. He had become the leading scorer for the team, but a serious knee injury curtailed Cleveland's hopes for a playoff berth.

The following season of 1975–76 was the pinnacle of his career with Cleveland. The team, now fabled as "The Miracle of Richfield", was led by team captain Carr, scoring small forward Campy Russell, shooting guard Bobby "Bingo" Smith, and a supporting cast of largely unknown players such as starting center Jim Chones, and an aging Nate Thurmond. The team won 49 games (a team record for 13 seasons) and the Central Division title. They defeated the Washington Bullets in seven games to advance to the Conference Finals, where they were defeated in six games by the Boston Celtics, with Chones being sidelined by a broken foot in practice two days before the conference finals. The Cavaliers did not win another playoff series until 1992. Fitch was awarded the NBA Coach of the Year Award at the end of the season.

Fitch led the team to two more playoff berths, although they did not win either series. After a 30–52 record for the 1978–79 season, he resigned on May 21, 1979.

On May 23, 1979, Fitch was hired by the Boston Celtics, taking over for Dave Cowens, who had coached them to a 29–53 record as a player-coach the previous season. His first season in 1979–80 was also the first for Larry Bird. A former drill instructor in the U. S. Marine Corps, the coach was lauded by Bird for his intense practices and discipline. Fitch helped lead the Celtics to 61 wins along with an Atlantic Division title. In the playoffs that year, the Celtics were defeated in the Conference Finals to the Philadelphia 76ers in five games. Fitch won his second Coach of the Year Award after the season.

In his second season, the Celtics drafted Kevin McHale and acquired Robert Parish, both through a trade with the Golden State Warriors. Fitch's team won 62 games along with a second Atlantic title. They went on to beat the Houston Rockets in six games to win the 1981 NBA Finals, Boston's first title since 1976.

Fitch led the Celtics to a third consecutive Atlantic Division title in 1981–82 while winning 63 games, although the team lost in the Conference Finals to the 76ers in seven games. The 1982–83 team dropped in wins (from 63 to 56) while finishing second in the Atlantic Division, and were defeated by the Milwaukee Bucks in four games. On May 27, 1983, he resigned from the Celtics. Fitch cited Harry T. Mangurian Jr.'s announcement that he was selling the team due to difficulties with Delaware North (the owners of the Boston Garden) as the last straw, despite Fitch having three years left on his contract.

On June 1, 1983, Fitch was hired by the Houston Rockets, taking over for Del Harris, who had managed the team to 14 wins the previous season. The 1983–84 Houston Rockets season also happened to be the first season with Ralph Sampson on the team. The team won 29 games that season. The next season was the season in which the Rockets drafted Hakeem Olajuwon, and the team responded with 48 wins and a playoff berth, although they were beaten in five games by the Utah Jazz. His third season was his best season with the team as they won the Midwest Division title along with the Western Conference title after beating the Los Angeles Lakers in five games. They met Fitch's old team, the Celtics. Boston beat the team in six games to win the Finals. Fitch's following two seasons led to playoff berths, although they did not advance past the Conference Semi-finals. Fitch was fired on June 6, 1988.

On August 21, 1989, Fitch was hired by the New Jersey Nets, replacing Willis Reed, who had gone 26–56 the previous season. The team acquired Sam Bowie on draft day in order to try and start a rebuilding process, although the team went 17–65 for the season, the fewest wins for the Nets since joining the NBA. Fitch gradually raised the team up, acquiring Derrick Coleman, Dražen Petrović, and Terry Mills helping the team qualify for a playoff berth in the 1991–92 New Jersey Nets season. The team went to the playoffs with a losing record of 40–42, sixth-best in the 14 team Eastern Conference. They lost in the First Round to Fitch's old team, the Cavaliers in four games. On May 12, 1992, he resigned as coach of the team.

On July 28, 1994, Fitch was hired by the Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, replacing Bob Weiss, who had gone 27–55 the previous year. In four seasons with the team, he could not reverse the tide of a franchise that had gone on a downward spiral since making the playoffs in consecutive seasons in 1992 and 1993. However, he led them to a playoff berth once, doing so in the 1996–97 season (the last playoff berth for the team until 2006), although they were swept in the First Round by the Jazz. Fitch did this without a star, but with solid players such as Rodney Rogers, Isaac Austin, Lamond Murray, Brent Barry, Maurice Taylor, Loy Vaught, Darrick Martin, Eric Piatkowski and Lorenzen Wright. They made the playoffs despite going 36–46, qualifying by just two games. The following season was a disaster, with the team finishing 17–65, the worst season since finishing with that same record in the 1994–95 season. Two days after the season ended, Fitch was fired on April 20, 1998. Fitch's most losses record in NBA history with 1,106 losses a record stood for five years until Lenny Wilkens broke his mark during the 2002–03 season while coaching for the Toronto Raptors. Wilkens' NBA coaching career finished with 1,155 losses after he announced his retirement from coaching on January 22, 2005.

Career history

As coach:

1956–1958           Creighton (assistant)

1958–1962           Coe Kohawks

1962–1967           North Dakota

1967–1968           Bowling Green

1968–1970           Minnesota

1970–1979           Cleveland Cavaliers

1979–1983           Boston Celtics

1983–1988           Houston Rockets

1989–1992           New Jersey Nets

1994–1998           Los Angeles Clippers

Career highlights and awards

As head coach:

 

    NBA champion (1981)

    2× NBA Coach of the Year Award (1976, 1980)

    NBA All-Star Game head coach (1982)

    Top 10 Coaches in NBA History

 

Career coaching record

NBA       944–1106 (.460)