Stan Van Gundy Resigns as Head Coach

Riley joined the HEAT as President and Head Coach on September 2, 1995. He guided the HEAT to a 354-270 (.567) record with four Atlantic Division championships and six playoff berths in his eight seasons as the team’s head coach. In addition to ranking as Miami’s all-time victory leader, Riley ranks third on the NBA’s regular season all-time list, compiling a 1,110-569 (.661) career mark in 21 seasons as an NBA head coach with the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks and Miami HEAT, and second on the all-time postseason list amassing a 155-100 (.608) mark. A future Hall of Famer, Riley has led his teams to four NBA championships as a head coach, eight conference championships and a league-record 16 division championships. He is the only coach in league history to capture the NBA Coach of the Year Award with three different teams and his string of 19 consecutive playoff appearances as a head coach from 1982-2001 is a league record for consecutive postseason appearances. His 19 total appearances is tied for the most in NBA history. Additionally, when he won his 1,000th regular season game on November 1, 2000, he became the fastest coach or manager to reach 1,000 wins in the history of the four professional sports in North America, bettering the previous mark held by Fred Clarke of the Pittsburgh Pirates by an astonishing 144 games. Riley recorded his 1,000th win in just his 1,434 game. Riley currently stands as the all-time leader in both regular season and postseason victories for both the Lakers and the HEAT. Riley stepped down as head coach on October 24, 2003.

Additionally, he has supplemented the roster over the years by signing unheralded free agents Malik Allen, Rafer Alston, Isaac Austin, Bruce Bowen, Udonis Haslem and Voshon Lenard. Using every option available to him, Riley has also added quality youth to the team through the successful drafting of Dwyane Wade, Caron Butler, Dorell Wright and Wayne Simien.

Van Gundy became the fifth head coach in franchise history when he took over the reigns from Riley on October 24, 2003. He has guided Miami to two postseason berths, a Southeast Division championship, 112 regular season wins and 17 postseason victories. The 17 postseason victories rank third in the NBA over the two-year period and the 112 regular season wins stand as the fifth highest mark in the league. Additionally, in each of his two years as a head coach, he has guided the HEAT to a 17-win improvement over the previous season, making him only the second coach in NBA history to lead his team to at least 15-win improvements in consecutive years.