Background and career
Rick Preston Carlisle ( KAR-lyle; born October 27, 1959) is an American basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has previously served as head coach of the Detroit Pistons and Dallas Mavericks, winning the 2011 NBA Finals with the latter. As a player, Carlisle played for the Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, and New Jersey Nets. He is one of only 14 people to win an NBA championship as both a player and a coach, and is one of only 11 head coaches in NBA history to win 1,000 games.
Carlisle was raised in Lisbon, New York. He attended and played basketball at Lisbon Central High School and was the first 1,000-point scorer in school history. One of the only NCAA Division I coaches to recruit him was Jim Larrañaga, an assistant coach at America International. However, Carlisle "couldn't face spending four years in downtown Springfield," Massachusetts and chose instead to attend a year of prep school at Worcester Academy. Carlisle played two years of college basketball at the University of Maine from 1979 to 1981, during which time he reconnected with Larrañaga at the Empire State Games. Larrañaga had since become an assistant coach at the University of Virginia. Carlisle transferred from Maine to Virginia after two seasons. He was a starter for the 1982–83 Virginia Cavaliers team that featured the three-time college player of the year Ralph Sampson. UVA was the number one ranked team in the country prior to being defeated by Chaminade on December 23, 1982. In the 1983 NCAA tournament, UVA was the number one seed in the West and made it to the Elite Eight before losing to eventual NCAA national champion North Carolina State. Carlisle was the co-captain on the 1983–84 Cavaliers team and helped lead them to the Final Four where they lost 49–47 in overtime to the Houston Cougars team led by Hakeem Olajuwon. Carlisle averaged 12.5 points, 3.6 assists, and 3.3 rebounds per game during his college career.
After graduating in 1984, Carlisle was selected 70th overall by the Boston Celtics in the 1984 NBA draft, where he played alongside Larry Bird. Under Celtics' coach K. C. Jones, Carlisle won the NBA championship in 1986 and lost in the finals in 1985 and 1987. In the 1986 NBA finals series, in limited playing time, Carlisle made every shot he took (3 for 3). In a limited reserve role from 1984 to 1987, Carlisle averaged 2.2 points, 1.0 assists and 0.8 rebounds per game. He then played for the Albany Patroons of the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) under Bill Musselman. Carlisle then signed as a free agent with the New York Knicks, where he played under coach Rick Pitino alongside emerging star Patrick Ewing. In 1989, Carlisle played in five games with the New Jersey Nets under Bill Fitch.
Later in 1989, Carlisle accepted an assistant coaching position with the New Jersey Nets, where he spent five seasons under Bill Fitch and Chuck Daly. In 1994, he joined the assistant coaching staff with the Portland Trail Blazers under coach P. J. Carlesimo, where he spent three seasons. In 1997, Carlisle joined the Indiana Pacers organization as an assistant coach under former teammate Larry Bird. During his time as assistant coach, he helped the Pacers to two of their best seasons ever. First, in 1997–98, the Pacers stretched the Chicago Bulls to the limit, narrowly losing the deciding seventh game of the Eastern Conference Finals to the eventual NBA champion. Then, in 1999–2000 season, the Pacers made the NBA Finals for the first time, ultimately losing to the Los Angeles Lakers. Bird stepped down as coach and pushed for Carlisle to be selected as his replacement, but Pacers' team president Donnie Walsh gave the job to Isiah Thomas.
For the 2001–02 season, Carlisle was hired by the Detroit Pistons to be their new head coach. In two seasons as head coach, he led the team to consecutive 50–32 records (.610) with Central Division titles and playoff appearances. Carlisle was named Coach of the Year in 2002. However, the Pistons fired Carlisle after the 2002–03 season with a year remaining on his contract and hired Larry Brown. Friction between Carlisle and team ownership was cited as one of the primary reasons for the firing. Carlisle's Pistons had just dispatched Brown's Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference semifinals before being swept by the New Jersey Nets in the Eastern Conference finals.
For the 2003–04 season, Carlisle returned to the Pacers as head coach to replace Isiah Thomas, who had been fired almost immediately after Larry Bird was brought back as the new President of Basketball Operations. In his first season, Carlisle led the Pacers to the Central Division title and NBA's best regular-season record at 61–21 (74.4%), setting a franchise record for wins (both in the NBA and ABA). In the playoffs, the team eliminated the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat before losing to the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference finals. That year, Carlisle coached the East All-Stars at the All-Star Game. In 2005, the Pacers roster was decimated by injuries, most notably, those of Jermaine O'Neal, Stephen Jackson and Jamaal Tinsley, and suspensions from the Pacers–Pistons brawl at The Palace of Auburn Hills, which resulted in Ron Artest being suspended for the rest of the season, Jackson being suspended for 30 games, and O'Neal being suspended for 15 games. The Pacers still made the NBA playoffs that season. As the sixth seed, they again defeated the Boston Celtics in the first round before being defeated again by the eventual Eastern Conference champion, the Detroit Pistons. The Pacers slipped to a .500 record in 2005–06 and barely made the playoffs, losing in the first round. Despite this, Bird and Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh did not hold Carlisle responsible for the Pacers' lackluster performances in the past two seasons, signing him to a multiyear contract extension and giving him the title of executive vice president of basketball operations. After the Pacers finished the 2006–07 season with a 35–47 record, missing the playoffs for the first time since 1997, Bird fired Carlisle. Carlisle understood the decision, saying that the Pacers needed "a new voice". In four seasons with the Pacers, he compiled a 181–147 record. The Pacers offered to let Carlisle stay on in the front office, but Carlisle also resigned that post on June 12, 2007. After leaving Indiana, Carlisle worked as a studio analyst for ESPN before signing with the Dallas Mavericks as the team's new head coach.
