Background and career
Terry Linn Stotts (born November 25, 1957) is an American professional basketball coach and former player. He previously served as head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA from 2012 to 2021 and as an assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks and Golden State Warriors. After playing as a forward in Europe and the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), where he was coached by George Karl, Stotts became a part of Karl's coaching staff on multiple teams in the CBA and NBA. He later worked as a head coach for the Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks, before helping the Dallas Mavericks win the 2011 NBA championship as an assistant coach.
Born in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Stotts grew up in Illinois, Wisconsin, Guam, and Indiana and graduated from Bloomington High School North in Bloomington, Indiana in 1976. Stotts was a member of the 1976 Indiana All-Star Team. Stotts was a starter in all his four seasons with the University of Oklahoma Sooners basketball team and was an Academic All-American selection in his junior and senior seasons and an All-Big Eight Conference selection in his senior season. He graduated from Oklahoma in 1980 with a B.S. in zoology and a Master in Business Administration from Oklahoma in 1988 on a postgraduate scholarship from the NCAA.
After averaging 16.9 points per game as a senior at Oklahoma, Stotts was a second-round selection of the Houston Rockets in the 1980 NBA draft, but he could not find a place on the team. He began his professional playing career in Italy before joining George Karl's Continental Basketball Association (CBA) team, the Montana Golden Nuggets, in the early 1980s. He played for the team for three seasons. Stotts was selected to the CBA All-Defensive First Team in 1983. He then returned to Europe for several seasons, playing in Spain (CB Estudiantes) and France.
After retiring as a player, Stotts joined Karl's coaching staff as an assistant with the CBA's Albany Patroons in 1990–91. During his first year, he helped lead the Patroons to an all-time CBA-best 50–6 record. Stotts then coached the CBA's Fort Wayne Fury for one season before rejoining Karl as part of his staff on the Seattle SuperSonics in the NBA. He then moved with Karl to the Milwaukee Bucks in 1998.
In 2002, Stotts decided to part ways with Karl and joined the Atlanta Hawks as an assistant coach. He was promoted to head coach 27 games into the season after Lon Kruger was fired. Stotts led the Hawks to a 24–31 record before he was let go, and returned to the assistant coaching ranks with the Golden State Warriors.
In 2005, Stotts became the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks. He guided them to the playoffs in his first season, but was fired towards the end of his second season on March 14, 2007.
