Flip Saunders

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Flip Saunders (2011)

Philip "Flip" Saunders (born February 23, 1955 in Cleveland , Ohio , † October 25, 2015 in Minneapolis , Minnesota ) was an American basketball coach .

Career

Saunders began his coaching career at Golden Valley Lutheran College , where he set a 92-13 record. In 1981 he became an assistant coach at his alma mater Minnesota . After five seasons, he moved to the University of Tulsa , Oklahoma as an assistant coach . There he worked two seasons.

In 1988 he moved to the CBA , where he trained the Rapid City Thrillers in his first season and then took over the La Crosse Catbirds . In five years with the Catbirds, Saunders won the CBA championship twice (1990, 1992) before heading the Sioux Falls Skyforce team for a year . With 253 wins, he is the second most successful coach in league history in these statistics.

It followed in 1995 the change to the NBA to the Minnesota Timberwolves . Saunders stayed there until 2005, making him the coach with by far the longest tenure in the franchise . He reached the play-offs eight times in a row (1997-2004), but retired seven seasons in a row in the first round. It wasn't until 2004 that Saunders was able to break this streak and led the Timberwolves into the final series of the Western Conference , which is the franchise 's greatest success to date . Since the following season was less successful and the team had already lost more games after 51 games than during the 82 games of the previous regular season , he was dismissed.

At the beginning of the following season , Saunders took over the Detroit Pistons, which he led to the finals of the Eastern Conference . In 2007 and 2008 he was able to repeat this with the Pistons. However, after he had missed the finals, he was released on June 3, 2008 by the Pistons.

From 2009 to February 2012 he was head coach of the Washington Wizards .

In May 2013, Saunders returned to the Minnesota Timberwolves . There he took over the management position for the operational basketball business. He also received shares in the franchise. After a year he decided in June 2014 to take over the Timberwolves again as head coach and lead them into the 2014/15 season .

death

Saunders died on October 25, 2015 of complications from Hodgkin's lymphoma in Minneapolis , Minnesota .

Web links

Commons : Flip Saunders  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2012/01/24/flip-out-in-washington-wittman-in/
  2. ↑ Saunders again head coach of the Wolves
  3. ↑ Timberwolves Coach Flip Saunders Dies At 60
personal data
SURNAME Saunders, Flip
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Saunders, Philip (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American basketball coach
DATE OF BIRTH February 23, 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Cleveland , Ohio , USA
DATE OF DEATH October 25, 2015
Place of death Minneapolis , Minnesota , USA