The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit, Michigan. They play in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team, owned by Tom Gores, plays its home games at Little Caesars Arena.^[1][2] The franchise was founded in 1941 by Fred Zollner as the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, playing in the National Basketball League (NBL).^[3] In 1948, the team was renamed to the Fort Wayne Pistons and joined the Basketball Association of America (BAA), which merged with the NBL to become the NBA a year later.^[3] After spending nine seasons in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Zollner moved the team to Detroit, Michigan in 1957 to be able to compete financially with other big city teams.^[4] In the 1980s, general manager Jack McCloskey was instrumental in the Pistons' future championship runs by drafting Isiah Thomas, acquiring key players like Joe Dumars and Dennis Rodman and hiring head coach Chuck Daly.^[4] The 1980s team, known today as "the Bad Boys" due to the physical playing style, eventually won two championships in the 1989 and 1990 NBA Finals under Daly.^[4] The Pistons won their third and most recent title in the 2004 NBA Finals under the tenure of Larry Brown.^[4]

There have been 36 head coaches for the Pistons franchise since joining the NBA. The franchise's first head coach while in the NBA was Carl Bennett, who coached the team for six games, all of which are losses.^[5] Chuck Daly is the franchise's all-time leader in regular-season games coached (738), regular-season games won (467), playoff games coached (113), and playoff games won (71);^[6] Flip Saunders is the franchise's all-time leader in regular-season winning percentage (.715).^[7] Daly and Larry Brown are the only members of the franchise to have been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as coaches;^[6][8] Daly was also selected as one of the top 10 coaches in NBA history.^[9] Both Ray Scott and Rick Carlisle have won NBA Coach of the Year in the 1973–74 and 2001–02 season, with the Pistons respectively.^[10] Former coach Dick Vitale was named to the Basketball Hall of Fame in honor of the work he did as a basketball broadcaster after leaving the Pistons.^[11] Sixteen head coaches have spent their entire NBA head coaching careers with the Pistons. Curly Armstrong, Red Rocha, Dick McGuire, Dave DeBusschere, Donnis Butcher, Terry Dischinger, Earl Lloyd, Scott, and Michael Curry formerly played for the team.^{[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]} The most recent head coach of the Pistons was Dwane Casey.^[21]

Key

GC	Games coached
W	Wins
L	Losses
Win%	Winning percentage
#	Number of coaches[a]
*	Spent entire NBA head coaching career with the Pistons
	Elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach

Coaches

Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2022–23 season. The list does not include NBL seasons.

#	Name	Term[b]	GC	W	L	Win%	GC	W	L	Win%	Achievements	Reference
			Regular season				Playoffs
Fort Wayne Pistons
1	Carl Bennett*	1948	6	0	6	.000	—	—	—	—		[5]
2	Curly Armstrong*	1948–1949 (as player-coach)	54	22	32	.407	—	—	—	—		[22]
3	Murray Mendenhall*	1949–1951	136	72	64	.529	7	3	4	.429		[23]
4	Paul Birch	1951–1954	207	105	102	.507	14	4	10	.286		[24]
5	Charley Eckman*	1954–1957	216	114	102	.528	24	10	14	.417		[25]
Detroit Pistons
—	Charley Eckman*	1957	25	9	16	.360	0	0	0	–		[25]
6	Red Rocha*	1957–1960	153	65	88	.425	10	4	6	.400		[26]
7	Dick McGuire	1959–1960 (as player-coach) 1960–1963	280	122	158	.436	21	8	13	.381		[27]
8	Charles Wolf	1963–1964	91	25	66	.433	—	—	—	—		[28]
9	Dave DeBusschere*	1964–1967 (as player-coach)	222	79	143	.356	—	—	—	—		[29]
10	Donnis Butcher*	1967–1968	112	52	60	.464	6	2	4	.333		[30]
11	Paul Seymour	1968–1969	60	22	38	.367	—	—	—	—		[31]
12	Butch van Breda Kolff	1969–1971	174	82	92	.471	—	—	—	—		[32]
13	Terry Dischinger*	1971 (as player-coach)	2	0	2	.000	—	—	—	—		[33]
14	Earl Lloyd*	1971–1972	77	22	55	.286	—	—	—	—		[34]
15	Ray Scott*	1972–1976	281	147	134	.523	10	4	6	.400	1973–74 NBA Coach of the Year[10]	[35]
16	Herb Brown*	1976–1977	146	72	74	.493	12	5	7	.417		[36]
17	Bob Kauffman*	1977–1978	58	29	29	.500	—	—	—	—		[37]
18	Dick Vitale*	1978–1979	94	34	60	.362	—	—	—	—		[38]
19	Richie Adubato	1979–1980	70	12	58	.171	—	—	—	—		[39]
20	Scotty Robertson	1980–1983	246	97	149	.394	—	—	—	—		[40]
21	Chuck Daly	1983–1992	738	467	271	.633	113	71	42	.628	2 NBA championships (1989, 1990) One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history[9]	[6]
22	Ron Rothstein	1992–1993	82	40	42	.488	—	—	—	—		[41]
23	Don Chaney	1993–1995	164	48	116	.293	—	—	—	—		[42]
24	Doug Collins	1995–1998	209	121	88	.579	8	2	6	.250		[43]
25	Alvin Gentry	1998–2000	145	73	72	.503	5	2	3	.400		[44]
26	George Irvine	2000–2001	106	46	60	.434	3	0	3	.000		[45]
27	Rick Carlisle	2001–2003	164	100	64	.610	27	12	15	.444	2001–02 NBA Coach of the Year[10]	[46]
28	Larry Brown	2003–2005	164	108	56	.659	48	31	17	.646	NBA championship (2004)	[8]
29	Flip Saunders	2005–2008	246	176	70	.715	51	30	21	.588		[7]
30	Michael Curry*	2008–2009	82	39	43	.476	4	0	4	.000		[47]
31	John Kuester*	2009–2011	164	57	107	.348	—	—	—	—		[48]
32	Lawrence Frank	2011–2013	148	54	94	.365	—	—	—	—		[49]
33	Maurice Cheeks	2013–2014	50	21	29	.420	—	—	—	—		[50]
34	John Loyer*	2014	32	8	24	.250	—	—	—	—		[51]
35	Stan Van Gundy	2014–2018	328	152	176	.463	4	0	4	.000		[52]
36	Dwane Casey	2018–2023	383	121	262	.316	4	0	4	.000		[53]