Background
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.
basketball coach basketball player
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.
He graduated from Oklahoma in 1980 with a Bachelor of Surgery in zoology and a Master"s in Business Administration from Oklahoma in 1988 on a postgraduate scholarship from the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
After a playing career in Europe and the Continental Basketball Association, where he played for George Karl, Stotts became a part of Karl"s coaching staff on multiple teams in the College of Business Administration and National Basketball Association.
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. Stotts was a second round selection of the Houston Rockets in the 1980 National Basketball Association Draft, but he couldn"t find a place on the team He began his professional playing career in Italy before joining George Karl"s Continental Basketball Association (College of Business Administration) team, the Montana Golden Nuggets, in the early 1980s.
He starred for the team for 3 seasons.
He then returned to Europe for several seasons, playing in Spain (Estudiantes) and France. Early career with George Karl and the College of Business Administration
After retiring as a player, Stotts joined Karl’s coaching staff as an assistant with the College of Business Administration’s Albany Patroons in 1990-1991.
During his first year, he helped lead the Patroons to an all-time College of Business Administration-best 50–6 record. Stotts then coached the College of Business Administration’s Fort Wayne Fury for one season before rejoining Karl as part of his staff on the Seattle SuperSonics in the National Basketball Association. He then moved with Karl to the Milwaukee Buckinghamshire in 1998
Atlanta Hawks
In 2002, he 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 52–85 record before he was let go and returned to the assistant coaching ranks with the Golden State Warriors. Milwaukee Buckinghamshire
In 2005, he became the head coach of the Milwaukee Buckinghamshire. He guided them to the playoffs in his first season, but was fired towards the end of his second season on March 14, 2007.
Dallas Mavericks
He was hired as an assistant coach for the Dallas Mavericks shortly after Rick Carlisle was hired as head coach in September 2008.
Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers hired Stotts as their head coach on August 7, 2012. At the time, his National Basketball Association coaching record was 115–168.
The Blazers went 33–49 in Stotts" first year, losing their final 13 games to drop out of the playoff race. In Stotts" second season with the Trail Blazers, he coached the team to an overall record of 54–28.
They beat the Houston Rockets in the first round of the National Basketball Association Playoffs with a buzzer beater three point shot by Damian Lillard, to advance to the second round.
In Stotts" third season, he led the team to an overall record of 51–31. With an injured roster, they fell to the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the National Basketball Association Playoffs 4–1.
Married Jan S. Stotts.