Paul Westhead

Not to be confused with Paul Westphal.

Paul Westhead
Personal information
Born	(1939-02-21) February 21, 1939 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Nationality	American
Career information
High school	West Catholic Preparatory (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
College	Saint Joseph's (1958–1961)
Coaching career	1970–2014
Career history
As coach:
1970–1979	La Salle
1979	Los Angeles Lakers (assistant)
1979–1981	Los Angeles Lakers
1982–1983	Chicago Bulls
1985–1990	Loyola Marymount
1990–1992	Denver Nuggets
1993–1997	George Mason
1997–1999	Golden State Warriors (assistant)
2000–2001	Los Angeles Stars
2001–2003	Panasonic Super Kangaroos
2003	Long Beach Jam
2003–2005	Orlando Magic (assistant)
2006–2007	Phoenix Mercury
2007–2008	Seattle SuperSonics / Oklahoma City Thunder (assistant)
2009–2014	Oregon (women's)
Career highlights and awards
As head coach: NBA champion (1980) WNBA champion (2007)

Paul William Westhead (born February 21, 1939) is an American basketball coach who most recently was the head coach of the University of Oregon women's team. In his first year as an NBA head coach, he led a rookie Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers to the 1980 NBA Title. He has previously been a head coach for three National Basketball Association (NBA) teams and an assistant for four others, and has also coached in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), American Basketball Association (ABA) and Japan Basketball League (JBL). He won titles in both the NBA and WNBA, and is also remembered as the coach of the Loyola Marymount University (LMU) men's basketball team during that school's era of greatest basketball glory. Westhead is known for an unorthodox, run-and-gun style called "The System." He attended Saint Joseph's University.

Cheltenham and La Salle

Westhead started his coaching career at Cheltenham High School in suburban Philadelphia; in 1968, he coached the Panthers to a loss in the Pennsylvania state championship.^[1] One of his players at Cheltenham was future University of Virginia Athletic Director Craig Littlepage.^[2] Westhead coached the La Salle University men's basketball team starting in 1970. Westhead led the Explorers to one NIT and two NCAA tournament appearances in nine seasons (1970–1979). He finished with a record of 142–105.

1980s

Los Angeles Lakers

Westhead started his NBA head coaching career at the top of the NBA world, succeeding Jack McKinney as the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers after serving briefly as an assistant to McKinney (Westhead initially became interim head coach after McKinney was hospitalized due to a serious bicycle accident). With rookie guard Magic Johnson and longtime star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the Lakers won the 1980 NBA Finals in Westhead's first year as coach, defeating Philadelphia in six games. However, the team lost in the playoffs the next year to the Moses Malone-led Houston Rockets. Westhead was fired early in his third season with the Lakers, and replaced with Pat Riley (whom Westhead had hired as an assistant). It is commonly believed that Earvin "Magic" Johnson orchestrated Westhead's ouster. A 1987 book called Winnin' Times (about the Los Angeles Lakers' franchise history) indicated that the Lakers' owner Jerry Buss wanted to fire Westhead several days prior to the actual occurrence, which is not mutually exclusive of the notion that Johnson had orchestrated it.

Chicago Bulls

Westhead was the head coach of the Chicago Bulls for the 1982–83 season, but lasted only one season as the Bulls went 28–54. Prior to that season, the Bulls traded away all-star center Artis Gilmore to the San Antonio Spurs, and the franchise was still two years away from the debut of Michael Jordan.

Loyola Marymount

Westhead returned to the college ranks, and took over as the head coach of the Loyola Marymount Lions men's basketball program. From 1985–1990, Westhead oversaw an impressive run in which Loyola Marymount, despite being a smaller school and not a traditional NCAA basketball power, became a legitimate contender in NCAA hoops. Westhead lured star players like Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble, who both transferred from USC, and rewrote many NCAA record books with Loyola Marymount's famous, up-tempo, run-and-gun style.

From 1988 to 1990, Westhead's teams went 27–3, 20–10 and 23–5 respectively, earning NCAA tournament berths each year. Gathers led the NCAA in scoring and rebounding (32.7 ppg, 13.7 rpg) in 1989 and Kimble led the NCAA in scoring in 1990 (35.3 ppg). After the on-court death of Gathers in its conference tournament, LMU went on an inspired run in the NCAA tournament in 1990 that captured the attention of the entire college basketball world for those weeks. The Lions blew out defending champion Michigan in the 2nd round and made it to the Regional Final round before losing to eventual champion UNLV.

Westhead's teams led Division I in scoring in 1988 (110.3 points per game), 1989 (112.5), and 1990 (122.4).^[3] LMU's 122.4 point per game in 1990 was still a record as of February 2016.^[4] As of April 2012, Loyola Marymount held the five highest combined score games in Division I history. Four of the five occurred during Westhead's career, including a record 331 in the 181–150 win over United States International University on January 31, 1989.^[5]

1990s

Denver Nuggets

After the 1989–1990 season, Westhead left LMU for the NBA's Denver Nuggets, a position he held for two seasons. His tenure in Denver was best known for attempting to incorporate the run-and-gun offense that worked for LMU to the NBA.

However, while Denver averaged a league-best 119.9 points per game in 1990–91, it also surrendered an NBA record 130.8 points per game, including 107 points in a single half to the Phoenix Suns, which remains an NBA record. Under Westhead, the Nuggets were sometimes called the "Enver Nuggets" (as in no "D").^[6] The next year the Nuggets drafted Dikembe Mutombo, who made the All-Star team, and played at a more conservative pace scoring just 99.7 points per game, but only improved to 24 wins. Westhead was fired from the Nuggets after two seasons after posting a combined W/L record of 44–120.

George Mason

Following his tenure with the Nuggets, Westhead returned to college coaching as the head coach of George Mason University from 1993–1997. This time, Westhead's run-and-gun style did not succeed at the college level, ending his tenure at Mason with a 38–70 record. Westhead was succeeded at Mason by Jim Larranaga after the 1996–1997 season.

Golden State Warriors

From 1997 to 1999, Westhead was an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors under head coach P. J. Carlesimo.^[7]

2000s

Los Angeles Stars

Westhead was the head coach of the Los Angeles Stars in the inaugural season of the new ABA in 2000–2001.^[8]

Panasonic Super Kangaroos

Westhead was the head coach of the Panasonic Super Kangaroos of the Japan Basketball League from 2001–2003.^[9]

Long Beach Jam

Westhead returned to the ABA as the head coach of Long Beach Jam in 2003.

Orlando Magic

From 2003 to 2005 Westhead was an assistant coach with the Orlando Magic under head coach Johnny Davis.

Phoenix Mercury

In 2005, Westhead was hired as the head coach of the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury, a position that he held until the 2007 WNBA season concluded. In 2007, Westhead coached the Mercury to a WNBA championship, making him the only coach to win a championship in the NBA and the WNBA. The Mercury won using Westhead's fast-paced approach.^[10]

Seattle SuperSonics/Oklahoma City Thunder

On September 27, 2007 he agreed to a contract with the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics to be an assistant coach under longtime friend P. J. Carlesimo. When Carlesimo was relieved of his duties on November 21, 2008, Westhead was also released as an assistant at that time.^[11]

2010s

University of Oregon, women's basketball

On March 26, 2009 University of Oregon Athletic Director Pat Kilkenny introduced Paul Westhead as the Ducks' newest head coach. As the sixth head coach in the history of Oregon women's basketball, this was Westhead's first job as head coach of an NCAA women's program (although he had coached women's teams at the professional level before).

On March 4, 2014, the University of Oregon announced that they would not renew Westhead's contract, which expired March 31, 2014. Westhead was 65-90 overall at Oregon and 27-64 in conference play in five seasons. Westhead's Oregon contract was worth more than $3 million for five years, with his final season earning him $675,000.^[12]

Head coaching record

Men's college basketball

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
La Salle Explorers (Middle Atlantic Conferences) (1970–1974)
1970–71	La Salle	20–7	5–1	2nd (East)	NIT First Round
1971–72	La Salle	6–19	2–4	T–4th (East)
1972–73	La Salle	15–10	3–3	4th (East)
1973–74	La Salle	18–10	5–1	T-1st (East)
La Salle Explorers (East Coast Conference) (1974–1979)
1974–75	La Salle	22–7	5–1	T-1st (East)	NCAA First Round
1975–76	La Salle	11–15	1–4	T-5th (East)
1976–77	La Salle	17–12	3–2	3rd (East)
1977–78	La Salle	18–12	5–0	1st (East)	NCAA First Round
1978–79	La Salle	15–13	10–3	3rd (East)
La Salle:		142–105 (.575)
Loyola Marymount Lions (West Coast Conference) (1985–1990)
1985–86	Loyola Marymount	19–11	10–5	2nd	NIT Second Round
1986–87	Loyola Marymount	12–16	4–11	8th
1987–88	Loyola Marymount	28–4	17–0	1st	NCAA Second Round
1988–89	Loyola Marymount	20–11	13–4	3rd	NCAA First Round
1989–90	Loyola Marymount	26–6	14–1	1st	NCAA Elite 8
Loyola Marymount:		105–48 (.686)	58–21 (.734)
George Mason Patriots (Colonial Athletic Association) (1993–1997)
1993–94	George Mason	10–17	5–9	T–6th
1994–95	George Mason	7–20	2–12	8th
1995–96	George Mason	11–16	6–10	T–6th
1996–97	George Mason	10–17	4–12	9th
George Mason:		38–70 (.352)	17–44 (.279)
Total:		285–223 (.561)
National champion Postseason invitational champion Conference regular season champion Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season champion Division regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion

NBA

Legend
Regular season	G	Games coached	W	Games won	L	Games lost	W–L %	Win-loss %
Post season	PG	Playoff games	PW	Playoff wins	PL	Playoff losses	PW–L %	Playoff win-loss %

Team	Year	G	W	L	W–L%	Finish	PG	PW	PL	PW–L%	Result
Los Angeles	1979–80	68	50	18	.735	1st in Pacific	16	12	4	.750	Won NBA Championship
Los Angeles	1980–81	82	54	28	.659	2nd in Pacific	3	1	2	.333	Lost in First Round
Los Angeles	1981–82	11	7	4	.636	(fired)	–	–	–	–	–
Chicago	1982–83	82	28	54	.341	4th in Central	–	–	–	–	Missed Playoffs
Denver	1990–91	82	20	62	.244	7th in Midwest	–	–	–	–	Missed Playoffs
Denver	1991–92	82	24	58	.293	4th in Midwest	–	–	–	–	Missed Playoffs
Career		407	183	224	.450		19	13	6	.684

WNBA

Legend
Regular season	G	Games coached	W	Games won	L	Games lost	W–L %	Win-loss %
Post season	PG	Playoff games	PW	Playoff wins	PL	Playoff losses	PW–L %	Playoff win-loss %

Team	Year	G	W	L	W–L%	Finish	PG	PW	PL	PW–L%	Result
PHX	2006	34	18	16	.529	5th in West	–	–	–	–	Missed Playoffs
PHX	2007	34	23	11	.676	1st in West	9	7	2	.778	Won WNBA Finals
Career		68	41	27	.603		9	7	3	.778

Women's College Basketball

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Oregon (Pacific-10/Pac-12 Conference) (2009–2014)
2009–10	Oregon	18–16	7–11	T–6th	NIT Third Round
2010–11	Oregon	13–17	4–14	9th
2011–12	Oregon	15–16	7–11	9th
2012–13	Oregon	4–27	2–16	12th
2013–14	Oregon	16–16	6–12	10th	NIT Second Round
Oregon:		66–92 (.418)	26–64 (.289)
Total:		66–92 (.418)
National champion Postseason invitational champion Conference regular season champion Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season champion Division regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion

Notes

↑ http://www.piaa.org/championships/archive/default.aspx
↑ http://cheltenhamalumni.org/BIOS/littlepage-craig.htm
↑ NCAA 2010, p.39
↑ NCAA 2010, p.5
↑ NCAA 2010, pp.28–29
↑ http://basketbawful.blogspot.com/2007/07/from-vaults-worst-defensive-team-ever.html
↑ Warriors name Paul Westhead assistant coach
↑ Ford, Bob (February 4, 2001). "Still Crazy After All These Years A New Professional League Has Given Paul Westhead, That Mad Professor Of Up-tempo Basketball, Yet Another Laboratory In Which To Experiment". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved July 17, 2011.
↑ Westhead hired by JBL team
↑ "Taurasi, Pondexter lead Mercury to second title in three years". www.espn.com. Retrieved 2009-10-10.
↑ Oklahoma City Thunder fire coach P. J. Carlesimo after 1-12 start - ESPN
↑ Greif, Andrew (March 4, 2014). "Oregon Ducks will not renew Paul Westhead's contract as women's basketball head coach". oregonlive.com. The Oregonian. Retrieved March 7, 2014.

References

NCAA (February 24, 2016). "2015–16 NCAA Men's Basketball Records - Division I Records". NCAA.org. NCAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 24, 2016.

External links

La Salle Explorers men's basketball head coaches

James J. Henry (1930–1931)
Tom Conley (1931–1933)
Leonard Tanseer (1933–1941)
Obie O'Brien (1941–1943)
Joseph Meehan (1943–1946)
Charles McGlone (1946–1949)
Ken Loeffler (1949–1955)
Jim Pollard (1955–1958)
Dudey Moore (1958–1963)
Bob Walters (1963–1965)
Joe Heyer (1965–1967)
Jim Harding (1967–1968)
Tom Gola (1968–1970)
Paul Westhead (1970–1979)
Lefty Ervin (1979–1986)
Speedy Morris (1986–2001)
Billy Hahn (2001–2004)
John Giannini (2004– )

Los Angeles Lakers head coaches

John Kundla (1948–1958)
George Mikan (1958)
John Kundla (1958–1959)
John Castellani (1959–1960)
Jim Pollard (1960)
Fred Schaus (1960–1967)
Butch van Breda Kolff (1967–1969)
Joe Mullaney (1969–1971)
Bill Sharman (1971–1976)
Jerry West (1976–1979)
Jack McKinney (1979)
Paul Westhead (1979–1981)
Pat Riley (1981–1990)
Mike Dunleavy Sr. (1990–1992)
Randy Pfund (1992–1994)
Bill Bertka # (1994)
Magic Johnson # (1994)
Del Harris (1994–1999)
Bill Bertka # (1999)
Kurt Rambis # (1999)
Phil Jackson (1999–2004)
Rudy Tomjanovich (2004–2005)
Frank Hamblen # (2005)
Phil Jackson (2005–2011)
Mike Brown (2011–2012)
Bernie Bickerstaff # (2012)
Mike D'Antoni (2012–2014)
Byron Scott (2014–2016)
Luke Walton (2016–present)

Pound sign (#) denotes interim head coach.

Chicago Bulls head coaches

Johnny Kerr (1966–1968)
Dick Motta (1968–1976)
Ed Badger (1976–1978)
Larry Costello (1978–1979)
Scotty Robertson # (1979)
Jerry Sloan (1979–1982)
Phil Johnson # (1982)
Rod Thorn # (1982)
Paul Westhead (1982–1983)
Kevin Loughery (1983–1985)
Stan Albeck (1985–1986)
Doug Collins (1986–1989)
Phil Jackson (1989–1998)
Tim Floyd (1998–2001)
Bill Berry # (2001)
Bill Cartwright (2001–2003)
Pete Myers # (2003)
Scott Skiles (2003–2007)
Pete Myers # (2007)
Jim Boylan # (2007–2008)
Vinny Del Negro (2008–2010)
Tom Thibodeau (2010–2015)
Fred Hoiberg (2015– )

Pound sign (#) denotes interim head coach.

Loyola Marymount Lions men's basketball head coaches

No coach (1906–1907)
No team (1907–1908)
Unknown (1908–1910)
No team (1910–1911)
Unknown (1911–1912)
No team (1912–1913)
Unknown (1913–1914)
No records (1914–1923)
Thomas Flaherty (1923–1924)
Harold Hess (1924–1925)
George Casey (1925–1926)
John Richlie (1926–1929)
Joseph Donahue (1929–1931)
No teams (1931–1934)
William Sargent (1934–1936)
Jimmy Needles (1936–1940)
Bernie Bradley (1940–1942)
No coach (1942–1943)
Thomas Korn (1943–1944)
No team (1944–1946)
Scotty McDonald (1946–1952)
Edwin Powell (1952–1953)
William Donovan (1953–1961)
John Arndt (1961–1968)
Richard Baker (1968–1973)
Dave Benaderet (1973–1979)
Ron Jacobs (1979–1980)
Ed Goorjian (1980–1985)
Paul Westhead (1985–1990)
Jay Hillock (1990–1992)
John Olive (1992–1997)
Charles Bradley (1997–2000)
Steve Aggers (2000–2005)
Rodney Tention (2005–2008)
Bill Bayno (2008)
Max Good (2008–2014)
Mike Dunlap (2014– )

Pound sign (#) denotes interim head coach.

Denver Nuggets head coaches

Bob Bass (1967–1969)
John McLendon (1969)
Joe Belmont (1969–1970)
Stan Albeck (1970–1971)
Alex Hannum (1971–1974)
Larry Brown (1974–1979)
Donnie Walsh (1979–1980)
Doug Moe (1980–1990)
Paul Westhead (1990–1992)
Dan Issel (1992–1995)
Gene Littles # (1995)
Bernie Bickerstaff (1995–1996)
Dick Motta (1996–1997)
Bill Hanzlik (1997–1998)
Mike D'Antoni (1998–1999)
Dan Issel (1999–2001)
Mike Evans # (2001–2002)
Jeff Bzdelik (2002–2004)
Michael Cooper # (2004–2005)
George Karl (2004–2013)
Brian Shaw (2013–2015)
Melvin Hunt # (2015)
Michael Malone (2015– )

Pound sign (#) denotes interim head coach.

George Mason Patriots men's basketball head coaches

Arnold Siegfried (1966–1967) Hap Spuhler (1967–1970) John Linn (1970–1980) Joe Harrington (1980–1987) Rick Barnes (1987–1988) Ernie Nestor (1988–1993) Paul Westhead (1993–1997) Jim Larrañaga (1997–2011) Paul Hewitt (2011–2015) Dave Paulsen (2015– )

Phoenix Mercury

Founded in 1997 Based in Phoenix, Arizona

Franchise	Franchise Current season

Arenas	Talking Stick Resort Arena

Head Coaches	Cheryl Miller Cynthia Cooper Linda Sharp John Shumate Carrie Graf Paul Westhead Corey Gaines Russ Pennell Sandy Brondello

Administration	Owner: Jerry Colangelo Robert Sarver General Manager: Cheryl Miller Seth Sulka Ann Meyers-Drysdale Corey Gaines Amber Cox Jason Rowley

All-Stars	DeWanna Bonner Anna DeForge Candice Dupree Brittney Griner Brandy Reed Cappie Pondexter Diana Taurasi Penny Taylor Michelle Timms Adrian Williams

Seasons	1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Playoff appearances	1997 1998 2000 2007 2009 2010 2011 2013 2014

Conference Championships	1998 2007 2009 2014

WNBA Championships	2007 2009 2014

Rivals	Houston Comets Los Angeles Sparks Minnesota Lynx Seattle Storm

Media	TV: FS Arizona (FS-A) Announcers: Kayte Christensen, Tom Leander

Oregon Ducks women's basketball head coaches

Jane Spearing (1973–1974) Nancy Mikleton (1974–1976) Elwin Heiny (1976–1993) Jody Runge (1993–2001) Bev Smith (2001–2009) Paul Westhead (2009–2014) Kelly Graves (2014– )

Los Angeles Lakers 1979–80 NBA Champions

7 Marty Byrnes 9 Jim Chones 10 Norm Nixon 14 Brad Holland 15 Butch Lee 21 Michael Cooper 31 Spencer Haywood 32 Magic Johnson (Finals MVP) 33 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 52 Jamaal Wilkes 54 Mark Landsberger Head coach Paul Westhead Assistant coaches Mike Thibault Pat Riley

Regular season Playoffs

Phoenix Mercury 2007 WNBA Champions

0 Olympia Scott 2 Kelly Miller 3 Diana Taurasi 5 Teana Miller 11 Kelly Schumacher 12 Belinda Snell 13 Penny Taylor-Gil 21 Jennifer Lacy 23 Cappie Pondexter (Finals MVP) 24 Jennifer Derevjanik 33 Kelly Mazzante 50 Tangela Smith Head coach Paul Westhead

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 169590491

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