Rick Carlisle returning to the Indiana Pacers

Rick Carlisle (YouTube)

According to Tim MacMahon of ESPN on Thursday, the Dallas Mavericks have named Rick Carlisle of Ogdensburg, New York as their new head coach. Carlisle replaces Nate Bjorkgren of Storm Lake, Iowa, who only spent one season as the Pacers head coach after two very successful seasons as the assistant coach for the Toronto Raptors.

Carlisle is actually returning to the Pacers. He was initially with Indiana as their head coach from 2003 to 2007. In that time, the Pacers had a record of 181 wins and 147 losses. However in his final season in Indiana during the 2006-07 season, the Pacers had a record of 35 wins and 47 losses. The Pacers made the decision to reassign Carlisle to another position at the time, but Carlisle decided to resign instead. He went on to coach the Dallas Mavericks for 13 seasons and won the NBA Finals in 2011, before resigning from Dallas on June 17. 

In addition to being the head coach of Indiana (now twice) and Dallas, Carlisle also was the head coach of the Detroit Pistons from 2001 to 2003. In fact, in 2001-02, he was the NBA coach of the year as Detroit had a record of 50 wins and 32 losses. Carlisle’s career coaching record is 836 wins and 689 losses. He was also an assistant coach with the New Jersey Nets from 1989 to 1994, the Portland Trail Blazers from 1994 to 1997, and the Pacers from 1997 to 2000.

As a player, Carlisle played university basketball with Maine and Virginia from 1979 to 1984. As a shooting guard, he was drafted by the Boston Celtics in the third round of the 1984 NBA Draft. He played 188 games with the Celtics, New York Knicks and Nets from 1984 to 1990, but was used only in a reserve role, and averaged only two points per game.

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