Tom Thibodeau

Thomas Joseph Thibodeau Jr. ( born January 17, 1958), nicknamed "Thibs", is an American basketball coach who is the head coach for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Thibodeau was born on January 17, 1958, in New Britain, Connecticut.

He attended New Britain High School, where he excelled in basketball.

Thibodeau played basketball at Salem State College, serving as captain during the 1980–81 season.

During his time with the Vikings, the six-foot-two-inch Thibodeau helped Salem State to consecutive Division III national tournaments (1980, 1981).

In 1980, Thibodeau helped Salem State to the league championship and the school's first NCAA Tournament bid.

Upon graduating, he became an assistant coach at the school in 1981.

In 1984, at age 25, he became head coach at Salem State after serving three years as an assistant.

One season later he became an assistant coach at Harvard University, where he spent the next four seasons.

While coaching in college, Thibodeau attended coaching clinics and visited the practices of many of the top coaches in the U.S., including Hall of Fame coaches Bobby Knight, Rick Pitino, Hubie Brown, Gary Williams, Morgan Wootten, and Jim Calhoun.

In 1987, Thibodeau befriended Bill Musselman, a former head coach in the NBA, ABA and NCAA who was coaching the Albany Patroons of the Continental Basketball Association.

According to the New York Times, "the Patroons’ practices, the attention to detail, the efficiency, the sheer number of offensive sets, fed into Thibodeau's addiction."

After four years at Harvard, he entered the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1989, as an assistant coach with an expansion team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, who had hired Bill Musselman as the team's first head coach.

Prior to the 1991–92 season, he joined the Seattle SuperSonics as an advance scout.

Thibodeau moved to the San Antonio Spurs the following season, where he worked as an assistant coach to Jerry Tarkanian, Rex Hughes and John Lucas for two seasons.

After the 1993–94 season, he left the Spurs along with Lucas to become an assistant under Lucas with the Philadelphia 76ers.

After the 1995–96 season, he again left simultaneously with Lucas, this time joining the New York Knicks as an assistant to head coach Jeff Van Gundy.

Also, he was part of the 1999 NBA Finals as an assistant coach with the New York Knicks before joining the Boston Celtics, with whom he won the 2008 NBA Finals as well as helping guide them back to the 2010 NBA Finals, serving as a defensive coach.

During his tenure with the Knicks, he helped the team set a then-NBA record by holding 33 consecutive opponents under 100 points in the 2000–01 season.

As part of the Knicks coaching staff, he also helped Van Gundy to coach the Eastern Conference All-Stars in the 2000 All-Star Game.

He spent seven years with the Knicks.

Thibodeau joined the Houston Rockets prior to the 2003–04 season, where again he was an assistant to head coach Van Gundy, who has described Thibodeau as "brilliant".

As a defensive coach, he helped the Houston Rockets rank among the Top 5 in the league in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense from 2004 to 2007, and he has helped his team finish in the league's Top 10 in team defense 15 times.

He has coached in 214 playoff games as an assistant coach, associate head coach, and head coach.

He accomplished this in 130 games, one game fewer than the record set previously by Avery Johnson in 2006.

On August 30, 2007, Thibodeau was named associate head coach of the Boston Celtics, who hoped his hiring would bolster their defense.

Eventually, he helped the Celtics become the best defensive team in the league.

On November 4, 2007, Thibodeau took over head coaching duties against the Toronto Raptors in place of Doc Rivers, who was unable to coach due to the death of his father earlier that day.

Thibodeau led the Celtics to the best rating in several defensive categories in 2007–08, and was a key factor in containing Kobe Bryant during the 2008 Finals.

During the 2008 playoffs, Thibodeau was rumored to be a candidate for the vacant head coaching job with the New York Knicks, for whom he had worked as an assistant coach for seven years, as well as the Chicago Bulls, but he was not hired by either.

On June 2, 2010, Thibodeau interviewed with officials from the Chicago Bulls for their vacant head coach position.

On June 23, he was confirmed as the Bulls' head coach.

In 2011, he was named the NBA Coach of the Year after leading the Chicago Bulls to a 62-win season, and would win the award again in 2021 after leading the Knicks to their first playoff berth in eight seasons.

Thibodeau was named the NBA Coach of the Year on May 1, 2011, after tying the record for most wins by a rookie head coach with 62.

He also led the Bulls to their first 50-win season and first division title since the Michael Jordan era.

The Bulls lost the Eastern Conference finals to the Miami Heat.

On February 14, 2012, Thibodeau clinched the position of Eastern Conference All-Star Coach for the All-Star Game in Orlando.

At the time, the Bulls were first in the Eastern Conference.

With a win over the Orlando Magic on March 19, 2012, Thibodeau became the fastest coach in NBA history to earn 100 career victories.

He served as an assistant coach for the United States men's national basketball team from 2013 to 2016, and helped Team USA win a gold medal at the 2016 Olympic Games.