Suns announce Mike Budenholzer as their new head coach
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Mike Budenholzer is the new head coach of the Phoenix Suns, according to a tweet from the team.
“We’re excited to name Mike as the head coach of the Phoenix Suns and bring him back to his home state of Arizona,” said Mat Ishbia, owner of the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury. “Mike has proven himself to be among the most successful head coaches in the NBA. He is the right leader to take us to the next level and reach our championship goals.”
The announcement comes after Shams Charania, senior lead NBA insider for The Athletic and Stadium, posted on Friday afternoon that Budenholzer has agreed to terms on a five-year deal worth more than $50 million.
The team fired Frank Vogel on Thursday, saying the previous season was “way below our expectations.” Less than two hours after the team announced Vogel’s dismissal, ESPN Senior NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski posted that, according to sources, Budenholzer had emerged as the frontrunner to replace Vogel.
Those sources also told ESPN on Thursday that talks were expected to move quickly and that Budenholzer had already been working to assemble a coaching staff. On Friday morning, additional outlets reported that the team was planning to offer the Holbrook, Arizona, native an “eight-figure deal.”
Budenholzer got his start in the NBA with the San Antonio Spurs in 1996, where he would spend the next 17 years as an assistant coach under Gregg Popovich. During that time, the Spurs made the playoffs every season, winning four NBA championships.
His first head coaching job came in 2013 when he was hired by the Atlanta Hawks. He was named NBA Coach of the Year after leading the team to a franchise-record 60 wins during the 2014-15 season.
But the team didn’t see that level of success again and mutually parted ways with Budenholzer in 2018. He left Atlanta after five seasons and a 213-197 record.
It wasn’t long before he was hired by the Milwaukee Bucks, where, in his third season, he would once again be named coach of the year after leading the team to an NBA championship in 2021 over the Suns.
Two years later, after five seasons, the Bucks parted ways with Budenholzer after a first-round playoff loss to the Miami Heat.
Budenholzer is also an Arizona native. He was born in Holbrook, located about 90 miles east of Flagstaff.
His father, Vince Budenholzer, was the Holbrook Roadrunners’ head basketball coach for more than 20 years, winning a state championship in 1971. He was inducted into the Arizona High School Athletic Coaches Hall of Fame in 2005.
Libby Budenholzer, his mother, was Holbrook’s first city council member and, in 1981, became the city’s first female mayor.
“I followed the Suns and they were my favorite team, but the NBA just wasn’t what it is today,” Budenholzer told NBA.com staff in 2020. “I literally remember going in my backyard and my dad teaching me Paul Westphal moves, Sweet D, Walter Davis, Double-A, Alvan Adams, listening to Al McCoy on the calls.”
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