September 12, 2005
OAKLAND, California (Ticker) - Looking for their first winning season in 12 years, the Golden State Warriors added a coach with a plethora of experience.

John MacLeod, a veteran of 18 seasons as an NBA coach, was named to the Warriors staff under second-year coach Mike Montgomery on Monday.

MacLeod, who ranks 15th on the all-time coaching list with 707 career victories, has maned the helm for the Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and New York Knicks.

"We're extremely pleased and fortunate to add someone the caliber of John MacLeod to our coaching staff," vice president of basketball operations Chris Mullin said. "His impressive resume speaks for itself in terms of his success in the NBA and the experience he has gained in this league. We think he'll make a wonderful addition to our organization and team."

Prior to his hiring, MacLeod served as an associate coach with the Denver Nuggets in 2003-04. That season, the Nuggets posted a turnaround of 26 wins and ended an eight-year playoff drought.

The chance of that happening for Golden State will be a bit more difficult, with the club averaging nearly 28 wins over the past six seasons. The Warriors did appear more dynamic after acquiring point guard Baron Davis in a trade with the New Orleans Hornets on February 24, finishing the season with 18 wins in their last 28 games.

Getting his first coaching job in the NBA in 1973, MacLeod went 579-543 in 13-plus seasons with the Suns. He guided Phoenix to nine playoff berths, including an appearance in the NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics in 1976. The Suns lost that series in six games, including a historic Game Five that went into triple overtime.

MacLeod then coached the Mavericks between 1987-89, posting a 96-79 record. In 1987-88, he guided Dallas to a 52-39 record and a trip to the Western Conference Finals, where it lost to the eventual NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers in seven games.

In 1990-91, MacLeod replaced Stu Jackson as the coach of the Knicks 15 games into the season and guided New York to the postseason with a 32-35 mark.

MacLeod, who coached Oklahoma from 1967-73, returned the collegiate ranks in 1991-92 to coach Notre Dame for eight seasons. There he compiled a 112-126 mark, earning Big East Coach of the Year in 1996-97. He also coached current Golden State forward Troy Murphy for one season in 1998-99.

interesting hire....thanks for posting this

im really impressed with the coaching staff for the last couple of years. Names like Stotts, Elie, and MacLeod are great people and are just as talented to be head coaches. Sadly Stotts is no longer with us, but im glad who we just got

If I were Mullin I would have selected Mario Elie as the head coach instaed of Montgomry. Also most college coachs don't have success in the NBA.

Except for Brown.

Bdavis_Jrich_fan wrote:If I were Mullin I would have selected Mario Elie as the head coach instaed of Montgomry. Also most college coachs don't have success in the NBA.

he's been here for 1 year. give him a f***in chance.

ajcardenas123 wrote:im really impressed with the coaching staff for the last couple of years. Names like Stotts, Elie, and MacLeod are great people and are just as talented to be head coaches. Sadly Stotts is no longer with us, but im glad who we just got

maybe i shouldn't laugh, but you sound like terry stotts died, sadly he is no longer with us... but it's good that we have assistants who were head coaches , can be head coaches , or are now head coaches like stotts, it can only help

ajcardenas123 wrote:

Bdavis_Jrich_fan wrote:If I were Mullin I would have selected Mario Elie as the head coach instaed of Montgomry. Also most college coachs don't have success in the NBA.

he's been here for 1 year. give him a f***in chance.

HAHAHA, settle, AJ, settle!

But, yeah, this is definately a great pick up for Golden State. Thank God for Chris Mullin, Warriors VP of Operations!

Player32 is to Chris Mullin as Eric Cartman is to Mel Gibson.