Pat Riley

Pat Riley: Profile

Pat Riley is a seven-time National Basketball Association World Champion, as well as the only head coach in NBA history to capture Coach of the Year honors with three different teams: the Los Angeles Lakers, the New York Knicks, and the Miami Heat. Coach Riley reached the 1000 victory plateau more quickly than any other Coach or Manager in the 4 major North American professional sports leagues. He currently stands as the all-time leader in both regular season and postseason victories for both the Lakers and the Heat.

Riley's resume is filled with many milestones during an NBA career that spans 39 years as a player, assistant coach, head coach, administrator and broadcaster and has produced seven NBA championships. He has compiled a 1,195-627 (.656) all-time record guiding the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks and the Miami Heat during a 23-year head coaching career that is one of the most impressive in all of sports. His 1,195 regular season victories trail only Lenny Wilkens and Don Nelson on the NBA's all-time list. As a result of his many accomplishments, in 1996-97 as the NBA celebrated its 50th Anniversary, Riley received one of the highest honors bestowed upon an NBA coach when he was named one of the Top 10 Coaches of All-Time by a panel of media who regularly cover the league. Simply put, Riley is a winner.

He has been honored as the NBA Coach of the Year on three occasions, the only coach in NBA history to receive the award with three different teams. Riley has also captured NBA Coach of the Month honors a league-record 11 times. His 21 total postseason appearances as a head coach are tops in league history, two more than Hall of Fame coach Red Auerbach and his string of 19 consecutive postseason appearances as a head coach from 1982-2001 set a league record for consecutive postseason appearances. Riley has also served as a head coach in nine NBA All-Star games.

Along with his wife, Chris, Riley has been involved with numerous charity and community service projects throughout his career. They founded The Miami Heat Family Outreach in 1997 which has raised over $11 million for the South Florida community and whose primary beneficiaries include Jackson Memorial Foundation's Guardian Angels which supports the Holtz Center for seriously ill children, SafeSpace which is a domestic violence shelter for women and their children and the Miami Coalition for a Safe and Drug-free Community. They are also involved in the Pediatric AIDS Foundation's Kids for Kids organization which they started in 1992 in New York, and the YMCA in Los Angeles, New York, and Miami. For over 30 years the Riley's have been actively involved with Boys and Girls Clubs of America. As a result of his efforts, Riley has received many prestigious awards, including the Miami Project Sports Legend Award in 1992, Boys and Girls Clubs Miami Person of the Year Award in 1998, and was honored by the YMCA Miami in 1998.

He is a consummate competitor who knows the exhilaration that comes with winning. His philosophy is based upon winning, leadership, mastery, change, and personal growth as well as understanding and controlling the shifting dynamics of a team-any team, whether it is a small company, a giant corporation, a city, or a group of athletes.