I can't seem to think of a coach that was fired from one organization, only to win in another. Help me out here. Intangibles: Had a losing season and fired in process. Then went to a new organization and had a winning record.
I know it's not quite what you're looking for, but Rick Carlisle is one of the few coaches who has visibly improved with each of his coaching stops. He got fired from Indiana after a 35-47 season, sat out a year, and then took Dallas to 50, 55, and then 57 and a title just 4 years after being run out of Indy.
Didn't this happen w/ Doc Rivers? I seem to remember him being a borderline bad coach at one point... Belicheck (different sport, I know) certainly fits that bill...
Jerry Sloan was 94-121 in 2 1/2 seasons coaching the Bulls from '79-'82 before being fired midway through his third season. He didn't get his next head coaching gig until 6 years later. He did OK.
What is not coincidental about the three examples already given is that once the talent improved, the coach suddenly got a lot better. Doc Rivers was about to get fired from Boston before Kevin McHale decided to throw Danny Ainge a bone and gifted him Kevin Garnett. Sloan had Reggie Theus, uber-slow Artis Gilmore, and David Greenwood in Chicago, but once he got Stockton and Malone, he was a genius! Carlisle had a washed-up Reggie Miller and Rik Smits in Indy, but once he got Dirk, he's a coaching legend.
Another one: Chuck Daly was one of 4 head coaches for the Cavs in the '81-'82 season, going 9-32 over 41 games before getting canned. Then he became coach of the Pistons in '83 and won over 63% of his games and 2 titles in 9 years.
No that applies... Yeah why aren't we trying to head hunt this guy? Gotta admit, I hated him during his interviews on our series... But I pretty much hate anyone that is coaching or playing against us.
Sad he died. I actually always loved his coaching. He started a trend in the NBA that didn't stop until 2004.
Doc coached in Orlando and was fired. The craziest part about Doc's coaching record, though, is that he went 24-58 in 2006-07 (the year Ainge was pissed Portland and Seattle jumped ahead of Boston in the lottery/they were tanking for Oden), and then Ainge gets the gifts of Garnett and Ray Allen, and Doc goes 66-16 in 2007-08 and wins a title. Had Boston won that lottery and drafted Oden, Doc would not have lasted another year or two. Instead, they got the 5th pick, traded it to Seattle (Jeff Green) as part of the Ray Allen deal, and the rest is history. It was all the coaching, right?
Jack Ramsay came and won a title here in Portland! Probably the biggest winner of your question. Doug Collins is doing quite well in Philly I'm sure there is a list of others, Doug Moe, George Karl...
Except that he was not fired in either of his previous stops; he just left for a different job. Sloan and Daly are the most definitive NBA examples of sustained success after prior firing.
And even with that, Daly failed in New Jersey and Orlando after Detroit, and Sloan never won a title in Utah. I'm not sure if that works for them or against them, but the two best examples have 2 titles between them in 40 combined seasons as NBA head coaches.
All things in moderation, including tanking. This is true. The majority of the titles won over the past 30 years have been won by guys who were successful right away (Riley, Jackson, Popovich). An excellent argument against hiring a head coach with experience.
