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 Honorary Chairman:
Mike
Fratello
Mike Fratello’s
coaching career began in 1969 as a coach for
basketball and football at Hackensack High
School in Hackensack, NJ. His resume also
includes stints as an assistant coach at the
University of Rhode Island (1970-72), James
Madison University (1972-75) and as an assistant
at Villanova University (1975-78). The “Czar”
is actively involved in community outreach,
establishing the Friends of Fratello Foundation
in 1986.
He began his NBA
coaching career as an assistant coach with the
Atlanta Hawks (1978-82), before stepping into
his first head coaching role when he and Brendan
Suhr were named co-interim head coaches of the
hawks into the 1980-81 season. In 1982 he
joined the New York Knicks as an assistant coach
for one season (1982-83) before returning to the
Hawks as head coach in 1983 to lead Atlanta for
seven seasons.
In 1990 he left
he sidelines to join the broadcasting booth for
the first time in his career when he signed onto
cover the NBA on NBC Sport for three seasons
(1990-93). In 1993, he returned to the coaching
ranks to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers, compiling
a 248-212 regular season record and guiding his
team to four postseason appearances during his
six-year stint (1993-99).
After six
seasons with Cleveland, Fratello resumed his
broadcasting career, joining Turner Sports in
1999 where he served as a broadcaster for NBA
basketball for six years. Partnered with Marv
Albert and Steve Kerr for TNT’s Thursday Night
NBA coverage, he also served as an NBA analyst
during the playoffs from 1994-1996. In
addition, he served as a television analyst for
the Miami Heat broadcast team from 2002 until he
was hired y the Grizzlies.
Mike Fratello
joined the Grizzlies on December 2, 2004,
becoming the seventh head coach in franchise
history. Fratello came to the Grizzlies as one
of the NBA’s most successful coaches in history,
ranking 19th on the all-time wins
list and 21st on the all-time games
coached list when he joinied the team. A
16-year coaching veteran, his teams have
qualified for the NBA playoffs in 11 of his 16
seasons as a head coach.
His second
season with the Grizzlies was equally
impressive. With a roster that had been
overhauled prior to the season, the loss of
Damon Stoadamire in December to a season-ending
knee injury, the team still won more games that
they did lat season. Their wining ways led to
Fratello passing Hubie Brown in April as the
winningest coach in franchise history, and one
day later, the team qualified for the playoffs.
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