Alvin Gentry

Early and personal life

Gentry was born in Shelby, North Carolina, where he grew up and attended Shelby High School. His first cousin is former NC State and NBA star David Thompson.

Gentry played college basketball at Appalachian State University, where he was a point guard under Press Maravich and Bobby Cremins. In 1978 he spent one year as a graduate assistant at the University of Colorado. After one year working in private business, he returned to the bench when he received his first full-time collegiate assistant coaching job at Baylor University under Jim Haller in 1980. After one year at Baylor, Gentry returned to the University of Colorado as an assistant coach from 1981-1986 under Tom Apke. From 1986-1989, Gentry served as an assistant at the University of Kansas under Larry Brown, where they won the 1988 NCAA National Championship.

Gentry and his wife Suzanne have two sons. He also has one daughter from a previous marriage.

Coaching career

In 1989 he began his NBA coaching career as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs under Larry Brown. It was in San Antonio that Gentry met his future/current wife, Suzanne Harris. They have two children, Ryan and Jack.

Gentry joined Gregg Popovich, R. C. Buford, and Ed Manning as part of Larry Brown's assistant coaching staff for the Spurs when Brown left Kansas before the 1988–89 NBA season.

After two seasons in San Antonio, Gentry left to become an assistant for the Los Angeles Clippers beginning in the 1990–91 season. For the 1991 season Gentry joined Kevin Loughery's staff as an assistant coach for the Miami Heat, where he coached for three seasons. He then moved to Detroit following the 1994–95 season where he served as an assistant for two and a half seasons before being named head coach late in the 1997–98 season.

Gentry returned to San Antonio as head assistant coach following the 1999–2000 season, where he was reunited with former co-assistants Gregg Popovich (the Spurs head coach and vice president of basketball operations) and R .C. Buford (the Spurs' general manager). But that assignment was brief, as Gentry accepted the head coaching position for the Los Angeles Clippers weeks after taking the San Antonio job. He did a solid job with the Clippers his first two years, leading them to 31 wins and 39 wins respectively in those two seasons. Those seasons were marked by the solid play of young players, such as Darius Miles, Elton Brand and Lamar Odom. In Gentry's third season, however, the team regressed (despite the addition of Andre Miller), and Gentry was fired in February 2003.

Gentry later became an assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns for six years, serving under head coaches Mike D'Antoni and Terry Porter. When Porter was fired in his first season as head coach, Alvin Gentry took over on an interim basis. He was named Suns' head coach for the 2009-2010 season. Gentry's record in his first year as head coach during the 2009-2010 season was 54 wins, a career high, against 28 losses. The Suns advanced to the Western Conference Finals and lost to the Lakers in six games. He became the fifth head coach in franchise history to lead his team to a Western Conference Finals berth in his first full season. Gentry figured out how to blend the two styles of D'Antoni and Porter. Comparing his coaching to D’Antoni, Gentry said "We are not seven seconds or less. We’re 12 seconds or under. We don’t take a lot of really quick shots. We don’t play with that breakneck pace. We play with a rhythm." Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich remarked "One thing about Phoenix is they are better defensively than in the past. They’re much more active, much more committed, they’ve taken responsibility to a much more significant degree than ever before."

On January 18, 2013, Gentry mutually parted ways with the Phoenix Suns. In July 2013, he returned to the Clippers organization, taking the title of associate head coach, making him Doc Rivers' lead assistant.

After one season with the Clippers, Gentry signed a three-year contract as associate head coach for the Golden State Warriors, working under new head coach Steve Kerr.

On May 18, 2015, the New Orleans Pelicans were granted permission by the Warriors to interview Gentry for their head coaching vacancy. He signed with the Pelicans on May 30, prior to the start of the 2015 NBA Finals, but was to remain with Golden State until the series was completed. The Warriors won the NBA Championship after they defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in six games to give Gentry his first NBA championship.