Voting Station

Red Holzman

Please vote to return to collections.

Basketball Coach

The Resume

    (August 10, 1920-November 13, 1998)
    Born in Brooklyn, New York
    Birth name was William Holzman
    Played for the Rochester Royals (1945-53) and Milwaukee Hawks (1953-54)
    Head coach of the Milwaukee/St. Louis Hawks (1954-57) and New York Knicks (1967-77,1978-82)
    Coaching record of 696 wins, 604 losses
    Inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame (1985)
    Kicks retired #613 (number of his wins as their head coach) in his honor

Why he might be annoying:

    He was signed by the Royals without anyone seeing him play solely to appeal to Rochester's Jewish community.
    When he was first offered the position as head coach of the Knicks, he turned it down because he wanted to remain a scout. He eventually accepted because 'I realized that if I didn't take the coaching job, I might not have any job.'
    He said, '[The players] always kid me about my speeches because they were always the same: Everybody we were going to play was the best team in the world.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    He and his wife Selma were married for 55 years.
    He won NBA titles as a player (1951) and as a coach (1970,1973).
    As a scout for the Knicks, he discovered Willis Reed and Walt Frazier.
    Phil Jackson said, 'He's the reason I am a coach.'
    He said, 'I don't think there is such a thing as a coaching genius. Just hard workers.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 7 Votes: 28.57% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 13 Votes: 92.31% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 5 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 12 Votes: 58.33% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 11 Votes: 54.55% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 11 Votes: 63.64% Annoying