Coaching Search: What Suns Fans Should Know About Mike Budenholzer

As Mike Budenholzer is considered for the Phoenix Suns' head coaching opening, some may wonder how he got to this point.

After firing Monty Williams on Saturday, the Phoenix Suns are in desperate need to find their new head coach.

According to senior NBA insider Chris Haynes, Mike Budenholzer is among the candidates to become the next leader of the Suns.

As a coach, Budenholzer is a NBA champion and in his nine years as a head coach, he has a successful record of 484-317. How did Budenholzer get to the point where he is today?

Budenholzer actually happens to be an Arizona native growing up in the small town of Holbrook. He played on Holbrook High School's basketball team as a shooting guard. Despite Holbrook not being known for its basketball, Budenholzer ultimately feels his roots helped upstart his career in the NBA.

“There’s no doubt in mind that my background there has helped me navigate life in the N.B.A.” Budenholzer said to The New York Times. “Growing up, you knew Navajo culture and black culture from Louisiana and Mexicans. I learned to foster the same sort of culture.”

Budenholzer ultimately decided to attend Pomona College where he played both basketball and golf. He was named an outstanding senior athlete by the school in 1993 and in 2015 was inducted into the Pomona-Pitzer Hall of Fame for his athletic achievements.

Following his time in college, Budenholzer went to play professionally overseas in Denmark for the Vejle Basketball Klub. During the 1993-94 season, Budenholzer averaged 27.5 points, which was a team high.

In 1994, Budenholzer made his transition into the NBA taking a job as a video coordinator for the San Antonio Spurs. After two years as a video coordinator, Budenholzer was brought in to be an assistant coach for the Spurs under the great Gregg Popovich.

Budenholzer served under Popovich from 1996-2013. Budenholzer was a part of four NBA championship winning teams during this time period.

In 2013, Budenholzer was hired by the Atlanta Hawks to be their head coach. Though his tenure with the Hawks started slowly with a mediocre 38-44 record, it was the next season where Budenholzer really thrived.

Budenholzer led the Hawks to a league-leading 60 wins. The Hawks had four All-Stars that year in Al Horford, Kyle Korver, Jeff Teague and Paul Millsap. Budenholzer himself was selected to coach the Eastern Conference All-Star team. 

He was then named NBA Coach of the Year before Atlanta got swept in the Eastern Conference Finals by LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Following Atlanta’s successful year, Budenholzer was promoted to be the Hawks' president of basketball operations as well.

The next season, Budenholzer led the Hawks to another winning record of 48-34 but once again were swept by Cleveland - this time in the second round of the playoffs. The next two seasons saw the Hawks regress, finishing both the 2016-17 and 2017-18 campaign with losing records which ultimately cost Budenholzer his job, as he was fired on May 5, 2017.

A little bit over a year later on May 17, 2018, Budenholzer was hired to be the Milwaukee Bucks' head coach. He found immediate success propelling the Bucks to a league leading 60-22 record and made the Eastern Conference Finals where they fell to the hands of the Toronto Raptors.

The Bucks continued their regular season success the next year, ending the year as the top seed in the East once again with a 56-17 record. Yet it was all for nothing as Milwaukee lost shockingly in the second round of the playoffs to the Miami Heat.

After two seasons of playoff failure, it seemed as if Budenholzer and the Bucks were not made for the big games. However, that perception all changed during the 2021 postseason. 

The Bucks entered the playoffs as the three seed, fighting their way past the Heat, Brooklyn Nets and Hawks en route to the NBA Finals. Budenholzer found his team in a 2-0 series hole in the finals to the Suns but managed to win four straight games, capturing his first NBA championship as a head coach.

Even with the championship pedigree, the Bucks were unable to replicate the same level of playoff success the following two seasons. During the 2022 playoffs, Milwaukee lost to the Boston Celtics in a hard fought seven-game series in the second round.

This season after Budenholzer led the Bucks to a league-leading regular season record yet again, they were upset by the Heat in the first round where it seemed Budenholzer's decision-making played a big part in their postseason collapse.

On May 4, Budenholzer was fired by the Bucks and now is in search of a new job. Budenholzer’s experience makes him an interesting candidate for the Suns’ coaching position and should be strongly considered. 

However, Budenholzer has been criticized for his lack of adjustments in-game, something Williams was scrutinized for during his time in Phoenix. 

Mike Budenholzer's name is gonna come up for the Suns job, and lemme just say this now: If you had a problem with Monty's adjustments, regular season success vs. playoff shortcomings and general approach to calling timeouts...Bud following that up will be objectively funny

— Gerald Bourguet (@GeraldBourguet) May 14, 2023

However, the Suns are clearly looking for a coach with championship qualifications to take them over the hump. Budenholzer fits that criteria.