The Pacers have had 16 different head coaches hold down the sidelines throughout their 49-year history in the NBA, from legendary players like Isiah Thomas and Larry Bird to Hall of Fame coaches like Jack Ramsay. We’ve compiled a list of Indiana’s Top 5 bench leaders in terms of games coached. Take a closer look at their tenures.

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Carlisle tops the list thanks to two separate stints with the team. His first run in Indiana started incredibly, winning 61 games in the 2003-04 season, and reaching the Eastern Conference Finals before falling to the Pistons, the team he coached the previous two seasons. The Pacers’ win total would decrease each season thereafter, though, bottoming out at 35 in 2007, leading to his dismissal. Before returning to the Pacers, he had a 13-year run as coach of the Mavericks, guiding Dallas to an NBA Championship in 2011. Carlisle would ultimately return to the Pacers bench in 2021, this time increasing the team’s win total in each of his first four seasons, topping out at 50 and a trip to the NBA Finals in the 2024-25 season. His current record with Indiana is 338-318, and his 993 career wins are 11th all-time. 

Vogel started with the Pacers as an assistant under Jim O’Brien in 2007, but when O’Brien was released in January 2011, it was Vogel who was named the interim head coach. He would help turn Indiana’s season around and guide the team to the NBA Playoffs, and was officially named head coach later that summer. Vogel would stay at the helm for five seasons, making the playoffs four times, including two Eastern Conference Finals appearances. However, after a first-round playoff exit in 2016, Vogel was dismissed as head coach, finishing with a 250-181 record. After a two-year stop in Orlando, he would go on to coach the Lakers for three seasons, including winning an NBA Championship in 2020. 

Leonard started coaching the Pacers in 1968 when they were part of the ABA, which would include an additional 657 games at the helm, making him the longest-tenured Pacers coach altogether. Before the Pacers joined the NBA in 1976, Leonard had coached Indiana to three ABA Championships. Once the ABA merged with the NBA, though, Leonard and the Pacers weren’t able to find as much success. They wouldn’t win more than 38 games in any of his four seasons and miss the playoffs each year. He would leave the team after the 1980 season, with a 142-186 record as their head coach, and a 387-280 record while Indiana was in the ABA. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial NBA Hall of Fame in 2014. 

Brown was already a veteran coach when he took over in Indiana in 1993. Before arriving, he had compiled 15 years of head coaching experience between the ABA and NBA, plus several years in the college ranks between UCLA and Kansas. Brown’s four-year stint with the Pacers included two 52-win seasons and two trips to the Eastern Conference Finals, each resulting in a seven-game defeat. Between his inability to get the Pacers to the Finals and a disappointing 39-win season in 96-97, Brown decided to resign as coach of the Pacers. Brown departed with a 190-138 record and was the first coach in Indiana’s NBA history to win a playoff series and earn the team a 50-plus win season. He would go on to coach the 76ers to an NBA Finals appearance in 2001, and the Pistons to back-to-back Finals appearances in 2004 and 2005, including an NBA Championship in 2004. Brown was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002

McKinney had previously coached the Lakers, but due to a significant head injury suffered in a bicycling accident, he ended up being replaced. After getting healthy, he took over the Pacers’ job in 1980, replacing long-time coach Slick Leonard. His most successful season was his first, coaching the Pacers to a Playoff appearance with a 44-38 record, which earned him NBA Coach of the Year honors. Unfortunately, subsequent seasons would turn to struggles, with Indiana winning 35, 20, and 26 games each of the next three campaigns, missing the playoffs each time. His tenure with the Pacers ended with a 125-203 record.