George Karl, American basketball player and coach
George Matthew Karl (born May 12, 1951) is an American former professional basketball coach and player. After spending five years as a player for the San Antonio Spurs, Karl became an assistant with the team before getting the chance to become a head coach in 1981 with the Continental Basketball Association. Three years later, he became one of the youngest NBA head coaches in history when he was named coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers at age 33. By the time his coaching career came to an end in 2016, Karl would coach for nine different teams in three different leagues (CBA, NBA, Liga ACB), which included being named Coach of the Year three combined times (twice in the CBA and once in the NBA) with one championship in the FIBA Saporta Cup. He is one of nine coaches in NBA history to have won 1,000 NBA games and was named NBA Coach of the Year for the 2012-13 season. While he never won an NBA championship, Karl made the postseason 22 times with five different teams, which included a trip to the 1996 NBA Finals with the Seattle SuperSonics.