Jeff Hornacek

He attended Komarek Elementary School in North Riverside, Illinois, and Gurrie Middle School and Lyons Township High School in La Grange, Cook County, Illinois.

Hornacek redshirted at Iowa State University (ISU) in 1981; he was a team walk-on who played from 1982 to 1986.[1] The son of a high school basketball coach, he became an all-conference player in the Big Eight Conference, playing for coach Johnny Orr. As a point guard he guided the Cyclones to the Sweet Sixteen of the 1986 NCAA tournament. His shining moment came at the Metrodome in Minneapolis when, after first hitting a shot to tie the game and send it to overtime, Hornacek hit the game winning shot in overtime, a 26-foot jumper at the buzzer, to give ISU its first NCAA tournament victory since 1944, beating Miami University, March 14, 1986, 81–79. Two days later, he led the Cyclones to the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen, in a 72–69 upset of second seed Michigan. Orr, who had previously left Michigan to coach at Iowa State, called it the greatest victory of his career. Hornacek left ISU with a Big-8 record of 665 career assists and 1,313 career points. He was the fourth player in Cyclone basketball history to have his number retired when his No. 14 jersey was hung from the rafters of Hilton Coliseum in 1991.

He was hired for the 2007–08 season by the Jazz as a special assistant coach and to help Andrei Kirilenko and others with their shooting.[8][9] In May 2008 Hornacek interviewed for a coaching position with the Chicago Bulls, meeting with general manager John Paxson. He put off seeking a coaching position until his children were older so the extensive travel would not put excess pressure on his family.[9] After the departure of Jerry Sloan and Phil Johnson in February 2011, Jeff Hornacek became a full assistant coach with the Utah Jazz.[10]

During 2013, Hornacek was considered a head coach candidate for two of his former teams, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Phoenix Suns, as well as the Charlotte Bobcats. On May 28, 2013, he was named the head coach of the Phoenix Suns.[11] Hornacek has stated that his coaching style is reminiscent to that of Cotton Fitzsimmons and Sloan, who both coached him back when he played for the coaches' respective teams. Hornacek also coached the Suns' Summer League team during the 2013 season in Las Vegas. In his first game as head coach at the Summer League, he helped lead the team to an 82–69 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers. The Suns went on a six-game winning streak before ultimately losing in the inaugural championship round to the Golden State Warriors 91–77. Hornacek was 5–2 in pre-season and he started the 2013–14 NBA season with a 104–91 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers and an 87–84 victory over the Utah Jazz, both times at home. Hornacek also became the team's first ever head coach to start out his coaching stint with a 4–0 record at home games.

Hornacek won the NBA Coach of the Month award in December 2013, his first coaching honor, after leading the Suns to a 10–3 record during the month. Hornacek also became the third former NBA player to win both Player of the Month and Coach of the Month awards (after Larry Bird and Larry Drew), and the first coach to receive both awards with the same team.[2] For the season, the Suns improved by 23 victories upon the previous season's record, which led to a 48–34 record in Hornacek's first season as a head coach. This accomplishment lead to the Phoenix Suns becoming the most improved team during the 2013–14 NBA season. Despite the improvement, the Suns still missed the playoffs and Hornacek was the runner-up coach in the NBA Coach of the Year Award receiving 37 1st place votes. He lost to three-time winner Gregg Popovich.[12]

On February 1, 2016, Hornacek was fired as head coach of the Phoenix Suns after two-and-a-half seasons in the position.[13] On June 2, 2016, the New York Knicks officially announced Hornacek as their new head coach.[14] His first season in New York held a promising enough start, to the point where the team had a 16–13 record early on. However, malcontent surrounding the Knicks between the front office and some of their players resulted in Hornacek having a 31–51 record by the end of the season. On April 12, 2018, the Knicks fired Hornacek after a 29–53 season.[15] On November 30, 2020, Hornacek was hired by the Houston Rockets as an assistant coach.[16]

Iowa State University records:

• Career steals: 211
• Career complete games: 30
• Season assists: 219 (1985–1986; 2nd w/198 1983–1984)
• Season, assists per-game average: 6.83 (1984; 2nd w/6.63 – 1986)

NBA totals:

• Games: 1,077
• Minutes played: 33,959
• Points: 15,659 (14.5 per game)
• Assists: 5,281 (4.9 per game)
• Steals: 1,536 (1.43 per game)

Hornacek is of Czech descent.[17] He is the brother-in-law of Phoenix Suns athletic trainer Aaron Nelson.[18] When Joe Proski was the Suns' head athletic trainer, Hornacek recommended Nelson as an assistant for him.[19] Nelson would be his assistant in 1993 before being the head athletic trainer in 2000 onward. Hornacek's father, John, was a high school coach for basketball and baseball at St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois.[20] Hornacek considers his father, alongside Cotton Fitzsimmons and Jerry Sloan, as an influence towards his coaching career.

Hornacek married his wife Stacy on June 7, 1986.[21] Jeff and Stacy have three children: Ryan (born 1989), Tyler (born 1990) and Abby (born 1994).[22] Abby became a digital host for the online 120 Sports network in 2016,[23] and joined Fox Nation in 2019.[24]

Hornacek was an active member of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Salt Lake City in 2002.[25]

Hornacek is represented by Steve A. Kauffman and Spencer Breecker of Kauffman Sports Management Group.[26]

• List of National Basketball Association career assists leaders
• List of National Basketball Association career steals leaders
• List of National Basketball Association players with 1000 games played

• Career statistics and player information from NBA.com  or Basketball-Reference.com