Erik Spoelstra

Erik Jon Spoelstra (born November 1, 1970), nicknamed "Coach Spo", is an American professional basketball coach who is the head coach for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Spoelstra is widely regarded as one of the best coaches in the league and one of the greatest of all time.

He has won two NBA championships as the head coach of the Heat.

A Filipino American, Spoelstra is the first Asian American head coach in the history of the four major North American sports leagues and the first Asian American head coach to win an NBA title.

Spoelstra played college basketball with the Portland Pilots before playing professionally and coaching in Germany.

Erik Spoelstra spent his childhood in Buffalo, New York, before moving to Portland, Oregon by the late 1970s.

He attended Raleigh Hills Elementary and Whitford Jr. High School in Portland, before attending Jesuit High School in Beaverton, Oregon, where he excelled at point guard on the basketball team.

He wore number 30 during high school and college in honor of then-Trail Blazer Terry Porter, one of his favorite NBA players.

Before his senior year, Spoelstra participated in Sonny Vaccaro's Nike All-Star camp in Princeton, New Jersey, alongside future NBA players Alonzo Mourning, Shawn Kemp, Billy Owens, and Bobby Hurley.

Spoelstra received basketball scholarship offers, and eventually accepted one from the University of Portland in his hometown.

In 1989, he was named West Coast Conference (WCC) freshman of the year.

Spoelstra was the Pilots' starting point guard for four years, averaging 9.2 points, 4.4 assists, and 2.4 rebounds per game.

He is a member of the school's 1,000-point club, and is among the Pilots' career leaders in several statistical categories.

During a 1990 WCC basketball tournament game against Loyola Marymount, Spoelstra was on the court standing just a couple of yards away from Hank Gathers when Gathers collapsed and died of a heart condition.

Spoelstra graduated from the University of Portland in 1992 with a degree in communications.

After college, Spoelstra initially boxed shoes at a Nike warehouse.

He had originally planned to play basketball in the Philippines; he had watched their games on VHS tape for years.

However, the paperwork to play in the country got delayed.

He instead went to Germany, spending two years (1993–1995) in Basketball Bundesliga's second division as a player–assistant coach for TuS Herten, a professional club based in Westphalia.

It was in this setting where Spoelstra got his first coaching job, as coach of the club's local youth team.

He began having back problems after the end of his second year with the team, and contemplated having surgery.

In 1995, Spoelstra was offered another two-year contract with the club, but the NBA's Miami Heat also offered him a position.

Although both offers held appeal, he chose to take the Heat position.

Chris Wallace, then the director of player personnel for the Heat, convinced then general manager Dave Wohl to offer Spoelstra a position with the team.

Spoelstra was hired as the Heat's video coordinator in 1995, although at first he was not promised the position past the summer of that year.

Pat Riley was named the Heat's head coach not long after Spoelstra's hiring.

Erik's father, Jon Spoelstra, said, "Contractually, Riley wasn't allowed to bring in his video guy, otherwise, Erik would have been out of a job right then."

After two years as video coordinator, he then served two years as an assistant coach/video coordinator.

Spoelstra was promoted to assistant coach/advance scout in 1999, and later became the Heat's assistant coach/director of scouting in 2001.

Many of Spoelstra's colleagues attribute his ascent in the Heat coaching ranks to his strong work ethic.

He served as assistant coach and director of scouting for the Heat from 2001 to 2008, during which time the team won the 2006 NBA Finals.

As an assistant coach, he was credited for improving Heat star shooting guard Dwyane Wade's balance and jump shot after Wade's return from the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Spoelstra won his first NBA championship as an assistant coach when the Miami Heat defeated the Dallas Mavericks in the 2006 NBA Finals.

He was promoted to head coach in the 2008–09 season.

In April 2008, Spoelstra became the head coach of the Miami Heat after Pat Riley's decision to step down.

The Heat have made six NBA Finals appearances during Spoelstra's tenure, winning the championship in 2012 and 2013.

Spoelstra was born in Evanston, Illinois, to Jon Spoelstra and Elisa Celino.

Jon, an American of Dutch and Irish descent, is a former NBA executive of the Buffalo Braves, Portland Trail Blazers, Denver Nuggets, and New Jersey Nets.

Elisa is a native of San Pablo, Laguna, Philippines.

Spoelstra is also the grandson of Watson Spoelstra, a long-time sportswriter for The Detroit News.