Rick Carlisle is the oldest head coach ever in a NBA Finals

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Rick Carlisle is the oldest head coach ever in a NBA Finals 

Post#1 » by Laimbeer » Sat Jun 21, 2025 1:14 pm

Found this surprising. Doesn't seem his age (65) even though he's been around the NBA forever.
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Re: Rick Carlisle is the oldest head coach ever in a NBA Finals 

Post#2 » by og15 » Sat Jun 21, 2025 1:21 pm

Yea, most of us would not have thought so. Pop was a few months younger in his last finals
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Re: Rick Carlisle is the oldest head coach ever in a NBA Finals 

Post#3 » by Bornstellar » Sat Jun 21, 2025 1:30 pm

Huh. He looks pretty damn good for being 65 with a stressful job
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Re: Rick Carlisle is the oldest head coach ever in a NBA Finals 

Post#4 » by jkvonny » Sat Jun 21, 2025 1:34 pm

Wow, didn't realize that.
Thought maybe there have been others in the past that were older than him in the NBA Finals.
I guess he edged out Phil Jackson, Coach Pop, Larry Brown, etc?

Also, forgot Carlisle is even that old, hasn't aged much other than lose his hair over the years lol.
He's still youthful looking.
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Re: Rick Carlisle is the oldest head coach ever in a NBA Finals 

Post#5 » by tamaraw08 » Sat Jun 21, 2025 2:17 pm

Bornstellar wrote:Huh. He looks pretty damn good for being 65 with a stressful job


Have you seen him though when he had hair, assisting Bird in the 2000 finals? The guy could have been a soap opera actor.
But yes for age 65... Phil looked like Gandalf when he last coached the Lakers in 2010. .
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Re: Rick Carlisle is the oldest head coach ever in a NBA Finals 

Post#6 » by -Luke- » Sat Jun 21, 2025 2:33 pm

Yeah, that's very surprising. I would never have guessed. I also didn't realize that Red Auerbach wasn't even 50 when he stepped down as coach of the Celtics.

Carlisle looks about ten years younger than Phil Jackson when he won his last championship with the Lakers, and Phil didn't look super old.
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Re: Rick Carlisle is the oldest head coach ever in a NBA Finals 

Post#7 » by Mirotic12 » Sat Jun 21, 2025 3:19 pm

tamaraw08 wrote:
Bornstellar wrote:Huh. He looks pretty damn good for being 65 with a stressful job


Have you seen him though when he had hair, assisting Bird in the 2000 finals? The guy could have been a soap opera actor.
But yes for age 65... Phil looked like Gandalf when he last coached the Lakers in 2010. .


When he had hair, he looked like Jim Carrey.
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Re: Rick Carlisle is the oldest head coach ever in a NBA Finals 

Post#8 » by Blame Rasho » Sat Jun 21, 2025 3:54 pm

tamaraw08 wrote:
Bornstellar wrote:Huh. He looks pretty damn good for being 65 with a stressful job


Have you seen him though when he had hair, assisting Bird in the 2000 finals? The guy could have been a soap opera actor.
But yes for age 65... Phil looked like Gandalf when he last coached the Lakers in 2010. .


Image

He been in the nba for a while… long enough to be on the same court as Doctor J.
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Re: Rick Carlisle is the oldest head coach ever in a NBA Finals 

Post#9 » by PaulKellerman » Sat Jun 21, 2025 4:06 pm

That's shocking. I thought Pop was older in 2014. Rick looks great and he's got a lot of years left in him (hopefully) coaching this terrifying Indiana team
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Re: Rick Carlisle is the oldest head coach ever in a NBA Finals 

Post#10 » by azcatz11 » Sat Jun 21, 2025 4:11 pm

It’s because you were younger. People assumed Larry brown was 75 in 2001 but he was in his 50s
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Re: Rick Carlisle is the oldest head coach ever in a NBA Finals 

Post#11 » by raptor jesus » Sat Jun 21, 2025 4:13 pm

I definitely would have guessed Pop or Larry Brown.
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Re: Rick Carlisle is the oldest head coach ever in a NBA Finals 

Post#12 » by Snakebites » Sat Jun 21, 2025 4:16 pm

He was hired as the Pistons coach 24 years ago and was into his fourties then.

So I’ll file this under “surprising but shouldn’t be”.
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Re: Rick Carlisle is the oldest head coach ever in a NBA Finals 

Post#13 » by Dan33185 » Sat Jun 21, 2025 4:17 pm

azcatz11 wrote:It’s because you were younger. People assumed Larry brown was 75 in 2001 but he was in his 50s


Larry Brown has looked 75 for about 40 years :lol:
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Re: Rick Carlisle is the oldest head coach ever in a NBA Finals 

Post#14 » by TwitterFingers » Sat Jun 21, 2025 4:19 pm

og15 wrote:Yea, most of us would not have thought so. Pop was a few months younger in his last finals


Carlisle looks a lot younger than Pop.
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Re: Rick Carlisle is the oldest head coach ever in a NBA Finals 

Post#15 » by -Luke- » Sat Jun 21, 2025 4:23 pm

Mirotic12 wrote:
tamaraw08 wrote:
Bornstellar wrote:Huh. He looks pretty damn good for being 65 with a stressful job


Have you seen him though when he had hair, assisting Bird in the 2000 finals? The guy could have been a soap opera actor.
But yes for age 65... Phil looked like Gandalf when he last coached the Lakers in 2010. .


When he had hair, he looked like Jim Carrey.

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Re: Rick Carlisle is the oldest head coach ever in a NBA Finals 

Post#16 » by Percentsign » Sat Jun 21, 2025 4:25 pm

He looks a lot younger than 65
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Re: Rick Carlisle is the oldest head coach ever in a NBA Finals 

Post#17 » by boomershadow » Sat Jun 21, 2025 4:30 pm

Just judging by appearances without actual knowledge, but it looks to me like Rick stays more physically active than some older coaches we have seen in the NBA. Or he eats better.
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Re: Rick Carlisle is the oldest head coach ever in a NBA Finals 

Post#18 » by jkvonny » Sat Jun 21, 2025 4:33 pm

Dan33185 wrote:
azcatz11 wrote:It’s because you were younger. People assumed Larry brown was 75 in 2001 but he was in his 50s


Larry Brown has looked 75 for about 40 years :lol:

:rofl2:
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Re: Rick Carlisle is the oldest head coach ever in a NBA Finals 

Post#19 » by og15 » Sat Jun 21, 2025 5:43 pm

TwitterFingers wrote:
og15 wrote:Yea, most of us would not have thought so. Pop was a few months younger in his last finals


Carlisle looks a lot younger than Pop.

He his, but that was Pop from 2014, so 11 years ago. Carlisle still looks younger than that Pop, but obviously not as significant as now when comparing 65 year old Carlisle to 76 year old Pop
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Re: Rick Carlisle is the oldest head coach ever in a NBA Finals 

Post#20 » by Lalouie » Sat Jun 21, 2025 6:08 pm

Laimbeer wrote:Found this surprising. Doesn't seem his age (65) even though he's been around the NBA forever.


i was going to say. that's like 60yrs of ring teams

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