Bob Hopkins
Seattle SuperSonics Interim-Era Head Coach | NBA Assistant
Robert M. ‘Bob’ Hopkins was born November 3, 1934, in Jonesboro, Louisiana, and played college basketball at Grambling State before appearing in the NBA. He later coached at the college level and became a member of Bill Russell’s Seattle SuperSonics staff. Hopkins and Russell were relatives, but their connection was more than personal: Hopkins worked in the day-to-day environment of Seattle’s first playoff teams, absorbing the pressures of coaching a young franchise that was trying to establish itself in the Western Conference.
When Russell departed in 1977, Seattle named Hopkins head coach. The appointment lasted only 22 games of 1977–78: the SuperSonics opened 5–17, and management dismissed him in November. Lenny Wilkens then took over and led the team to that season’s NBA Finals. Those later playoff victories belong to Wilkens, not Hopkins, whose official NBA head-coaching record remained 5–17. The short spell illustrates how quickly a coaching job can change during a franchise’s rise from uncertainty to contention.
Hopkins returned to NBA assistant work with the New York Knicks in 1978–79 and later continued a broader career in college basketball, including coaching roles at Southern and Grambling. His coaching history should therefore not end with one difficult month in Seattle. A former professional player and longtime instructor, he contributed to basketball in several settings even though his NBA head-coaching tenure was brief. Hopkins died May 15, 2015. The separation between his staff contributions, college work and 22 head-coaching games is essential to evaluating his career fairly.
Overall NBA regular-season head-coaching record: 5–17.
Coaching Career
Hopkins served as an assistant to Bill Russell in Seattle during the middle of the 1970s, when the franchise was learning to compete for postseason berths. The Sonics reached the playoffs in 1975 and 1976, and Hopkins worked around important players such as Fred Brown and Spencer Haywood. This period is essential to his story because it established his NBA coaching experience before he took over from Russell. Its results belong to the team’s head coach, not Hopkins’s later individual record.
Notable Players Coached
Seattle promoted Hopkins in May 1977 after Russell’s departure, but the new season began with a 5–17 record. The team dismissed him on November 30, and Lenny Wilkens took over, ultimately guiding the SuperSonics to the 1978 NBA Finals. Hopkins’s official head-coaching tenure therefore comprises only 22 games. He had been involved in the franchise’s development as an assistant, yet his promotion came at a moment when expectations and roster circumstances made the job especially unforgiving. The distinction between his early losses and Wilkens’s subsequent success is important historical accounting.
Notable Players Coached
Hopkins returned to NBA assistant work with the Knicks in 1978–79, joining a franchise attempting to rebuild around younger guards, including Michael Ray Richardson. The New York appointment followed the disappointment in Seattle and was another opportunity to contribute through instruction rather than manage an entire NBA club. He subsequently worked extensively in the college game, including at Southern and Grambling. His NBA coaching record remains 5–17 because neither assistant work nor his college head-coaching career counts toward that professional total.