Harold Olsen
1st Chicago Stags Head Coach | 1947 BAA Finalist | Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Harold Olsen was born on May 12, 1895, in Rice Lake, Wisconsin. He played college basketball at the University of Wisconsin before beginning a long coaching and basketball administration career.
Olsen spent 24 seasons as head coach at Ohio State and helped lead the effort to create the NCAA Tournament. In 1946, he left the college game to become the first head coach of the Chicago Stags in the new Basketball Association of America.
Olsen coached the Stags for parts of 3 seasons, reaching the playoffs each year and leading Chicago to the first BAA Finals in 1947. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor in 1959.
Coach Olsen passed away on October 29, 1953, at the age of 58.
- Overall Coaching Record: 95-63
Coaching Career
Harold Olsen became the first head coach of the Chicago Stags when the Basketball Association of America began play in 1946.
Chicago went 39-22 during the inaugural 1946-1947 season and finished first in the Western Division. The Stags defeated the Washington Capitols in the semifinals before losing to the Philadelphia Warriors in 5 games in the first BAA Finals.
The Stags went 28-20 in 1947-1948 and again reached the postseason. Chicago defeated the Boston Celtics in the quarterfinals before being eliminated by the Baltimore Bullets in the semifinals.
Olsen started the 1948-1949 season with a 28-21 record. Philip Brownstein took over and went 10-1 to finish the regular season before Chicago lost to the Minneapolis Lakers in the Western Division Semifinals.
Olsen finished his BAA head coaching career with a 95-63 regular-season record and a 7-11 playoff record.
Notable Players Coached
- Max Zaslofsky
- 1948 BAA scoring champion
- 4× All-BAA/NBA selection
- 1952 NBA All-Star
- Andy Phillip
- Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
- 1957 NBA champion
- 5× NBA All-Star