Former UR basketball player Kenny Atkinson coaches No. 1 Cleveland Cavaliers
Alumni
On a Friday morning in January, Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson is enjoying some rare downtime.
“We just came out of five games in seven days. I slept in this morning,” said the 1991 Spider alum with a laugh from his home in Cleveland. “I don’t know how the players do it.”
Of course, it helps that they’re winning.
“I’ve been on the other side. When you’re managing this schedule, and you’re losing, it’s tough.”
His team will play 82 games this year, traveling back and forth across the country before the regular season ends on April 13. NBA playoffs will begin shortly after. With Atkinson in his first year as coach, the Cavs continue to build on their 15-0 start and remain the top-ranked team in their conference.
Atkinson and players Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, and Evan Mobley represented the Cavs in the 74th NBA All-Star Game on Feb. 16. "We've got three all-stars and that's a big thing," he said.
“For them, the ultimate goal is championships, followed by being All-Stars. Everything’s clicking. It’s one of those magical years,” said Atkinson. “At the same time, I’m not taking it for granted because you think you’re going to be really good, and things can go the other way, too.”
He served as head coach of the Brooklyn Nets for four years before taking on assistant coaching roles, most recently with the Golden State Warriors during their NBA Championship win in 2022. When the Cavs’ head coach position became available, he was immediately drawn to it. “In this league, the feedback with Cleveland was always great ownership that was willing to spend, great front office, and, most importantly, a talented roster with high character people,” he said.
Richmond and the Sweet 16
This magical season has a feeling of déjà vu. “It reminds me of Richmond and the Sweet 16,” Atkinson said.
He played as the starting point guard for Spider basketball for four years, leading the team to three post-season berths, including its first-ever Sweet 16 at the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament in 1988. Atkinson ranks among UR’s all-time scoring leaders with 1,549 points and won the CAA Rookie of the Year award in 1987, and the CAA Tournament MVP in 1990. He was inducted into the Richmond Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010.
“Richmond basketball was obviously good before Kenny got here — but he led the way in taking the Spiders to new heights, really from the moment he stepped on the court,” said Bob Black, the voice of the Spiders and director of Broadcast & News Content.
Atkinson coached his teammates on the court, leading the way as a point guard. “It seemed natural he’d be a coach and a successful one,” Black said. “Everything I hear, he’s a players’ coach in the way he relates to them, treats them, and coaches them.”
It was the coaching staff who drew the Long Island native to Richmond. Spider coach Dick Tarrant wrote him a three-page, handwritten letter during his recruitment.“It was an incredible letter. When my parents passed away, I went into the attic and found all the letters written to us,” Atkinson said. “I know Coach Tarrant had this reputation as being this taskmaster, but he had a personal touch.”
Atkinson's carried on the tradition by sending handwritten letters to his Cavs players.
Coaching gig at the Olympics
Decades later, he served as an assistant coach for the French Men’s National Basketball Team at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris — his first. “I have French lineage in my family.”
France made it to the Olympic finals, taking on the U.S. Men’s National Basketball Team. With family in the stands, Atkinson listened as the 25,000 people in the crowd sang "La Marseillaise." Knowing that the whole country was behind him brought him to tears.
“Here we are playing Team USA, and everybody in this stadium is singing the French national anthem. And we’re about to play Steph Curry and LeBron James,” he said. “We had been struggling. We almost got knocked out twice, and then we had this resurgence. We beat Germany, and we beat a great Canada team with ten NBA players.” The French team went on to earn a silver medal.
At the Olympics, he got the call that he’d been offered a job with the Cavs, a team that Akron native LeBron James helped lead to its only championship.
“LeBron will always be this icon. But we are ushering in this new era,” Atkinson said. “I’d love for this team to A, win a championship and B, win two because you want to be etched in history.” But in the meantime, he’s taking it one day at a time.
“Pro sports is so humbling.”