Erik Spoelstra begins his first season as Head Coach of the Miami HEAT and his 14th within the HEAT organization. Erik was elevated to Head Coach on April 28, 2008 when HEAT President Pat Riley stepped down. Unfortunately, he did not win in his debut, but he has a talented staff with the likes of Dwyane Wade, Udonis Haslem, Shawn Marion, and Michael Beasley. See the highlights of the game below.

Known for his game preparation and superb attention to detail as the HEAT’s Assistant Coach/Director of Scouting, Spoelstra had the primary role of developing game plans for upcoming opponents for the past seven seasons. To that end, he coordinated the video staff and advance scouts while overseeing the development of scouting reports and videos. In addition to handing out the traditional paper-bound playbook, the first-year head coach issued every HEAT player an Apple iPod touch. On the iPod, players can find a condensed version of the HEAT playbook, game clips, NBA and team rules, quotes, and even newspaper articles.

Spoelstra has also built a strong reputation as a teacher over the years by heading the HEAT’s Individual Player Development Program. Erik has worked with many of the HEAT’s young players in areas of fundamentals, skill development and shooting. He also served as the head coach of the HEAT’s summer league squad for three seasons (2005-07).

Additionally, Spoelstra helped design and integrate a proprietary statistical database and scouting software for the HEAT. The HEAT continue to use the state-of-the-art statistical software to evaluate team productivity, individual player productivity and trends for both the HEAT and the team’s opponents.

Spoelstra originally joined the HEAT as the team’s video coordinator in 1995 where he spent two seasons preparing scouting tapes and developing the team’s information technology for the coaching staff. He served as Assistant Coach/Video Coordinator the following two seasons (1997-99). He was then promoted to Assistant Coach/Advance Scout and served in that role for two seasons (1999-01) before being elevated to Assistant Coach/Director of Scouting.

Spoelstra enters the 2008-09 season as the NBA’s youngest current head coach, born on November 1, 1970 in Evanston, IL. He is 70 days younger than the second youngest head coach, Lawrence Frank of the New Jersey Nets.

A 1992 graduate from the University of Portland with a degree in communications, Spoelstra was the starting point guard for four years for the Pilots and was named the West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year. After college he spent two years as a player/coach for Tus Herten, a team in the professional sports league of Germany.

Spoelstra is the son of Jon Spoelstra, a long-time NBA executive who has guided the Portland Trail Blazers, Denver Nuggets and New Jersey Nets. His grandfather, Watson, was a Detroit Tigers beat writer for many years.

A native of Portland, Spoelstra resides in Miami.

Erik Spoelstra Miami Heat coaching debut – Recap of the Knicks vs Heat