Suns Reveal What They Want in New Head Coach

PHOENIX — New Phoenix Suns general manager Brian Gregory faces a daunting offseason ahead and is under a lot of pressure to get his first move right—the hiring of Phoenix’s next head coach. 

The Suns have fired their head coach at the end of every season that owner Mat Ishbia has been in charge—first it was Monty Williams in 2023, then Frank Vogel in 2024 and now Mike Budenholzer in 2025. 

Gregory will look to reverse this trend with the next head coach hire. 

Although it has almost become a trend for Phoenix to fire coaches, the Suns do have two key things going for them as they go through this search—they are the only current team with a head coach opening so they don't have any competition, and they likely won’t have championship expectations next season after reshaping the roster this offseason. 

So what is Gregory looking for in the next head coaching hire?

This is what he offered at his end-of-season press conference last week:

"I want to make sure that we we get this right. This is very, very critical for us moving forward, finding that head coach that is aligned, finding that head coach that has the attributes that are important to us: unbelievable basketball IQ, tremendous communicator, shares our vision and what we understand needs to be done to be successful in basketball, in this new NBA.

"The toughness, the physicality, all those different things, and has the ability to hold the players accountable to doing that. Playing and having a systematic approach offensively and defensively.

"Those attributes, in addition to understanding this is what our identity is, and we're going to coach to this on a daily basis. So with that, we're going to make sure that we cast a wide net on that, and at the same time, evaluate and interview coaches from a diverse background with diverse experiences and so forth. And I think that will put us in a good position."

It has been widely reported that the Suns will likely target an up-and-coming coach with little to no head coaching experience for the opening.

Budenholzer was fired nearly a month ago, but Gregory said there is "no timetable" for the search because they want to make sure they make the right decision.