NBA: Ranking every active head coach by playing career

Every NBA head coach ranked by playing career: 25. Nate Bjorkgren

One of the newest coaches in the NBA, Nate Bjorkgren played for two colleges before getting into the coaching profession fresh out of college. He was the star of his high school team, the Storm Lake Tornados, before making his first collegiate stop. He began attending the University of South Dakota, the first Division I player on this list.

Bjorkgren played two seasons for South Dakota before transferring to Buena Vista University, back in his hometown of Storm Lake. During two seasons there, Bjorkgren led his group to the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship for the first time in two decades, which was ultimately the crowning achievement for the hometown kid’s playing career.

Nate Bjorkgren began his coaching career in high school before moving on to the Iowa Energy of the NBA Developmental League (now the G-League), where he was part of the coaching staff that won the D-League title in his final season with the team. The head coach he was working for at the time would ultimately play an even bigger role in the rest of his career. Bjorkgren was one of the lead assistants for Nick Nurse. Much like his protégé, Nurse has been more of a coach than a player. More on him later.