Chris Fleming (born March 3, 1970) is an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

coach who is as an assistant coach for the Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball team. He was also a professional

player, who spent his whole pro playing career with the German 2nd Division club Quakenbrücker TSV.

Playing career

College

Fleming grew up in Long Beach Island, New Jersey, before moving to

Forked River, New Jersey Forked River () is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Lacey Township, in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

with his family, when he was ten years of age. After playing high school basketball at

Lacey Township High School Lacey Township High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades, located in the Lanoka Harbor section of Lacey Township, in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, which opera ...

, Fleming played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

at the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia, United States. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approxim ...

, with the

Richmond Spiders The Richmond Spiders represent the University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia. The Spiders compete in the Division I FCS of the National Collegiate Athletic Association as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference for most sports. The Spider ...

Professional

Fleming played professional basketball from 1994 to 2000, with the German 2nd Division club Quakenbrücker TSV, based in the city of

Quakenbrück Quakenbrück (Northern Low Saxon: ''Quokenbrügge'') is a town in the Osnabrück (district), district of Osnabrück, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Hase. It is part of the ''Samtgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") of Ar ...

. That is where he met his wife Anne.

Coaching career

Fleming began his coaching career as an assistant

basketball coach Basketball coaching is the act of directing and strategizing the behavior of a basketball team or individual basketball player. Basketball coaching typically encompasses the improvement of individual and team offensive and defensive skills, as wel ...

with QTSV in 1998. In 2000, he became the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

of QTSV and remained in that job until 2008. He guided the Quakenbrück-based team to

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

to the German top-flight level Basketball-Bundesliga, and to a

German Cup The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English, is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundes ...

title in 2008. He then became the head coach of

Brose Bamberg Bamberg Baskets is a German professional basketball team from Bamberg, Franconia/North Bavaria. The club has won the German Championship title nine times and the German Cup six times. The club currently plays in the German top tier Basketball ...

in 2008. In October 2012, he extended his contract with Brose Baskets through 2016. However, in May 2014, Fleming parted ways with the club. Under Fleming's guidance, Bamberg captured four German championships and three German Cup titles. Fleming also received Bundesliga Coach of the Year honors in 2011. Fleming was a member of the coaching staff of the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

at the 2014

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season basketball competition organized by the National Basketball Association (NBA). NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regula ...

. In November 2014, he was appointed the new coach of the senior

German national basketball team The Germany men's national basketball team ( or ''Die Mannschaft'') represents Germany in international basketball competition. The team is directed by the German Basketball Federation (''Deutscher Basketball Bund''), the governing body for b ...

, by the German Basketball Federation. In July 2015, Fleming was named an assistant coach of the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), W ...

. On July 5, 2016, Fleming was named an assistant coach of the

Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), ...

. His last game as head coach of the German national team was a 72–84 loss to Spain in the quarterfinals of the 2017 European Championships. He had opted to focus solely on his job as assistant coach at the Brooklyn Nets. On July 3, 2019, Fleming got hired by the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

as an assistant coach. Fleming was retained by new head coach

Billy Donovan William John Donovan Jr. (born May 30, 1965) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Before moving to the NBA, he served as the head ...

prior to the

2020-21 NBA season The symbol , known in Unicode as hyphen-minus, is the form of hyphen most commonly used in digital documents. On most keyboards, it is the only character that resembles a minus sign or a dash, so it is also used for these. The name ''hyphen-min ...

. On December 24, 2021, he was named as the Bulls' interim head coach as Donovan entered NBA's

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

protocol. The Bulls went 5–0 with Fleming as acting head coach. His tenure with the Bulls came to a close at the end of the 2023–24 season.

Awards and accomplishments

Coaching career

*4x

Winner: (2008, 2010, 2011, 2012) *4x German League

Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, Competition, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world champi ...

: (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013) *3x

German Supercup The Franz Beckenbauer Supercup or ''German Super Cup'' is a one-off football match in Germany that features the winners of the Bundesliga championship and the DFB-Pokal. The competition is run by the Deutsche Fußball Liga (English: German Footbal ...

Winner: (2010, 2011, 2012) * German League

Coach of the Year Many sports leagues, sportswriting associations, and other organizations confer "Coach of the Year" awards. In some sports — including baseball and association football — the award is called the "Manager of the Year" award. Some of the ...

: (2011)

References

External links

Euroleague.net Coaching Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fleming, Chris 1970 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Germany American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Artland Dragons coaches Artland Dragons players Basketball coaches from New Jersey Basketball players from Ocean County, New Jersey Brooklyn Nets assistant coaches Brose Baskets coaches Chicago Bulls assistant coaches Denver Nuggets assistant coaches Lacey Township High School alumni Point guards Richmond Spiders men's basketball players Shooting guards Sportspeople from Lacey Township, New Jersey 20th-century American sportsmen