The Milwaukee Bucks announced Friday night they had hired Rivers to take over for Adrian Griffin, who was fired on Tuesday after only 43 games. Rivers played from 1980-83 at Marquette, which shares a home arena with the Bucks and has retired Rivers’ No. 31 college jersey.

Doc Rivers is about to resume his coaching career at a place where his jersey hangs from the rafters.

“This is a great opportunity to come to a first-class organization with a team that has a talented roster of high-character players,” Rivers said in a statement released by the team.

“Talked to him today, and he’s on board with us and knows that the expectations of this team are really high,” Bucks forward Bobby Portis said. “I think he’s ready for it.” 

This move represents a major shift in terms of head coaching experience.

Griffin had never been a head coach before the Bucks hired him last summer, though he had 16 seasons of experience as an assistant. Rivers won an NBA title with the Boston Celtics in 2008, and his background as a head coach extends almost a quarter-century.

Rivers owns a 1,097-763 regular-season record and 111-104 playoff mark in 24 seasons with the Orlando Magic (1999-2004), Celtics (2004-13), Los Angeles Clippers (2013-20) and Philadelphia 76ers (2020-23). His 1,097 regular-season wins put him one shy of Larry Brown for eighth most in NBA history.