I win. Google me?
It should have come with a warning.
Don’t try it at home.
It didn’t go well for Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers.
ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that on March 2 following a big loss to the Bulls, Rivers called a team meeting and attempted to channel his inner-Curt Cignetti.
Charania says Rivers, “implored his team to, ‘Look at my resume,‘ and ‘Google me. I took teams to the playoffs and championship that weren’t supposed to be there. I thought this was one of them.’”
Sure, Cignetti was bold when he first said “It’s pretty simple, I win, Google me” ahead of the 2024 season. That was long before his 16-0 national title run in 2025.
But Cignetti had never experienced a losing season before arriving at Indiana. He was already 119-35 (.773) during his time as a head coach at Indiana University (Pennsylvania), Elon and James Madison.
Compare that to Rivers’ 27 seasons of coaching. He does routinely make the playoffs and did lead the Celtics to the 2008 NBA title.
But Rivers is 1,193–863 (.580) during the regular season, and 114–112 (.504) in the playoffs. The 64-year-old is in his third season leading the Bucks after taking over in January 2024. They went 17–19 when he took over in 2024 and lost in the opening round of the playoffs. The Bucks were 48–34 last season and were again knocked out in the opening round. Milwaukee is currently 31-48 and well out of the final play-in game spot.
Rivers has had a respectable career, but given his current struggles, attempting to echo Cignetti might not have been his smartest move.
His ploy backfired in the locker room.
“That was not well-received internally,” Charania said. “That was just another example of the disconnect between player and coach.”
