Suave, handsome, intense yet apparently unflappable, Pat Riley is probably the most celebrated basketball coach in the world. "Riles," who wears his lucrative celebrity as easily as he does his impeccable Armani suits, is also one of the most successful. Riley, who brought Showtime and four championships to the Los Angeles Lakers and made the Knicks a winner and a hot ticket at Madison Square Garden in New York, has worked his magic in Miami as well, inheriting a losing team and guiding it to a division title in just two years. In nine seasons as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, Riley took his club to the NBA Finals seven times and came away with four championships, including back-to-back titles in 1987 and 1988-something the NBA hadn't seen in two decades. No NBA coach ever won 500 games more quickly. He left the Lakers with a regular-season record of 533-194 and a regular-season winning percentage of .733. In the playoffs, he led the Lakers to a 102-47 record and a .685 winning percentage. Both marks were NBA records at the time.

"He's inventive. He makes good, quick decisions in games," Lakers General Manager Jerry West told Sports Illustrated in 1985. "He has the faith of the team and the knowledge to design an offense for the players and not the coach. He has tremendous belief in himself and his sense of his role here. He [has] the perfect temperament." "He's inventive. He makes good, quick decisions in games," Lakers General Manager Jerry West told Sports Illustrated in 1985. "He has the faith of the team and the knowledge to design an offense for the players and not the coach. He has tremendous belief in himself and his sense of his role here. He [has] the perfect temperament." After leaving the Lakers and spending a season as a broadcaster for NBC, Riley returned to coaching in New York, where he led the Knicks to their best seasons in more than two decades. In 1994 the Knicks played for an NBA title for the first time since 1973, losing to the Houston Rockets in seven games.

After the Knicks were eliminated by Indiana in the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 1995, Riley resigned with one year remaining on his contract and accepted a lucrative offer from the Miami Heat to become part-owner as well as head coach. The Knicks contested his hiring, and Miami agreed to send a first-round draft pick and cash to New York as settlement. In his first season with the Heat, Riley set about revamping the roster, making a host of moves that totally changed the look of the team and also cleared the way for future free agent signings. In the meantime, he maintained his record of never posting a losing record or failing to make the playoffs as Miami, now featuring Alonzo Mourning at center and Tim Hardaway at point guard, finished at 42-40 and gained the last Eastern Conference playoff spot. In postseason, Miami was blitzed by the Chicago Bulls 3-0.

Following the season, Riley continued to revamp the Heat's roster, although his attempted signing of Juwan Howard as a free agent was voided by the league as a salary cap violation. But Riley got tremendous mileage from unheralded players such as P.J. Brown, Voshon Lenard and Isaac Austin in 1996-97, and with a career year by Hardaway and a solid season by Mourning, the Heat won a franchise-record 61 games and the Atlantic Division crown. His success extends beyond the court. One of the most sought after motivational speakers in the country, he is the author of The Winner Within: A Life Plan for Team Players. His million-dollar firm Riley & Company has promoted a video game and a motivational video, and has cut deals that included a responsible drinking campaign for Miller Brewing Company.