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Erik Spoelstra was born November 1, 1970 is an American professional basketball coach and the current head coach of the National Basketball Association's Miami Heat. He is the first Filipino-American head coach in the NBA, as well as the first Filipino-American head coach of any North American professional sports team.[2] From 2001 to 2008, he served as assistant coach/director of scouting for the team. He coached the Heat to 90 wins and two playoff appearances in his first two years as coach.

Spoelstra joined the Heat staff in 1995 as the team's video coordinator. After two years, he was named assistant coach/video coordinator, then promoted to assistant coach/advance scout in 1999. He became the assistant coach/director of scouting in 2001. He was cited by Sports Illustrated (May 30, 2005) for honing star guard Dwyane Wade’s "shooting balance and smoothing out his release after the Flash’s return from the Athens Olympics."
Spoelstra was an assistant coach with the Miami Heat when they won the 2006 NBA Finals by defeating the Dallas Mavericks, overcoming a 0-2 deficit.
In April 2008, Spoelstra was named successor to Pat Riley as head coach of the Miami Heat. In naming Spoelstra as head coach, Riley said: "This game is now about younger coaches who are technologically skilled, innovative, and bring fresh new ideas. That's what we feel we are getting with Erik Spoelstra. He's a man that was born to coach." Riley also noted: "A lot of players want the discipline; they will play [hard] for Spoelstra, because 'they respect him.'"