This study analyses the effect of basketball coaches on performance and the question of life cycles on their tenures. From theoretical perspectives like coach-performance relationship, succession theories, life cycle theory and based on a longitudinal analysis from 1997 to 2012 of a professional Spanish basketball league, we show that the objective established at the season’s start and coach quality positively influences team performance, that a mid-season coaching change negatively influences performance, and the existence of longer tenures coaches that improve team performance. The work is especially interested for sport managers, sport coaches in their decisions-taking, but it is useful to general management to understand the consequences of the tenures or dismissals of their key managers on results.