The coaching merry-go-around in the National Basketball Association goes on as five teams are patrolling new head coaches during the 2009-10 season.

The new bench bosses are John Kuester of the Detroit Pistons, Eddie Jordan of the Philadelphia 76ers, Phillip “Flip” Saunders of the Washington Wizards, Minnesota’s Kurt Rambis of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Paul Westphal of the Sacramento Kings.

Of the five clubs that made head coaching changes, none registered a winning record last campaign. Philadelphia owned an even .500 record at 41-41 but made the playoffs. Detroit also earned a postseason berth although it had a losing mark (39-43).

Among the new bench bosses, only Kuester has not had any previous NBA head coaching experience.

Once a 6-2 playmaker in three NBA seasons with the Kansas City (now Sacramento Kings), Denver Nuggets and Indiana Pacers from 1977-80, the 54-year-old Kuester took over as the Pistons’ top strategist when Michael Curry was dismissed after just one season at the helm.

Although he had never been a head honcho before, Kuester is no stranger in the NBA coaching business. He spent the past 14 years as an assistant coach with six different franchises – Boston, Philadelphia (two tours of duty), Detroit, New Jersey, Orlando and Cleveland.

Kuester was on Mike Brown’s coaching staff last campaign when the Cavaliers posted an all-time franchise-best and NBA-leading 66-16 mark during the regular wars.

As an assistant coach, the University of North Carolina product also twice reached the NBA Finals – Philadelphia in 2001 and Detroit in 2004 – with contrasting fortunes. Facing the LA Lakers each time, the 76ers were beaten, 4-1, while the Pistons emerged victorious via the same score.

Kuester was a member of the Boston organization from 1990 to 1997, serving as an assistant coach with the Celtics in his final two years in Beantown.

While Kuester is an NBA head coach for the first time ever, Jordan, Saunders, Rambis and Westphal have held the top post with other teams in the past.

Jordan mentored the sad-sack Sacramento Kings for two seasons (1996-98) and the Washington Wizards for five-plus seasons before the Wiz gave him the pink slip 11 games (1-10) into the 2008-09 campaign.

Saunders is in his 14th overall season as an NBA head coach, but it’s his first with Washington. Saunders took over from Ed Tapscott (18-53), who temporarily occupied the Wiz bench following the firing of Jordan last season.

Saunders, who at 54 is as old as Kuester and Jordan, previously had stops with the Minnesota Timberwolves (1995-2005) and Detroit Pistons (2005-08) and owned a .597 (587-396) winning percentage going into this season.

The multi-titled 51-year-old Rambis was the LA Lakers’ head coach during the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season, going 24-13 following the early dismissal of Del Harris. He also served as one of Phil Jackson’s assistants during the Lakers’ NBA title runs in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2009.

As a bespectacled 6-8 forward, Rambis saw action with four franchises in 14 NBA seasons. He debuted with the Lakers in 1981 and hung up his jersey with the same club in 1995 after stops with the Charlotte Hornets, Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings during the interval. Rambis was a member of the Lakers’ NBA championship units in 1982, 1985, 1987 and 1988.

Westphal has had 25 years of coaching experience at both the professional and collegiate levels. This season, he rejoins the NBA head coaching fraternity with Sacramento after nearly nine years’ absence.

Before the Kings came-a-calling, Westphal last coached in the pro league with Seattle during the early goings (6-9) of the 2000-01 wars.

Like Kuester, Jordan and Rambis, Westphal is a former NBA player. The 6-4 guard was a valuable reserve on the Boston Celtics’ 1974 NBA championship team and had a distinguished 12-year (1972-84) tenure that also took him to Phoenix, Seattle and New York.

Overall, Westphal, who turns 59 on November 30, is in his eighth year of NBA head coaching, having previously patrolled the sidelines for Phoenix for four seasons (1992-96) and Seattle for three (1998-2001).

Last campaign, the California native was the executive vice president of basketball operations for the Dallas Mavericks. The year before, he served as one of the club’s assistant coaches.

Westphal’s head coaching odyssey includes trips to Southwestern Baptist Bible College (Phoenix), Grand Canyon College and Pepperdine University (2001-06).