ATLANTA (AP) – Phil Jackson rode his string of three separate NBA championship three-peats straight to the Basketball Hall of Fame in his first year of consideration on Monday.

Jackson has won nine NBA titles as a coach with Chicago and the Los Angeles Lakers, matching Red Auerbach’s record and making him an easy selection to the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

Another coach who has achieved success with two teams, Roy Williams, joined Jackson in heading a class of seven named Monday to enter the Hall of Fame in September.

“I’ve been blessed to have coached in various leagues and cities over 25 years, but the opportunity to coach two talented NBA franchises, the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers, through championships, says it all,” Jackson said.

Jackson coached the Chicago Bulls to six NBA titles – 1991-93 and 1996-98 – before leading the Los Angeles Lakers to three straight championships in 2000-02.

Williams is the third coach in history to lead two schools to the NCAA championship game. He won the championship with North Carolina in 2005 and also reached the final with Kansas.

With each team Jackson built winners around superstars – Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen with Chicago and Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant with the Lakers.

Jackson was a college player at North Dakota under future NBA coach Bill Fitch and played 13 years in the NBA, primarily with the New York Knicks.

Also selected to the Basketball Hall of Fame were the 1966 NCAA champion Texas Western team, four-time WNBA championship coach Van Chancellor, former NBA referee Mendy Rudolph and international coaches Pedro Ferrandiz of Spain and Mirko Novosel of Yugoslavia.

Among the notable finalists who did not receive the required 18 votes were ESPN broadcaster Dick Vitale and longtime coach Eddie Sutton.

Williams is a North Carolina native who was an assistant for Dean Smith before taking the top job at Kansas in 1988. After 15 years with the Jayhawks, he moved back to his alma mater.

Asked what team he would represent if forced to claim only one in the Hall of Fame, Williams said “It would be a TarHawk. … There would be two different shades of blue.”

Williams achieved success despite a rocky start at Kansas.

Months after taking the job, Williams learned the school had been placed on NCAA probation.

“I wasn’t positive that we would be able to get it done,” he said.

Instead, Williams’ teams have made 18 straight NCAA tournament appearances, winning at least one game each year. He is the fastest coach to reach 500 wins and has coached in five Final Fours and three national title games – 1991, 2003 and 2005.

Texas Western was the first team in NCAA history to win a title with five black players, beating an all-white Kentucky team in the 1966 final. The achievement, regarded as a turning point in the integration of college athletics, was the subject of the movie “Glory Road.”

Rudolph worked 2,112 games in his career, a record when he retired. He was selected to referee eight NBA All-Star games and at least one game in the NBA finals for 22 straight seasons. He died in 1979 at the age of 53.

Chancellor, who also attended Monday’s announcement, was the women’s coach at Mississippi from 1978-97 before leading the WNBA Houston Comets to four straight championships from 1997 through the 2000 season. He also coached the 2004 U.S. gold medal team and has a 38-0 record in international competition.

Ferrandiz has led Real Madrid to a record 12 Spanish League titles, 11 Spanish Cup championships and four European Cup titles. He was a co-founder and first president of the World Association of Basketball Coaches.

Novosel coached the Yugoslavian team that won the gold medal in the 1980 Olympics. His teams won the silver medal in 1976 and bronze in 1984. He is one of only four Olympic coaches to win at least three medals.

The class will be enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield in September.

AP-ES-04-02-07 1413EDT