Spin preference of copper, silver, and gold clusters is discussed. While the high-spin states prefer D-4h or D-3h geometries, low-spin states prefer D-2h or C-2v geometries due to vibronic interactions. Regardless of the orbital degeneracy, the vibronic interactions are enough large to stabilize the low-spin states. Origin of the low-spin preference is related to absolute hardness of the atoms and unique multicentered bondings. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.