Indiana Pacers: Top 5 Head Coaching Candidates

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May 26, 2014; Miami, FL, USA; Indiana Pacers president Larry Bird watches the game against the Miami Heat in game four of the Eastern Conference Finals of the 2014 NBA Playoffs at American Airlines Arena. The Heat won 102-90. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /

With the Indiana Pacers parting ways with head coach Frank Vogel, they will be looking for a new coach.

Vogel’s contract expired once the Pacers were knocked out of the NBA Playoffs by the Toronto Raptors. There were no talks of a contract extension between both sides, which made this move quite predictable.

As a result, when team President Larry Bird announced that Vogel would not be return for the 2016-17 season Thursday, no one was really surprised.

Bird will begin searching for Vogel’s replacement soon. He mentioned that he will start making phone calls to potential candidates on Friday.

Bird already ruled out one candidate that everyone thought he would target. That candidate was Kevin McHale.

"“I would not do that to Kevin, have him work for me. I respect him too much. I would love for him to be the coach, but it ain’t going to happen because I respect him too much.”"

Basically, Bird was saying he respects his friendship with McHale too much to engage in an employer-employee relationship with him, which is understandable.

It is also important to note that popular names like Tom Thibodeau, Scott Brooks and Luke Walton are unavailable too. All three coaches have taken jobs elsewhere.

With that being said, there are still plenty of coaching candidates out there. Here are the top five available coaching candidates that the Pacers could consider.

Next: Nate McMillan

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