Indiana Pacers: Was Firing Frank Vogel The Right Move?
The Indiana Pacers parted ways with then-head coach Frank Vogel last Thursday. Was the firing of Vogel the right thing to do?
Indiana Pacers team president Larry Bird addressed the media on Thursday for the Pacer’s end-of-season press conference. Prior to Thursday, there had been a great deal of speculation regarding head coach Frank Vogel’s future with the team after the Pacers fell to the Toronto Raptors in seven games during the first round of the playoffs.
Bird didn’t hesitate to announce whether or not Vogel would be back with the team for the 2016 season. “Over the last few days, I had numerous conversations with Frank and decided it’s time for a new voice around here,” Bird said as he opened the press conference.
And just like that, Vogel’s tenure with the Pacers was all but over. The second-winningest coach for the organization was handed his walking papers despite almost coaching a 7th-seed to an upset over a 2nd-seeded Raptors team.
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Bird went on to talk about how Vogel practically pleaded his case to keep his job during the two’s conversation that morning. His justification for the move was that from his experience in the league, it wasn’t out of the normal for good coaches to part ways with their teams.
Bird may be correct in the sense that in today’s NBA, teams are constantly cycling through coaches, win or lose. Just look what the Cavaliers did with David Blatt midway through the season back in January. Blatt was fired from the team even after coaching the Cavaliers to a 30-11 record at the time.
On the other hand however, the best coach on the market may be the one that Bird just let go. Since taking over in early 2011, Vogel had accumulated a record of 251-81 as the head coach of the Pacers, which is good for most by a Pacers coach in NBA history and second in terms of total victories, behind Bobby “Slick” Leonard.
While no one knows exactly what Bird has up his sleeve in his selection of the next coach for the Pacers, Vogel was respected amongst the team and around the community — and that’s something that is hard to find in today’s NBA. Paul George paid his respects to Vogel on his social media, thanking Vogel for the memories he made with George and the rest of the team.
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While Vogel lacked on the offensive aspect of his coaching, he was known for his defensive tendencies and “smash-mouth” style of defense. He helped give the Pacers an aggressive, defensive identity that saw the team play in two-straight Eastern Conference Finals, falling one game short of a NBA Finals berth in 2013.
While it’s too early to tell if the coaching change was the right move to make or not, Bird had better hit a home-run with the hiring of the next head coach or else his decision to let Vogel go with look absolutely foolish.