Coach Frank Vogel’s contract has expired now that the Pacers’ season has ended, league sources said, and president Larry Bird has left many around the league, including Vogel, with the belief that a coaching change could be coming soon. Vogel was paid approximately $2.5 million in the final year of his deal, league sources said. In a market devoid of many successful head-coaching candidates, Vogel could double that salary on his next job.
More on Frank Vogel Hot Seat?
Danny Granger: Please @Pacers DO NOT fire Frank Vogel!!
Bird has scheduled his season-ending news conference for Thursday at 11 a.m. ET in Indianapolis, but so far hasn’t engaged Vogel in discussions about the coach’s future with the team, league sources said. Bird told Gregg Doyel of the Indianapolis Star that he owed Vogel a decision soon while there were other head-coaching jobs available for him to pursue. Bird also said he needed to discuss Vogel’s future with owner Herb Simon.
Mitch Lawrence: After Larry Bird's criticisms on Frank Vogel, Pacer execs in player exit meetings: Next year we'll be going up-tempo more, scoring more, using fewer sets and playing more like Golden State. Can't see how this helps Vogel keep his job. Sounds like Kevin McHale on his way.
Sirius XM NBA: Danny Granger: "Frank Vogel is one of the greatest human beings." #Pacers
Adrian Wojnarowski: Larry Bird set his annual end-of-season news conference for Thursday. He hasn't informed Frank Vogel of future, sources tell @TheVertical.
Ian Begley: Correction: Pacers president Larry Bird is holding a press conference on Thursday at noon EST. We may get clarity on Frank Vogel's status.
Scott Agness: Frank Vogel is not scheduled to join Bird at tomorrow’s presser, but I’m told he was at the Fieldhouse Tuesday vigilantsports.com/2016/05/03/bus…
Vogel has the respect of his players but he can also play hardball. He is the perfect guy when it comes to being a face of the franchise, appearing at golf outings, meeting with season-ticket holders, and in accommodating various requests around the building. But basketball is business. The players and coaches know that. Vogel is the fourth-longest tenured head coach in The Association (six seasons) behind Gregg Popovich (20), Rick Carlisle and Erik Spoelstra (eight). There’s something to be said for continuity, especially in a league when leadership has a short leash on its coaches.
A source close to Frank Vogel admitted there could be intrigue in coaching the Knicks as his family and relatives come to all the Garden games.
The 42-year-old Vogel, a graduate of Wildwood (N.J.) High School, has a 250-181 record with the Pacers in six seasons, but Bird never has seemed a big fan. Vogel’s job was said to be in jeopardy in past years. It’s believed Bird could prefer a former player as his next coach and his former Celtics teammate Kevin McHale, fired by Houston early in the season, is on the market.
He doesn’t know when, either. Bird said he will make the decision after meeting by conference call with Pacers owner Herb Simon, but he said no call has been arranged. “He’s busy, so it could be a week or it could be tomorrow. What I don’t want to do is leave Frank hanging – there’s other jobs out there he could get,” Bird said early Monday evening.
Indiana Pacers president Larry Bird said Monday he hasn’t decided whether to bring back coach Frank Vogel for a seventh season, telling IndyStar: “It’s no secret – I want us to score more points.”
What Bird has to decide, he says, is the best way to achieve more offense in a league headed in that direction: Change the roster, change the coach, or change both. “I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Bird said.
Vogel’s job has been said to be in jeopardy in past years. He would seem a perfect fit if front-runner Kurt Rambis agrees to slide over as the offensive coordinator of the triangle. According to sources, Knicks owner James Dolan felt Vogel outcoached Mike Woodson during the Knicks’ seminal six-game playoff defeat to the Pacers in 2013. The Knicks carried a 54-28 record into the second-round series before being upset – the pivotal moment coming when Carmelo Anthony was blocked at the rim by Roy Hibbert late in the fourth quarter of Game 6.
What happens next, however, could be more destruction. The same wrecking ball that demolished Roy Hibbert’s time in Indianapolis last offseason could be aimed next for coach Frank Vogel. As Bird walked out of Air Canada Centre late Sunday night following the Pacers’ season-ending loss to the Toronto Raptors, I asked him if Vogel – widely believed to be in the final year of his contract – will be back next season. “Come on, man,” Bird told me, before walking off. “The game just ended.”
Adrian Wojnarowski: Sources: Indiana coach Frank Vogel's contract expires at season's end and so far there's been no discussion of a contract extension. Scott Agness: That means his extension on Oct. 8, 2014 just tacked on another year. But it was announced as a multi-year extensionScott Agness added,
Tim Bontemps: Heard tonight that Vogel may have been coaching for his job. Think he's a really good coach. Would be an odd move.
Adrian Wojnarowski: Sources: Indiana coach Frank Vogel's contract expires at season's end and so far there's been no discussion of a contract extension.
Tim Bontemps: Heard tonight that Vogel may have been coaching for his job. Think he's a really good coach. Would be an odd move. twitter.com/WojVerticalNBA…
