One of the most underrated and valuable commodities to obtain in sports is a stable front office.
That's why it's a bit of shock today when news broke that despite a 45-win season with an underwhelming roster outside of All-Star forward Paul George, the Indiana Pacers decided not to renew the contract of coach Frank Vogel. Many across the league felt that the move was undeserving considering the challenges Vogel dealt with the last two seasons and how he kept Indiana competitive even last season without George for basically the entire year.
Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra reacted to the surprising news during shoot-around in preparation for Game 2 of Miami's second round matchup vs. the Toronto Raptors.
"I think it's really disturbing, actually. I've only been a head coach for eight years. So what am I, the second-longest-tenured? That's a sad state of where the coaching profession is right now and stability of organizations.
That's why it's fairly easy for me to feel grateful being part of this organization for 21 years, the same group,"When they say it's a family, we are. We've been though everything. We've been though 15-win seasons together, put together teams, rebuilt teams. We know how each other respond in the trenches, when it's tough.
But you have to be able to able to also have opportunities to grow with the team and go through the tough times.You don't get that opportunity when you're making changes all the time. I probably would have been fired two or three times in a different organization."
I've always said the main reason franchises like the
San Antonio Spurs, who have won five
NBA Finals under
Gregg Popovich, and in other sports such as the NFL's New England Patriots, with four time
Super Bowl Champion coach Bill Belichick, have had a long history of success due to the steadfast, family structured stability that the franchise provides. The same also applies to the Heat and Spoelstra.
Spoelstra is now in his eighth season as head coach of the Heat, which represents now the second longest tenured coach in the NBA after Popovich. Clearly he sounded bothered by the coaching instability that seems rampant around the league but the fact that he continues to acknowledge how grateful he is to be part of a well-run organization for 21 years speaks volumes on how the Heat continue to operate on a different plane than most.
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