Pacers coach Frank Vogel‘s contract expires this summer, and he and the team reportedly haven’t discussed an extension yet. Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post heard that Vogel might have been coaching for his job Sunday, when the Pacers lost the deciding game of their first-round series to the Raptors. President of basketball operations Larry Bird declined to answer a question after Sunday’s contest about whether Vogel would return for next season, saying, “Come on, man, the game just ended.”
Bird had spoken in January about a philosophical difference between himself and Vogel, saying that he preferred an up-tempo attack with Paul George at the power forward while Vogel favored a more conventional approach with two traditional big men. George put up resistance to playing the four at the beginning of the season and Indiana largely abandoned the idea. The executive said he’ll speak with owner Herb Simon at an undetermined point to figure out whether to re-sign Vogel. Finding a way to generate more offense is the key, Bird insisted. “We need to score more points,” Bird said to Gregg Doyel of the Indianapolis Star. “If Frank comes back, what can we do to get better offense? It’s on all of us. Frank’s a great guy. He’s going to be fine no matter what happens. If he’s back, he’ll be fine here. If he’s not, he’s not. We’ll see.”
Vogel has a record of 250-181 in parts of six seasons with Indiana, his only NBA head coaching stop. That mark doesn’t include a 31-30 record in the playoffs, where Vogel guided the Pacers to back-to-back appearances in the Eastern Conference finals in 2013 and 2014.
This brings me to the topic for today: Should the Pacers retain Frank Vogel as their head coach?
Has Vogel done enough in your eyes to be re-signed, or is it time to bring in some new blood to coach the team? Keep in mind that many of the top coaching targets are already off the board this offseason, which may weight things in Vogel’s favor. Take to the comments section to share your thoughts and opinions on the matter. We look forward to what you have to say.
He’s a great coach. But bird and Vogel have different ideas on how play, and maybe it’s time for bird to get someone to his liking, or if he feels up to it again maybe coaching himself
lets say, someone like Mark Jackson
What I dont understand is saying there aren’t any coaching options when jeff van gundy, messina (Spurs assistant coach), jeff Hornacek and mark jackson are still without jobs. All very capable of running a motion, more uptempo offense. Clearly defense is not all the Pacers need anymore.