Jeff Van Gundy Leaving Rockets
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James Joyner | Monday, May 7, 2007 |
Jeff Van Gundy’s stint as head coach of the Houston Rockets is over after four years and zero trips to the second round of the playoffs.
Saturday’s Game 7 loss to the Jazz was the last for Jeff Van Gundy as the Houston Rockets’ coach, according to the New York Post. Citing an “impeccable source,” The Post reported that Van Gundy is leaving NBA coaching for the forseeable future. According to the source, Van Gundy’s decision isn’t based on the first-round series loss to the Jazz.
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Van Gundy wouldn’t discuss his future when asked in the postgame news conference Saturday. When reached by The Houston Chronicle, Van Gundy strongly denied he has decided to leave his job as Rockets coach. “I haven’t even thought about that yet,” Van Gundy said. “It’s just 12 hours after we lost. There has been speculation about my job going on the whole year. Anybody that saying that [he has chosen to step down as Rockets coach], I have no idea why they would say that. “There is no significance to anything other than we lost. That’s the only significant thing.”
Rockets owner Leslie Alexander told The Chronicle that he hasn’t made a decision on Van Gundy, who has one non-guaranteed season remaining on his contract.Alexander told the newspaper that he doesn’t plan to fire Van Gundy. “There is absolutely no truth to that. That’s false, totally false. That decision has not been made,” he told The Chronicle.
The Rockets have missed the playoffs just once in Van Gundy’s four years with the Rockets, but Houston has also failed to make it out of the first round each time.
Given the presence of the most dominant center in the NBA in Yao Ming (now that age has finally caught up to Shaquille Oneal) and a geniune star in Tracy McGrady.
And here’s a stunning stat that demonstrates the volatile nature of the NBA coaching game:
Although he was hired by Houston less than four years ago (June 10, 2003), only two NBA head coaches have a longer continuous tenure with their current team than Van Gundy: Jerry Sloan (with Utah since December 1988) and Gregg Popovich (with San Antonio since December 1996).
That’s just amazing.
- Jeff Van Gundy Wants Random NBA Lottery
- Dwyane Wade out indefinitely with shoulder injury
- Houston Cougar WR fractures leg after running into cart
- Cowher to Decide Future Monday?
- Yao Ming out for season with left foot injury
- Yao Ming out for the rest of the season with broken foot
- Clemens Leaning Towards Return
- Steelers Want Bill Cowher Decision TODAY
- Pat Riley Takes Indefinite Leave of Absence from Heat
- Alabama Hires Major Applewhite
- Arizona State Baseball Coach Pat Murphy resigns
- Clipping their wings- Florida Panthers beat Detroit 2-1
- LA Clipper announcers suspended for one game
- Backup power- Miami Dolphins beat Carolina Panthers 24-17
- Steve Elling of CBS Sports is jealous
- Detroit Lions put two defensive backs on Injured Reserve
- The Dirty Dozen- Milwaukee Bucks beat New Jersey 99-85
- Outdueled- Florida Panthers beat Buffalo 6-2
- Collision Course: LPGA and Champions Tour in Oregon on Same Week
- Cleveland Brown QB Brady Quinn fined by NFL
Yup–the NBA is worse than than the NFL on this count.
And the funny thing is I thought Popovich was going to be a short-termer when he fired the Spurs’ last coach (Pop was GM at the time) and hired himself.
I think his general lack of charisma has kept him under the radar despite winning three championships in San Antonio.
Where did Coach Jeff play college ball?
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