The two former coaches that serve as analysts on ABC’s coverage of the NBA Finals held a conference call with the media yesterday. Both Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy were asked if they were still interested in coaching or if they were happy where they are. For Jackson, the answer is both.
“Well, obviously it’s an incredible job we have and we’re blessed and fortunate to be able to call another NBA Finals,” he said. “I think coaching is in both of our veins, and we look forward to the day — I know I can speak for myself and say I look forward to the day that I’m coaching again, but I’m having a blast.”
During his three years as the head coach of the Golden State Warriors, Jackson helped laid the foundation for what the team would become. In 2013, he led the team to its first playoff trip in seven years. That season the Warriors pulled an upset in round one, knocking off the third seeded Denver Nuggets. The next season, he led the team to its first 50 win season since 1993-94 and the first time it made the playoffs in back-to-back years since 1992.
Jackson doesn’t just want to see himself on a sideline again. He also believes that some team needs to pick up the phone and call his partner.
“I know if I was hiring, without a doubt Jeff Van Gundy would be my hire. He’s a brilliant basketball mind, an incredible basketball coach. I’m speaking of a guy that sat in a chair and watched him lead a team as my head coach. So I look forward to him having an opportunity, if that’s what he wants, because the game certainly needs his brilliance from that side because we witnessed it firsthand from this side long enough in my opinion.”
Van Gundy served as an assistant coach under four Knicks head coaches before being put in charge in New York in 1996. He led the Knicks for six seasons, reaching the NBA Finals in 1999. In 2003 he was named the head coach of the Houston Rockets, a job he held for four seasons.
He returned the compliment to Jackson, saying that “confounds me that he’s not being interviewed for every opening” and adding that Mark Jackson is one of the best leaders he has ever seen in the NBA.
Van Gundy was not as eager to commit to wanting to coach again as Jackson was.
