After two seasons with less than 30 wins in each of those campaigns, the Orlando Magic have decided their future will be without Frank Vogel.
On April 12, it was announced that Vogel, the Magic’s head coach for the past two seasons, was fired. The story was first reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Vogel led the Magic to a two-season record of 54-110, further extending the Magic’s six-year playoff drought. The Magic, in fact, have not made the playoffs since current Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy was at the helm in the shortened 2011-12 season.
Now, the Magic will search for their fifth head coach since firing Van Gundy.
“We said from the outset that we’re goign to take the year to evaluate, and we took the whole year,” Magic president Jeff Weltman said, per NBA.com’s John Denton. “There’s no ‘ah-ha’ moment, no date; there’s no event that kind of clicked into place.
“It was just looking at the season, weighing all of the information, game-by-game, day-by-day, and adding it all up at the end of the season.”
Weltman joined general manager John Hammond in May 2017, before the start of Vogel’s second season. According to the Orlando Sentinel’s Josh Robbins, Weltman wouldn’t go into the details regarding Vogel’s firing.
Furthermore, Weltman and Hammond have also dismissed lead assistant coach Chad Forcier and assistant coaches Corliss Williamson and Jay Hernandez, per Robbins.
“I feel bad for Frank,” center Nikola Vučević said, per Robbins. “He’s a great guy… I think with the situation the had here–last year, with a new team and everything–it was tough. It didn’t work out on the court for us. And then this year, too, our season didn’t go the way we wanted it to.
“It’s a tough business. I feel bad for him, but I think that he did everything that he could have [done] to help us be the best team we can [be]. But it’s the way the business goes sometimes. It sucks.”
The Magic have a bevvy of potential candidates, according to Wojnarowski. Two candidates hail from the Toronto Raptors organization: Raptors assistant coach Nick Nurse and Raptors 905 head coach Jerry Stackhouse of the National Basketball Association’s G League.
Orlando is also looking at San Antonio Spurs assistants James Borrego and Ime Udoka, Portland Trail Blazers assistant David Vanterpool and Utah Jazz assistant Igor Kokoskov.
Per Robbins, Weltman spent four seasons as an executive in Toronto and could favor Nurse or Stackhouse.
“We would like to thank Frank for his contributions to the Orlando Magic,” Weltman said, per a statement. “We appreciate the sacrifices he made as head coach and certainly wish him and his family well going forward.”
For more on the Magic, as they search for a new head coach and prepare for the upcoming draft, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.
To contact Victor, you can email him at vtan@newdayreview.com.
