-Ed-Mulholland-USA-TODAY-Sports-93
(New York, NY) — Nick Nurse. Frank Vogel. Mike Budenholzer. Steve Kerr.
These are the last four coaches to have won the NBA title, and all but Kerr were fired by the team they won it with.
What?
One would think that achieving the peak of coaching success would insulate your job for at least five years pending a drastic collapse. But none of them lasted that long.
Don’t take the title of this article seriously. Obviously, Kerr is the example of a coach who not only wins, but builds and maintains a winning culture that can withstand scrutiny. Instead, use it as a guide to see how even clutching the biggest prize in basketball can be an illusion of coaching success.
In the case of Nick Nurse, he took over for Dwayne Casey the season that Kawhi Leonard arrived in Toronto, turning what was a perennial semifinal team into a contender overnight. He then watched Leonard torch everyone in a LeBron-less East, hit a game-winner against Philly, and eviscerate a Durant-less Warriors. Once Kawhi and eventually Lowry left, the team was never quite the same and was never in serious contention again. It was after this short period of mediocrity that Nurse was let go.
Frank Vogel won it all in his first year as well, inheriting the LeBron Lakers that just picked up Anthony Davis. They looked incredible during the regular season before COVID, but then dominated the bubble and beat the Miami Heat with an incredible defensive effort. But after an injury-marred 2021, the team fell into a disappointing spiral in 2022 with Russell Westbrook not vibing with the squad, and he was fired.
Budenholzer made his name as the coach of the 60-win Hawks team in 2015 that looked dominant until they ran into…LeBron James. Unable to find success like that again, he mutually parted ways with Atlanta and joined the Bucks as their new head coach. However, he was constantly criticized for his sometimes boneheaded style, especially during the bubble, and it’s common knowledge that if the Bucks didn’t win the title in 2021, he was done. But they did and the mostly healthy Bucks with some historic Giannis performances and Durant’s big feet played a role. He signed an extension after the title, but the 2022 early exit and the collapse against the Heat reaggravated old wounds, and it seems the Bucks organization felt ready to pull the plug.
Nurse and Vogel are victims of their own success; the bar was set at its maximum from the start. Budenholzer has had his critics for many years even before he got with the Bucks, and his reputation as a playoff letdown couldn’t escape him even with a ring. In the NBA, situations are everything, and oftentimes it is easier for the team to make the easier decision–a coaching change–than make a decision that could be harder and more complicated–a player reshuffle. Kerr had the luxury of not only setting the bar high, but following it up and being a great fit with perennial stars. That’s what makes a great coach.
