Despite Stephen A. Smith stumping for him, Mark Jackson didn’t get the call.
Whatever you want to call the New York Knicks’ head coaching search, it ultimately concluded with Mike Brown as the next retread to grace the sidelines of Madison Square Garden. But Jackson could’ve been that retread. His coaching resume is solid enough. He’s clearly qualified. Yet, he wasn’t even granted an interview. So what gives?
Nick Wright jumped into the debate on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, weighing whether the NBA has effectively blackballed Jackson. Wright acknowledged Jackson’s coaching reputation might be holding him back — on and off the court — but stopped short of calling it an outright exile.
“I still think that it’s pretty clear that Mark Jackson is not judged purely on his Basketball Reference coaching page,” said Wright. “Now, maybe he shouldn’t be. I know there are some people that absolutely swear by Mark Jackson and love him. And I know there are some people within the Warriors that feel like there was a lot of behind the scenes stuff that was really, really unpleasant. He, I’m sure, doesn’t feel that way. And I understand why.
“You’re saying, ‘He never got out of the second round with Steph and Klay.’ Yes, that’s true. I also think Steph and Klay weren’t the fully formed versions of themselves. They were playing David Lee. It’s not like Steve Kerr had this brilliant epiphany about Draymond. It was more that David Lee got hurt, Steph got better. Steve Kerr, also by the way, is one of the 10 greatest coaches of all time. So that probably is maybe an unfair standard to judge him against. And I understand the frustration when he sees certain guys get job after job after job. I do understand that. But I don’t think for Mark Jackson, I think blackballed is too strong. But I do think it seems like the NBA has decided he’s not getting another job.”
There’s some delicious irony here from a sports media perspective. ESPN fired Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy, who were each repeatedly linked to head coaching openings during their time at the Worldwide Leader. Since then, Jackson hasn’t been back on a bench, while JVG landed an assistant head coaching gig with the Clippers. Meanwhile, ESPN’s top broadcast booth has seen a revolving door, with Doc Rivers and J.J. Redick departing for head coaching gigs themselves.
But while some chalk Jackson’s absence up to basketball politics and past coaching shortcomings, Le Batard pushed the conversation deeper. He argued that Jackson doesn’t even need to wonder why the opportunities haven’t come, suggesting the real reasons have nothing to do with basketball. It’s Jackson’s deeply religious views, past homophobic remarks, and comments about not wanting an openly gay player in his locker room.
“I think that is less of an impediment to him getting a job than maybe some of the behind-the-scenes political, and alleged backstabbing he did,” the First Things First host replied. “I think people would maybe look past that if there weren’t people worried that, if I bring this guy in. And again, I’m not a reporter. Somebody get Pablo [Torre] on that. But a lot of the stuff that was alleged about how he acted behind the scenes, I think a lot of people in positions of power are like, ‘Well, I don’t want to be on the other end of that.’ And that, to me, is probably a big piece of it.”
Coaching chops only get you so far.
In the NBA, reputation and relationships matter just as much as wins. And while some see Jackson as blackballed, others view it as the consequence of factors that go beyond basketball.