Posted by Maddox Elms in Sports | 0 Comments
Jim O’Brien, out, Frank Vogel, in, as Indiana Pacers head coach
Posted by Maddox Elms in Sports
Jim O'Brien
Indiana Pacers president Larry Bird announced Sunday that Jim O’Brien is out as the head coach of the team after the NBA club suffered a weak 17-27 start.
37-year-old assistant coach Frank Vogel will now take O’Brien’s position to coach the team for the remainder of the season, a night after being routed 110-89 by Central division leader Chicago to fall 14 1/2 games off the Bulls’ pace.
Vogel, “a good, sound basketball man” according to Bird, is in his 14th NBA season.
“We’ve been looking at everything with our team from the beginning of the season and now at the halfway mark I think at this time a change is necessary,” Bird said. “Jim did a good job under the circumstances in a rebuilding effort. He helped change the culture and worked every day to try to get this franchise turned in the right direction.”
“This isn’t all on Jim. All of us share in the responsibility for where we’re at and where we need to go.”
O’Brien was 121-169 in more than three seasons leading the Pacers, who went completely defeated on four games away from home last week and have lost seven of their previous eight games.
“I appreciate this opportunity, but it is a bittersweet feeling since I wouldn’t be in this position without Coach O?Brien,” Vogel said of his new duty.
