Opinion: Magic fire Vogel - ‘don’t like it; don’t have to like it’

Another coach bites the dust.

After two seasons at the helm, Frank Vogel has been fired as Head Coach of the Orlando Magic.

The announcement came this morning from Orlando’s President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman.

Do I agree with the move?

Nope.

Don’t like it.

I don’t like the fact that we now have a revolving coaching door here in Orlando. In the last six years since Dwight Howard departed City Beautiful, we are on our way to our fifth head man (Jacque Vaughn, James Borrego on an interim basis, Scott Skiles were the others).

I get it. I realize that NBA head coaches are hired to be fired, but this situation is far from healthy. The best organizations in sports have stability—both in the front office and with their coaching staffs. See the New England Patriots and San Antonio Spurs as prime examples.

Now, those are extreme examples. I don’t see very many Bill Belichicks and Greg Popovich’s growing on trees out there in the sports world.

But, at some point, the revolving door must stop and some stability must be injected into what has been a very unstable six year run---the most years the Magic have ever gone without make the NBA Playoffs.

Plus, Frank Vogel is a good dude and a good head coach. I do not believe that any coach, even Pop or Phil Jackson or the late great Red Auerbach, would have pushed this Magic team to the playoffs this year. This, as we all know, is a flawed basketball team. It is a team void of any star players, and when you add 230 games missed due to illness or injury, you have a recipe for NBA disaster.

So, I don’t like the move to fire Frank—but I get it.

I get it from Jeff Weltman’s standpoint.

Typically, the coach is hired by the boss, the GM or President. In this instance, Frank was hired by a former boss, Rob Hennigan. He is not Jeff’s guy. I’m reminded of the old line from Bill Parcells, when he said, “If they want you to cook the dinner, at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries.”

So, if I am Jeff, I see a guy in Frank who I did not handpick. If I am gonna go down in my first career gig as an NBA boss, I am gonna go down with people who I know and trust. I am gonna go down with people who I am familiar with.

I also look at the performance of Frank’s team this year. Granted, Coach Vogel wasn’t dealt a great hand by any means, but there’s a case to be made that his Magic underachieved this season.

I also look at my team’s defense, or lack thereof, this season. With Frank being a defensive-minded guy, we should have been much better on that side of the court.

I’ve covered every Magic coaching firing—from Brian Hill (twice) to Doc Rivers to Johnny Davis to Stan Van Gundy to Jacque Vaughn. These things are never fun. They are never easy.

Now, look, I don’t feel sorry for Coach Vogel. He’s leaving Orlando with a nice hefty payout in his back pocket and I do believe that Frank is gonna attract some serious attention in what should be a red-hot NBA head coaching market.

But I don’t like the fact that the Magic have fired Frank Vogel.

I get it.

But I don’t have to like it.

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Scott Anez hosts Orlando’s News at Noon on News 96.5 WDBO and ESPN Afternoons with Scott Anez weekdays from 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM on ESPN 580 Orlando and is the radio voice of the Orlando Magic.