February 14, 2005

Flip Out

For something that had been rumored for months, it was still pretty shocking Friday night when the Minnesota Timberwolves fired Flip Saunders, who in his ten years was the only successful coach in franchise history. Saunders’ sacking comes less than a year after he coached in the All-Star Game, and just eight months after he coached the Wolves into Game 6 of the Western Conference finals.

My first reaction, of course, is that it’s an outrage for Mike Tice to still have a job, while Flip Saunders doesn’t- though perhaps owner Glen Taylor will get a chance to continue his firing spree should he end up taking over the Vikings. The franchise was completely rudderless under their four previous coaches, only reaching respectability when Saunders’ takeover coincided with the arrival of Kevin Garnett. And the firing is doubly unfair because in the context of Minnesota Nice, Twin Cities teams tend to hang on to coaches forever- Tom Kelly managed the Twins for 15 years, and Dennis Green stuck with the Vikings for more than 10.

No, it certainly was no day for Minnesota Nice- Saunders was fired (and replaced) by personnel man Kevin McHale, his friend of more than 30 years and teammate at the University of Minnesota in the ‘70s.

UPDATE: Spoke too soon- Taylor won’t have the opportunity, because Reggie Fowler has a deal to buy the team.

Posted by Stephen Silver at February 14, 2005 12:39 AM
Comments

I was at a dinner Monday night 2/7 when the guest speaker "Doogie" (the producer from Chad Hartman's show on KFAN) basically called the move as it happened. (Doogie was a last minute replacement for Doug Woog who had canceled which led to the best line of the evening "Well I have won the same amount of National Championships as the Wooger".) Doogie said that Troy Hudson's agent had called him and given him the scoop and that T-Hud's agent is tight with McHale's assistant GM. I guess McHale is trying to save his skin my making the a pre-emptive move. Whatever the Wolves still stink.
This whole Reggie Folwer deal has me perplexed. One would think that it would be in the best interest of the Vikings and the NFL to sell to the suitor with the most money (Taylor), the local suitor (Taylor), and if your most important franchise goal is to get a stadium deal, the suitor with the most local goodwill and connections (Taylor).
I'm going to go un-PC here but it would seem the best thing Fowler has going for him is that he is black. This move reeks of league PR. Remember the rumor that the group of ten was basically "told" by Tagliabue to hire Denny Green because of the lack of African American head coaches in the NFL.
I wonder if the league is kicking a little something to the biggest money-whore in the world, Red, to make this happen.
Paddy

Posted by: paddy at February 14, 2005 12:28 PM
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