Win or go away

“Show me a gracious loser, and I’ll show you a failure”

– Knute Rockne

One of the best Colorado sports stories of the last decade cost Doc Rivers his job. While the Rocky Mountain region celebrated the NBA’s Denver Nuggets and their improbable path to a second-round win against the Los Angeles Clippers, Rivers was the easy route and easy out. Los Angeles decided they needed to make a meaningful change, and were out of many ways to do so. They were also out of time to figure it out. Had Rivers been able to notch one more win and bring the franchise its first trip to the Conference Finals, odds are good he’d still have a seat at that table. Just one more win.

It’s probably the one of the toughest aspects of being a head coach in any professional sport. You are expected to improve on past results, or you are done. Whether you’re a cellar-dweller or trying to make that last push to the top, you’d better be better, baby. The only way you aren’t expected to “take that next step” is if you win it all, and even then, you’d better be prepared to come back and do it all over again, or you’ll still be staring down the barrel of a different sort of firing line soon enough.

Sometimes even a reputation is not enough to keep you around for long. A glossy resume might add a couple of years onto that contract, but names across every sport like Dwayne Casey, Tony Dungy, Dusty Baker, Alain Vigneault, Carlo Ancelotti, Marty Schottenheimer, Avery Johnson, and more saw themselves dismissed after success, but not quite enough success, just like Rivers. And not a one of them was released at the end of their however-long deal. Reputations can mean little when you don’t live up to expectations. Take coach-turned-analyst-turned-coach-turned-analyst-again Barry Melrose, who made it all of 16 games with the Tampa Bay Lightning in his blink-and-you’ll-miss-it return to the NHL.

Sometimes a coaches dismissal has more to do with perception about their ability to get a team past the plateau they’ve brought them to. You’re perceived as the guy who brought your team to a predestined point, but apparently not the one to take them rest of the way. The Nuggets’ Jeff Bzdelik fit this bill in the NBA, just as Buddy Bell was brought in to the Rockies just to turn around the single-season death spiral Jim Leyland had them in. Current Rockies coach Bud Black may find himself on the hot seat soon enough after a lackluster 2020, even though he is only manager in Rockies history to currently own a winning record. Eric Studesville is a name even some casual Broncos fans barely remember.

Back to the example of Rivers, he found himself as his organization’s easiest point of inflection in the need to deliver a message to the remainder of the team and expectant fanbase that “something is being done” about a loss that thrilled Coloradoans, but embarrassed Angelenos. That sizable wave that Mike Malone is currently riding had an undertow that dragged Doc right out to Philadelphia. His story is one that will happen to every coach in every league, eventually. How many guys steering their ship left of their own volition? The list is short.

The Clippers knew they had to show some sort of seriousness about this to the people producing the product and the people purchasing it, as their window to win is embarrassingly narrow. They’ve locked themselves in to the players they have, for the most part, and their flexibility on that front was low. Do you do something drastic? Take a bath on the fire sale you’ll have to pretend you’re not having, and lose a lot of pennies on your dollars to make a shift, with no guarantees that will help?

Or do you convince yourself that your calls were the right ones, and maybe just the guy executing them didn’t quite “get it”? That means you only have one piece to pull, shift, and show everyone that you weren’t satisfied with the outcome. It’s an amazingly seductive tale to tell those everyones. But especially yourself. Just the easiest way to make a big change. Who wouldn’t take a leap at that?

Was Doc Rivers the guy who helped the Celtics win a Championship, or the only coach to let three 3-1 advantages slip away? Yes. Did he deserve to be fired? People far smarter than me cannot seem to agree on the answer to that question, and he’s already becoming a part of the grist in the coaching mill that continues to churn. Already an example of so many others. Dozens of coaches and managers will undoubtedly fall beneath that ax next season because they are often the cheapest and most convenient way to stir the pot. It’s not just lonely at the top for the people who fill those chairs. It’s precarious as hell. Winning it all is the only sure way to keep your seat.