The New York Knicks coach saga ended when it was announced that they came to a multi-year agreement with interim coach Mike Woodson. Â One of the much discussed candidates for the job was Phil Jackson but many reports said Jackson did not want the job. Â A new ESPN report says Jackson indeed wanted the job but he wasn’t wanted by owner James Dolan. Â Read more after the jump.
I know for a fact that Phil Jackson wants to coach again. (How do you know that?) Because I talk to people who know things. I know for a fact that he wanted that Knicks job. I know for a fact that Jim Dolan didn’t want any part of Phil Jackson, because Jim Dolan doesn’t like people who think they’re smarter than him. Jim Dolan has a whole weird inferiority complex. Phil Jackson is way too smart and there was no way he [Dolan] was ever going to deal with that guy, so he hired Mike Woodson
Knicks GM Glen Grunwald gave a different answer on why Phil Jackson wasn’t contacted:
With Mike Woodson officially named Knicks head coach Friday night, general manager Glen Grunwald answered the $10 million-per-year question on why he didn’t reach out to Phil Jackson to see if he could lure the Zen Master and his NBA-record 11 coaching titles to Madison Square Garden.
Grunwald said Woodson’s postseason interview was as impressive as his 18-6 regular-season record and that slammed the door shut on Jackson.
“Woody earned the right to be the first person we talked to and turned out the only person we talked to because our discussion with him after the season really reflected why he was so successful during the season,” Grunwald said on a conference call. “We thought he was the right guy for this team at this time.”
He added, “Obviously there were names out there, had we opened up the search, that would’ve been called, namely Phil Jackson, the most successful coach in NBA history. But we felt Woody was our guy. We told Woody he’d get first crack at the job, and he hit it out of the park.”
Sources indicated Jackson was interested — and Jerry Sloan may have been, too. But they’ll have to wait as Woodson gets what’s believed to be a three-year deal, the length of service left on the pacts of Carmelo Anthony, Tyson Chandler and Amar’e Stoudemire.
