Report: Flip Saunders agrees to take over Washington Wizards

General NCS Basketball113

From Fox Sports:

Flip Saunders has agreed to become the new coach of the Washington Wizards, with an announcement expected next week, according to an NBA executive.

You may remember that Sidney Lowe served as an assistant to Saunders with the Detroit Pistons prior to his hiring at NC State. Lowe originally joined Saunders in Minnesota in 2003 prior to their move to Detroit in 2005.

Owner Abe Pollin has approved the hiring of Saunders, the choice of president of basketball operations Ernie Grunfeld to succeed interim coach Ed Tapscott, the executive told The Associated Press. The executive spoke on condition of anonymity because the season has not ended and the Wizards are not yet prepared to make a formal announcement.

The announcement isn’t expected until next week because the Wizards’ season ends Wednesday, and Grunfeld will be out of town for the NBA Board of Governors meetings Thursday and Friday.

Saunders will be taking over the worst team in the Eastern Conference. The Wizards are 19-62 after Monday night’s home loss to Toronto and need to win their final game at Boston to avoid matching the franchise mark for worst record over an 82-game season.

Saunders has coached for 13 NBA seasons, 10 with Minnesota and three with Detroit, with a career record of 587-396. Eleven of those teams made the playoffs, and he led the Pistons to three consecutive trips to the Eastern Conference finals from 2006 to 2008.

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General NCS Basketball

113 Responses to Report: Flip Saunders agrees to take over Washington Wizards

  1. Noah 04/15/2009 at 10:04 AM #

    What are you going to learn after year four and five that you don’t already know?

  2. BJD95 04/15/2009 at 10:07 AM #

    No idea re volleyball, but Fowler never gave up on Amato. He only fired him because the BOT would have fired Fowler if he refused.

    Fowler will never give up on Lowe because it would be an admission that he screwed up. It’s patently obvious that he screwed up, but that doesn’t mean he’ll ever admit it.

  3. sautz 04/15/2009 at 10:14 AM #

    Sidney played the holdovers and gave them a chance to complete their careers which is very commendable. He could have cleaned house and brought in a bunch of new faces but he didn’t.

    Really? He could have replaced our 4 and 5 star recruits that he did not develop with a bunch of Winston Salem State level recruits and that would have been better? Out of his four seasons recruiting we have Javi and Smith as two players you can say for sure are ACC quality.

  4. tvp1 04/15/2009 at 10:14 AM #

    If Lowe leaves now, doesn’t that leave us in an awful lurch for next year (that is, unless the rumors about a certain newly available coach are true)?

  5. Thinkpack17 04/15/2009 at 10:18 AM #

    “Out of his four seasons recruiting we have Javi and Smith as two players you can say for sure are ACC quality.”

    What about JJ, Brown, Howell, and Harrow?

  6. Packman02 04/15/2009 at 10:20 AM #

    ^^ Who is this ‘newly available coach’ – did I miss something?

  7. sautz 04/15/2009 at 10:20 AM #

    ^ How many games have they played in college? Even if you include them that is 5 players in 6 years. Wow.

  8. Girlfriend in a Coma 04/15/2009 at 10:21 AM #

    There is a lot going on. Buckle your seatbelts.

  9. Thinkpack17 04/15/2009 at 10:23 AM #

    JJ played for a year…he was pretty good. Are you saying that the other 3 aren’t ACC quality recruits? I mean if you are going to say that Sid has had “4 years” don’t you have to count this class? I mean he didn’t have a lot of available scholarships before this year.

  10. Thinkpack17 04/15/2009 at 10:24 AM #

    Where are you getting 6 years from?

  11. tvp1 04/15/2009 at 10:30 AM #

    ^^^^^There have been rumblings in a few different places linking NC State and a currently unemployed former college coach. You can probably figure out who I’m talking about. I don’t know personally if these rumors are accurate.

  12. sautz 04/15/2009 at 10:31 AM #

    ^ My bad, should have said 5 recruiting classes.

  13. TomCat 04/15/2009 at 10:38 AM #

    Not to be lost in the static is the true bottom line: Sid simply isn’t a college coach at this level. He can’t deliver the full package. His best attributes are- he played for NC State, he coached in the NBA (if you can call NBA ‘coaching’), and when he first took the job he convinced a handful of players to come to NC State. ——– That clean slate of a new coach now has a track record. If you aren’t an excellent X’s and O’s coach with a system- you better be able to our-recruit everyone. Sidney can do neither at this point. I applaud his jump into this position to lead the Pack following the Sendek exit/search debacle when no one came forward. It is now time transistion and get serious about the future of this program. How many years do we have to pay pennance before making the right professional decision? Best scenario: Lowe announces he is heading back to the NBA and will help lead the search committee (honorary position) for the next leader of the Pack. The writing is on the wall in this situation. We can either drag this painful situation out till we are the lowest of the low- or we can manage the situation- make a smart professional hire and move this program back in the right direction.

  14. Thinkpack17 04/15/2009 at 10:39 AM #

    ^^So you’re going to go ahead and count his first year recruiting even though he came in with no time to recruit, you are also going to count next year’s class as complete even though we aren’t even done with this year. Lastly we are just going to assume that Mays and Williams are never going to be “ACC quality”. Super logic.

  15. McPete 04/15/2009 at 10:40 AM #

    “There have been rumblings in a few different places linking NC State and a currently unemployed former college coach. You can probably figure out who I’m talking about”

    Not Bobby Knight! Maybe Fowler is going for round two with steve lavin?

  16. Packman02 04/15/2009 at 10:43 AM #

    ^ Gillispie??

    No Thanks. And I’m sure Fowler’s fascination with Lavin has run its course – he’s probably moved on to Clark Kellogg by now…or maybe Reggie Theus….

  17. BJD95 04/15/2009 at 10:49 AM #

    The timing is less than ideal, especially when being more proactive would have landed us Sean Miller. Still hope that a change happens. There are some names that I find interesting, and I’m not sure we can actually do worse.

  18. sautz 04/15/2009 at 10:52 AM #

    Thinkpack, I was trying to respond to a post that Sidney could have “cleaned house” when he same in. How would he do that if all he could get that 1st year was Big Lew? The OP was saying he could have just somehow dumped Costner, Ben, Fells, and who knows who else and started over.
    Would that be logical to you?

  19. Daily Update 04/15/2009 at 10:53 AM #

    TVP1 has to be talking about Billy Gillespie. Heck, I have heard Rick Barnes too though I don’t buy that in the least.

    As an NC State fan, a coaching change is about the most exciting thing that ever happens to us. So I am all for it especially if that is combined with Lee Fowler leaving as well.

  20. McPete 04/15/2009 at 10:55 AM #

    I heard Pete Gillen on Westwood One doing an opening round game at the ncaa tourney this year. maybe fowler can take a swing at him. and dave odom isn’t 90 yet, so he’s out there.

    seriously, is gillispie the rumor?

  21. Thinkpack17 04/15/2009 at 10:59 AM #

    Sautz…I think he means he could have tried to push them out…and if you are going to push someone out “Calipari Style” you have got to have Calipari’s endless supply of one-and-doners to backfill. So no I don’t think it would have been logical. But I don’t think your comment about Sid’s only having 2 ACC level recruits was logical either.

  22. ryebread 04/15/2009 at 11:05 AM #

    If it’s Gillespie, then we’re better off standing pat for another season. I watched Kentucky several times this season. There was talent there — they were just very poorly coached.

    I also watched the “ESPN Behind the Lines” updates regularly on Kentucky. He struck me as a terrible motivator — like a dumber version of Herb.

    I shudder when I think about that. Gillespie needs to go back to Texas where he can tap into that local talent pipeline that he mined for all of his previous recruits.

    If this is the pond we’re fishing in for a potential replacement, then we need to cut bait. We need to get a competent AD in here and give him some time to get a real candidate list together.

  23. McPete 04/15/2009 at 11:06 AM #

    Lowe’s signed at least 4 highly sought-after players: Hickson (5*), Smith (4*), Brown (4*), and Howell (4*). doesn’t mean he knows what to do with them, though.

  24. Astral Rain 04/15/2009 at 11:12 AM #

    If it’s a currently unemployed one- I’d take a shot at Nolan Richardson. With a decent base of talent, he can teach defense and toughness. John Cheney perhaps? He faded at the end- but that was lack of talent.

    I think the only way NCSU claws back into ACC relevance is going to be through toughness and defense, not trying to outscore the blue boys.

  25. Wulfpack 04/15/2009 at 11:17 AM #

    Hell while we’re at it let’s go get Jerry Tarkanian.

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