Wherever he is right now, Randy Pfund has to be wondering at least a little bit about the meaning of life. Last week he was head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. This week he is added proof for the theorem that says coaches fit into two groups: those who are fired, and those who are about to be fired.
Pfund will get paid through the next two seasons so, technically, he still has a job, although it may be hard convincing himself of that when and/or if he next goes to a Laker game and notices all the seats on the bench taken.Something had to give when the Lakers hired Magic Johnson as their 11th head coach this week and it was Pfund. Financially, making the change didn't make any difference to the Lakers since they're also paying Johnson $17 million through the next two seasons, which is when his playing contract will expire. They merely decided to utilize their long-term contracts in a different manner.
Pfund's contract extension through the 1995-96 season was negotiated just a couple of months ago, an indication the 42-year-old coach no doubt took as a show of loyalty and support. Which fit right into his way of thinking. Pfund was always a company man. He displayed that three years ago when Pat Riley, his first boss with the Lakers, took the head coaching job with the New York Knicks and asked Pfund to join him on his staff. Pfund said he was a Lakers man and he would remain a Lakers man.
In the Lakers' media guide, it tells the story this way: "Randy displayed his loyalty to the Lakers, electing to stay with the franchise that gave him his initial NBA job back in 1985. Generally regarded as one of the bright, young assistants in the NBA at the time, the Wheaton, Illinois, native firmly believed that if he stayed with a successful organization such as the Lakers long enough, that his day in the sun would eventually come.
"He was right," the media guide continues. "When Mike Dunleavy decided to accept an offer from Milwaukee, Lakers' General Manager Jerry West simply looked down the hall from his office to find a worthy and deserving candidate."
That was a season and three-quarters ago. Pfund took over the wheel of the Mercedes Benz of the NBA, a franchise that hadn't had a losing season or missed a visit to the playoffs in 15 years. That of course was the good news. The bad news was that Magic, a victim of the HIV virus, had retired before his time the year before, leaving the franchise without a heart, a soul, and about 20 points and a dozen assists on any given night.
Pfund kept the remaining pieces glued together enough to get the Lakers into their 16th straight playoff in his rookie season as head coach last year, but it clearly wasn't the same neighborhood without Magic. Attendance that routinely averaged the capacity of 17,505 in the Great Western Forum dipped to 15,455 in Pfund's first season and dipped even further, to 11,200, this season. The only sellouts this year were for the opener against Phoenix and when Orlando and Shaquille O'Neal visited L.A.
The team got less and less competitive, playing itself out of the playoff race while mirroring what was happening a coast away, in Boston, where the Celtics, without Larry Bird, were also taking a dive, preparing for their first losing season and no-show in the playoffs in 15 seasons.
No one was shocked. Even dynasties sometimes have to regroup. No one was blaming the coaches, either Pfund in L.A. or Chris Ford, another company man, in Boston. When West gave Pfund his contract extension there was little if any complaint. Rather, it was seen as the positive thing to do, a gesture that would give the coach enough security that he wouldn't panic and try to fix everything immediately if not sooner.
But then came the decision to name Magic head coach, and while it is a move sure to raise the Lakers' attendance, and maybe even psychologically boost them to a winning finish in the 17 regular season games remaining, it's still got to have Pfund shaking his head at the irony of it all.
If Magic was still playing, the Lakers would be fighting for a high seed in the playoffs, not looking through ultra high-power binoculars to try to find Denver, the mediocre team they'd have to catch to make this year's playoffs. If Magic was still playing, scalpers outside the Forum wouldn't be having to work hockey games. If Magic was still playing, Pfund would be a candidate for coach of the year.
If Magic was still playing, Pfund would be coaching him, not giving him his clipboard.
Getting fired is one thing; getting fired and then getting replaced by the man who triggered the avalanche is another.