Pity the overworked, underpaid National Basketball Association coach, who for years tried to get an honest day's work from petulant stars whose salaries dwarfed his own.
Not anymore.There's a new breed of NBA coach who is his team's biggest star: Pat Riley in Miami; Rick Pitino in Boston; Larry Bird in Indiana; John Calipari in New Jersey; and Larry Brown in Philadelphia. Such high-profile, glamour coaches have been given long-term, multimillion-dollar contracts, and in some cases have been granted total control over the franchise's basketball operations.
"Players respect three things," said 76ers President Pat Croce, "experience, force and money."
Power coaches have all three.
This year, the average salary for the league's coaches is around $2.76 million, according to the National Basketball Players Association. The figure is about $750,000 more than last year's average player salary, making the NBA the only league where the average coach's salary exceeds the average player's. The players' figure will rise this year, although it's unlikely to eclipse the coaches.
"It brings some respect to the coaching profession," said Bernie Bickerstaff of the Washington Wizards. "You should go to bat for your coach."
Croce agrees, which is why his new coach, Brown, has a five-year, $25 million contract that gives him the final say on all personnel decisions.
"Now, he has the hammer," Croce said.
The power to be in charge
Calipari, who has a five-year, $15 million contract as coach and general manager of the Nets, said the money and power make it clear to the players that he's the one in charge.
That wasn't always the case for coaches, said New York Knicks assistant Don Chaney, former head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers, Houston Rockets and Detroit Pistons. He can recall when team management routinely sided with players during disagreements with coaches.
"Now, if there's a decision to be made, maybe the player goes," said Chaney, the 1990-91 Coach of the Year with the Rockets.
The all-powerful coach has its roots in the game's greatest dynasty, the Celtics of the 1960s. Their coach, Red Auerbach, agreed with Chaney: Coaches need the final say to be effective.
"It's a huge advantage," said Auerbach, who led the Celtics to nine world championships, including eight in a row from 1958-1966. "A coach has to have the ability to say who he wants and doesn't want on his roster."
For that right, the current group of franchise coaches can thank Riley, who raised the bar when he skipped from the Knicks to Miami in 1995, accepting a six-year contract worth about $42 million that includes part ownership.
"I think it's long overdue," Riley said. "It sends a message that owners want somebody to be in charge."
It isn't all they want.
Willingness to pay
Owners have demonstrated their willingness to pay top dollar for something extra in their coaches, whether it's the style of Riley, the charisma of Pitino or Calipari or the interest created by Bird's return to his home state of Indiana.
Escalating salaries are evidence of that. In the mid-1980s, the highest-paid coach in the NBA was making about $200,000. In the latter part of the decade, the figure rose to about $500,000.
"Coaching is only one of the variables owners are looking for," said Pitino, who left the University of Kentucky to sign a 10-year contract worth about $70 million to become president and coach of the Celtics. "Everybody's looking for a leader of men."
Even those coaches who don't have total control are benefiting from those who do, Chaney said. His boss with the Knicks, Jeff Van Gundy, will make about $2 million this season.
"Riley and Pitino have jacked the salaries up so high that it's trickled down to the smaller coaches," he said.
Many NBA coaches these days have more to do than their predecessors -- even if they aren't among the half dozen or so that have total control. Teams are drafting younger and younger players.
Eight of the top 10 players selected in the June draft were underclassmen. With a growing number of teenagers in the league, coaches are being looked to as teachers, baby-sitters and psychologists, said Lenny Wilkens, the NBA's all-time winningest coach.
"Coaches have to be willing to spend that kind of time in developing these young talents," said Wilkens, who recently signed a four-year extension worth about $22 million with the Atlanta Hawks.
"Coaches are responsible for everything, and the salaries have finally caught up with how hard these guys work."