Phil Jackson will likely call it a career after next season, according to his friend and former college coach Bill Fitch. Jackson, 64, ended speculation a few days ago about coaching for the 2010-11 season when he said he will return to the Lakers, a team he’s coached to NBA championships the last two years.
The hesitation to continue a 19 year NBA coaching career that has produced 11 titles was based on health concerns, presumably focused on discomfort caused by the travel and other physical demands of a 24-7 job that takes up about nine months of the calendar. Yet Fitch, a former NBA championship coach himself who coached Jackson while at the University of North Dakota, wasn’t surprised about the decision to return to the Lakers for one more year.
Fitch said Jackson’s hips bother him but he isn’t “near death’s door” and that the Lakers players and others in the organization were counting on him to coach next season. To make a rare three-peat as NBA champions a reality in 2011.
“What else is he going to do?” Fitch asked during an interview with Sports Headliners. “He’s a competitor. They’re (Jackson and his staff) still coaching. This season (the last one) never ended for the Lakers. Any time you’re going after that three in a row… . That’s what he’s back for. He’s back to play the second half of the game.”
But Jackson will be approaching his 66th birthday by next summer and Fitch does believe the end will arrive for a coaching career that produced a record number of NBA championships. “This will be it,” said Fitch. “He’s done after this year (2011).
“I think that’s probably part of the program. He’ll either announce it before the season starts or he may announce it today… .It’s going to be a hard decision for him but I doubt very much that he’ll go past this (next) year, win, lose or draw.”
In his announcement last week Jackson referred to a “last stand.” That willingness to return was predicated on his competitive drive and relationships with people including girlfriend Jeanie Buss, daughter of Lakers owner Jerry Buss. It wasn’t driven by money, in Fitch’s opinion.
There’s been speculation the Lakers didn’t want to compensate Jackson for $12 million or more as in the past. Fitch said he could see Jackson telling his agent, “‘Hey, whatever it takes. Whatever they (the Lakers) need. We’re going to do this for a year.’ ”
Jackson is divorced and has dated Jeanie Buss for years. She is a Lakers executive and has considerable authority in running the franchise. Fitch said Buss has been a positive influence in Jackson’s life, a woman with magazine model looks and business school smarts.
“She’s a smart lady,” Fitch said. “I’d be the first to tell him, ‘She could have done a lot better than you, Phil.’ ”