Have to include the Voisin take in the mix:
http://www.sacbee.com/kings/story/234012.html
Ailene Voisin: Reggie is no longer the wild, crazy guy
By Ailene Voisin - Bee Columnist
Last Updated 6:16 am PDT Thursday, June 21, 2007
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C1
Reggie Theus strolled in and immediately became the star of his show. He was witty and charming. He was insightful and entertaining. He was confident and candid when discussing his first NBA head-coaching job.
He still looks great in a suit.
Same old Reggie, right?
Maybe not so fast. Maybe not so young, either. With his 50th birthday approaching, Theus, who was introduced as Eric Musselman's replacement Wednesday afternoon, has shed the facial hair and is making no attempt to conceal the flecks of gray curling above the ears. He jokes about his playing days and hints that Reggie would hate to coach Reggie. He isn't that wild and crazy guy anymore, though he admits, with a rueful grin, that changing perceptions can be a long and tedious process.
That will be his first task.
That's always his first task.
Reggie as an authority figure will take some getting used to. Somehow, you have to purge the mind of those crazy no-look passes, the unconscious shot selection, the sound of coaches shrieking in dismay, as well as the flamboyant persona that helped turn the former All-Star into something of a Sacramento area cult figure.
"Because Reggie is such a good-looking, dynamic guy," said Louisville coach Rick Pitino, who hired Theus as an assistant in 2003, "people get the wrong impression. I remember when he called me about the job. He called me three times, and finally I said, 'Reggie, you're the last person who should work for me.' And he said: 'Coach, I'm not this ladies man, this guy, that guy, that everybody always portrays me as. I just want to coach.' "
Can he coach? Was Theus the wisest choice among candidates who included Stan Van Gundy, Kurt Rambis, Brian Shaw, Scott Brooks, Bill Cartwright, Tom Thibodeau and Elston Turner? Was he really the better fit than Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown, who was endorsed by Kings owners Joe and Gavin Maloof but nixed by Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie?
Stay tuned. This is Reggie's show now.
In the final hours of a coaching search that stretched to two months, after Petrie rebuffed Brown and the Maloofs remained torn between Shaw and Theus, Petrie broke the tie partly because of Pitino. Because of Pitino's endorsement. During several lengthy conversations, the Louisville coach -- one of the few to succeed at both the pro and college level, by the way -- related his own initial reservations about hiring Theus as an assistant, then spoke of a very different reality.
"We would be in at 6:30 in the morning," said Pitino, "and not leave until 8 at night. The hours were absolutely insane. And Reggie did a little bit of everything. Scouting, recruiting, teaching. He is a very, very good teacher, a better teacher than recruiter. But given his background, as a star in the NBA, he had to find it all kind of bizarre."
Or perhaps not so bizarre. His appearance was always a bit of a disguise.
Theus, who grew up in Los Angeles and became the first of Jerry Tarkanian's blue chip recruits at UNLV, played hard, and he played hurt. He never skipped practice with a faux injury. And even while enjoying a modicum of fame as an actor and TV analyst, he began his coaching career as a volunteer Amateur Athletic Union coach. Later, he served as an assistant in the minor leagues and Cal State Los Angeles before being named head coach at New Mexico State.
It was during the Aggies' appearance in the NCAA Tournament last March that the Maloofs began to consider Theus as a possible future coaching candidate. They liked his forceful, passionate demeanor and were impressed with his command of the huddle. They gushed to Petrie about his "leadership" ability -- an attribute that years earlier intrigued longtime Kings executive Jerry Reynolds.
"We would get into shouting matches," said Reynolds, one of the 16 coaches Theus played for in 13 NBA seasons, "and it was usually about his defense. But Reggie could run a team. He was one of those guys, like Scott Skiles, where you could put a play in one time and they knew it from everybody's position. And he was always a very tough guy. Nobody messed with him."
Asked to name his favorite former coach, Theus cites Utah's hard-nosed Jerry Sloan. Asked to list those who have been most influential coaches on his career, he mentions Tarkanian and Pitino. Asked to espouse a philosophy, Theus speaks of an uptempo offense and aggressive, unyielding defense. And this will strike longtime Theus observers as incongruous: His major quibble with the 2006-07 Kings concerns their defense, namely, the fact that it never existed.
"It's been a long ride to get here," he added later in the afternoon, "but I've been successful in everything I've done. We'll turn this around here, too."
About the writer: Reach Ailene Voisin at (916) 321-1208 or avoisin@sacbee.com.
http://www.sacbee.com/kings/story/234012.html
Ailene Voisin: Reggie is no longer the wild, crazy guy
By Ailene Voisin - Bee Columnist
Last Updated 6:16 am PDT Thursday, June 21, 2007
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C1
Reggie Theus strolled in and immediately became the star of his show. He was witty and charming. He was insightful and entertaining. He was confident and candid when discussing his first NBA head-coaching job.
He still looks great in a suit.
Same old Reggie, right?
Maybe not so fast. Maybe not so young, either. With his 50th birthday approaching, Theus, who was introduced as Eric Musselman's replacement Wednesday afternoon, has shed the facial hair and is making no attempt to conceal the flecks of gray curling above the ears. He jokes about his playing days and hints that Reggie would hate to coach Reggie. He isn't that wild and crazy guy anymore, though he admits, with a rueful grin, that changing perceptions can be a long and tedious process.
That will be his first task.
That's always his first task.
Reggie as an authority figure will take some getting used to. Somehow, you have to purge the mind of those crazy no-look passes, the unconscious shot selection, the sound of coaches shrieking in dismay, as well as the flamboyant persona that helped turn the former All-Star into something of a Sacramento area cult figure.
"Because Reggie is such a good-looking, dynamic guy," said Louisville coach Rick Pitino, who hired Theus as an assistant in 2003, "people get the wrong impression. I remember when he called me about the job. He called me three times, and finally I said, 'Reggie, you're the last person who should work for me.' And he said: 'Coach, I'm not this ladies man, this guy, that guy, that everybody always portrays me as. I just want to coach.' "
Can he coach? Was Theus the wisest choice among candidates who included Stan Van Gundy, Kurt Rambis, Brian Shaw, Scott Brooks, Bill Cartwright, Tom Thibodeau and Elston Turner? Was he really the better fit than Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown, who was endorsed by Kings owners Joe and Gavin Maloof but nixed by Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie?
Stay tuned. This is Reggie's show now.
In the final hours of a coaching search that stretched to two months, after Petrie rebuffed Brown and the Maloofs remained torn between Shaw and Theus, Petrie broke the tie partly because of Pitino. Because of Pitino's endorsement. During several lengthy conversations, the Louisville coach -- one of the few to succeed at both the pro and college level, by the way -- related his own initial reservations about hiring Theus as an assistant, then spoke of a very different reality.
"We would be in at 6:30 in the morning," said Pitino, "and not leave until 8 at night. The hours were absolutely insane. And Reggie did a little bit of everything. Scouting, recruiting, teaching. He is a very, very good teacher, a better teacher than recruiter. But given his background, as a star in the NBA, he had to find it all kind of bizarre."
Or perhaps not so bizarre. His appearance was always a bit of a disguise.
Theus, who grew up in Los Angeles and became the first of Jerry Tarkanian's blue chip recruits at UNLV, played hard, and he played hurt. He never skipped practice with a faux injury. And even while enjoying a modicum of fame as an actor and TV analyst, he began his coaching career as a volunteer Amateur Athletic Union coach. Later, he served as an assistant in the minor leagues and Cal State Los Angeles before being named head coach at New Mexico State.
It was during the Aggies' appearance in the NCAA Tournament last March that the Maloofs began to consider Theus as a possible future coaching candidate. They liked his forceful, passionate demeanor and were impressed with his command of the huddle. They gushed to Petrie about his "leadership" ability -- an attribute that years earlier intrigued longtime Kings executive Jerry Reynolds.
"We would get into shouting matches," said Reynolds, one of the 16 coaches Theus played for in 13 NBA seasons, "and it was usually about his defense. But Reggie could run a team. He was one of those guys, like Scott Skiles, where you could put a play in one time and they knew it from everybody's position. And he was always a very tough guy. Nobody messed with him."
Asked to name his favorite former coach, Theus cites Utah's hard-nosed Jerry Sloan. Asked to list those who have been most influential coaches on his career, he mentions Tarkanian and Pitino. Asked to espouse a philosophy, Theus speaks of an uptempo offense and aggressive, unyielding defense. And this will strike longtime Theus observers as incongruous: His major quibble with the 2006-07 Kings concerns their defense, namely, the fact that it never existed.
"It's been a long ride to get here," he added later in the afternoon, "but I've been successful in everything I've done. We'll turn this around here, too."
About the writer: Reach Ailene Voisin at (916) 321-1208 or avoisin@sacbee.com.
