The Orlando Magic have dismissed coach Frank Vogel after two years on the job, the team confirmed this morning. News of Vogel’s ousting came earlier this morning, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and others who confirmed the move.
The team released the following statement on Thursday morning:
Frank Vogel has been dismissed as head coach of the Orlando Magic, President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman announced today.
“We would like to thank Frank for his contributions to the Orlando Magic,” said Weltman. “We appreciate the sacrifices he made as head coach and certainly wish him and his family well going forward.”
Vogel was named the Magic’s 13th head coach on May 20, 2016. During his two seasons in Orlando, the Magic compiled a record of 54-110 (.329 win pct.). The Magic finished the 2017-18 season with a 25-57 record.
The Magic hired Vogel after he did not have his contract renewed as coach of the Indiana Pacers after the 2015-16 season. With the Pacers, Vogel took the team to consecutive Eastern Conference finals in 2012 and ’13, losing to the Miami Heat both times. He spent six seasons with the Pacers, going 250-181 overall and 31-30 in the playoffs.
Vogel moved on to Orlando shortly after coach Scott Skiles shocked the team by resigning as coach in May of 2016. Roughly a week later, the Magic hired Vogel as CEO Alex Martins and then-general manager Rob Hennigan both said they wanted a coach who has strong defensive principles and can connect with the players.
At the time, Vogel inherited a young, talented team that featured Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon, Victor Oladipo, Evan Fournier and Elfrid Payton.
In Vogel’s first season with the Magic, the team tried to play three big men — Bismack Biyombo, Serge Ibaka and Vucevic — at the same time and did not have good results with it. The team eventually dealt Ibaka to the Toronto Raptors in February of 2017 and traded Payton to the Phoenix Suns at the trade deadline this season.
According to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel, the next moves for the Magic on the coaching front will be shaped by their new front office:
Last May, the Magic hired a new president of basketball operations, Jeff Weltman, and a new general manager, John Hammond. Weltman and Hammond decided they would spend their first year on the job evaluating every aspect of the Magic’s basketball-operations department, including the coaching staff.
The Magic have suffered from coaching instability for several years now. The franchise churned through four coaches over the last four full seasons: Jacque Vaughn, interim coach James Borrego, Scott Skiles and Vogel.
…
Weltman and Hammond kept mum about their plans for Vogel and, therefore, have not publicly discussed their plans for the hiring process or candidates to fill the job.
Weltman spent four seasons as a Toronto Raptors executive, and most of the speculation about potential successors to Vogel has centered around people Weltman worked with in Toronto, including Raptors assistant coach Nick Nurse and the Raptors’ G-League coach, Jerry Stackhouse.
Nurse and Stackhouse could become candidates for Orlando’s coaching job. Nurse is well-regarded in the industry. Stackhouse coaches the Raptors’ G-League team, and that squad won the league title last season and once again has advanced to the G-League finals.
