Indiana Pacers: Top 5 Coaches In Franchise History
4. Frank Vogel
Tenure: 6 seasons (2010-16)
Regular Season Winning %: .580
Playoff Winning %: .508
Frank Vogel’s tale is a classic rags-to-riches story. He began humbly as a student manager for the Kentucky Wildcats basketball team and his first NBA job was not much glitzier (he became the Boston Celtics’ video coordinator after graduating from Kentucky).
Rick Pitino was Vogel’s first significant coaching influence, as Pitino mentored Frank Vogel at both the University of Kentucky and with the Boston Celtics.
Pacers president of basketball operations Larry Bird surprised many around the NBA by hiring Vogel to be his head coach during the 2010-11 campaign, but Frank Vogel made the most of his opportunity.
Pacers' Frank Vogel will coach the NBA Eastern Conference All-Stars. So that's a solid climb from being a student manager at Kentucky.
— Brett Dawson (@BDawsonWrites) January 15, 2014
Vogel led the Pacers during one of their most successful eras since joining the NBA, taking the team to consecutive Eastern Conference Finals appearances in 2013 and 2014.
Frank Vogel was credited with changing the Pacers’ team culture upon his arrival as head coach, cultivating a supportive, player-friendly atmosphere, while also establishing a new, tougher team identity with the evolution of “smash-mouth basketball” in Indiana.
Larry Bird decided it was time for a change last summer, but when Frank Vogel was not retained by the Pacers as head coach, he garnered immediate interest around the league and was hired by the Orlando Magic in May 2016.
Frank Vogel’s journey is a testament to what hard work and perseverance can do.
Vogel set a goal of working in the NBA and eventually becoming a head coach, and he not only achieved those goals, but he has prospered and looks to be someone who will be a fixture in the league for a long time to come.