Doug Collins Returns to TV and Says He Won’t Coach Again

ESPN has hired Doug Collins for its NBA TV broadcast team. Collins, who left after three years on the Philadelphia Sixers’ bench last season, says he won’t coach again: Q: Two trips to the playoffs and obviously a lost season last season … how do you reflect on your time coaching the Sixers? A: ‘I loved it. I absolutely loved it. To go back there, it was a circle-of-life thing for me. I went there as a player when the team was 9-73. And then to be in the NBA Finals in 1977, I got to play with some great players and some great coaches. So to go back the second time as a coach, going back to so many established friendships in the city and the fans and getting back into the playoffs, I just love the place. I’ve always loved the passion of the fans and just how much they love their teams in Philadelphia. We swung for the fences [when] we added Andrew Bynum. We had to give up a lot of young pieces; Andrew was hurt and it didn’t work out. But I give a lot of credit to Josh [Harris] and the ownership because they didn’t want to be mediocre. They wanted to have a chance at being a championship team. If you look at the pieces we had, with [Mo] Harkless and [Nikola] Vucevic and Jrue [Holiday] and Dre [Andre Iguodala] and Thad [Young] and Evan [Turner] and Spencer [Hawes], there were a lot of good young pieces. It’s a shame the Andrew Bynum thing didn’t work out. It was nobody’s fault. It just didn’t work out. But I knew where the franchise was going. I knew they realized they were probably going to have to rebuild, and I was at the stage of my career where I just didn’t feel like I was the right coach for them at that time. At age 62 to take 60 losses … I wanted to coach a good team for three, four more years and then move on. […] Q: Anytime a coach works in television, you immediately start to wonder how long it’ll be before he’s back on a bench. So what are the chances we see you taking one more coaching job somewhere? A: ‘No, I’m through coaching. I said it when I went to Philly. That was my last spot. Like I said, it was a circle of life for me. I was at a coaching clinic the other day at Illinois State talking about how difficult coaching has become. There’s so much criticism and you’re always under the microscope. It’s a tough, tough thing. There’s so much money involved because these franchises are worth hundreds of millions of dollars — and the coach, whether it’s right or wrong, has to be in the spotlight all the time. That’s just the way the situation is. […] Coaching is 24/7. You know it’s going to be on your mind all the time. But I feel like I never coached a team that underachieved and I feel very good about that. The respect that you look for is the respect of your peers, and hopefully I have that. I always felt our teams were prepared and I feel like we had young players get better wherever I was. There’s certain things in coaching you can’t control, but I’m proud of what I’ve done as a coach and I’m excited about this part of my life.'”