On a recent episode of the Dan Le Batard and Friends’ – STUpodity podcast, former New Orleans Pelicans head coach Stan Van Gundy made a guest appearance to talk about his lone season as their head coach.
On the show, Van Gundy was very clear that he and the Pelicans’ front office never saw eye-to-eye and were not on the same page at all throughout the season.
“We just weren’t on the same page at all about what coaching is all about. That became clear probably a little bit during the season, but certainly after the season.”
In the 2020-21 season as head coach in New Orleans, the Pelicans went 31-41.
After his short time as their head coach came to an end, Van Gundy was asked about the parting of ways being about called a mutual split.
“I would say it was joint in this sense: I think you can understand this, I don’t want to be somewhere they don’t want me. And they didn’t want me. I wasn’t at that point going to fight to try to stay there,” Van Gundy said. “When I left Detroit, my owner there — who I really liked — Tom Gores, also said it was a mutual decision. I said yeah, ‘Tom asked me to leave so I left.’ I guess that’s mutual.”
For now, Van Gundy is still a coaching free agent with just a few head jobs still available. One of the most experienced options on the market, he should be somewhat attractive to several teams to add him to their staff in some capacity.
