Frank Vogel Will Not Return as Pacers Head Coach: Latest Comments and Reaction

Making the playoffs in five of the last six seasons wasn’t enough for Frank Vogel to keep his job as head coach of the Indiana Pacers. The team declined to offer him a new deal after his current one expires at the end of the 2015-16 season, team president Larry Bird announced on Thursday:

Bird: “I’ve decided that it’s time for a new voice around here… This is one of the toughest things I’ve done.”

— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) May 5, 2016

Larry Bird: “Frank’s not getting fired, his contract is up and I just made the decision not to renew it.”

— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) May 5, 2016

Larry Bird: “My experience has been good coaches leave after 3 years.” Watch Bird’s press conference live: https://t.co/tljOUT7GKr

— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) May 5, 2016

Asked about coaching candidates, Bird said, “I got a list of guys and I’m just putting it together. This final decision just came down.”

— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) May 5, 2016

Indiana finished the regular season seventh (45-37) in the Eastern Conference and lost in seven games to the Toronto Raptors in the first round of the 2016 playoffs.

Charles looks ahead to what’s in store for Frank Vogel and the Pacers this offseason: https://t.co/jbSQjFjW3b

— TurnerSportsPR (@TurnerSportsPR) May 2, 2016

By most standards, making the playoffs was a positive overall result for a Pacers team somewhat in transition. Paul George was in his first full year back from a major knee injury, and Indiana was undergoing a stylistic change from what made it so successful in past years.

“If you watched us play the last four, five or six years, we were more of a plodding team,” said Bird in December 2015, per ESPN.com’s Kevin Arnovitz. “We had the big …

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