The Phoenix Suns will not be parting with Jeff Hornacek
Jun 2, 2015, 6:21 PM | Updated: Jun 3, 2015, 11:19 am
Contrary to reports and speculation, Jeff Hornacek is not going anywhere. The Suns coach will return for a third season behind the bench in 2015-16. Now, much of the speculation about Hornacek not coming back to Phoenix revolved around the job at Iowa State opening up when Fred Hoiberg left the Cyclones to take over the Chicago Bulls. Hornacek played at Iowa State, was a legend there, and it makes some sense to see him as someone they would want to talk to. But more than likely they are going to hire one of Hoiberg’s assistant coaches.
But even in the last week more speculation on Hornacek’s job status came in to question. Just a few days ago, respected NBA writer Chris Sheridan at Sheridanhoops.com tweeted out some news he got from an NBA source.
An NBA big shot who I know and trust just told me a coach is getting fired in next couple days, and nobody sees it coming.
— Chris Sheridan (@sheridanhoops) May 28, 2015
That was on May 27th. Three days later he responded with this nugget:
Who is mystery coach on hot seat I tweeted about a couple days ago? Starting to think it is Jeff Hornacek of #Suns: http://t.co/8liypzqb5j
— Chris Sheridan (@sheridanhoops) May 30, 2015
Now, Sheridan is dialed in. But so am I. I did some checking on this and found out that “NO,” Hornacek is not getting fired. And “replacing our coach has never been discussed.”
The Suns had huge success with Hornacek in his first year, going 48-34 in a year in which many experts thought Phoenix could be the worst team in the NBA. Last year they slumped to 39-43. But those 39 wins were still 14 wins better than the season before Hornacek arrived, when they won 25 games.
Hornacek is a very good coach. He is under contract for one more season and the Suns hold an option for 2016-17, so they can control him for two more season. The Suns will be under tremendous pressure to win this coming season after missing the playoffs for five straight years. But to think they would fire a coach who has gone 87-77 in what was supposed to be two massive rebuilding years is absurd. Hornacek isn’t going anywhere.
