John Clay's Sidelines

Frank Vogel (AP photo)

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports is reporting that the Indiana Pacers are close to making Frank Vogel a contract offer to remove the interim head coach tag. Vogel was a former manager at UK under Rick Pitino.

Wojnarowski writes, “The Indiana Pacers have made significant progress toward deciding to make interim Frank Vogel the permanent head coach while working to strengthen his grip on the locker room, league sources told Yahoo! Sports. No final decision has been reached, but sources said most of the hurdles have been cleared for Vogel to be offered a multi-year contract in the near future. Bird and Vogel have met several times in recent weeks, and have targeted several assistant coaches – including Terry Porter and J.B. Bickerstaff – that the Pacers would like to surround Vogel.”

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Frank Vogel (AP photo)

Was talking with a friend at the Blue Grass Stakes on Saturday, when I mentioned that the Pacers were leading the Bulls in the first round of their NBA playoff series.

“Who coaches the Pacers anyway?” asked the friend.

“I have no idea,” I said. “I know they fired Jim O’Brien (the former Rick Pitino assistant) during the season. I think they named one of his assistants head coach.”

Who knew that assistant/interim head coach has UK ties?

I didn’t, or at least not until I did an internet investigation to find the answer.

Turns out the Pacers interim coach is Frank Vogel, who was a student manager under Pitino at UK. Vogel was a transfer from Juniata College in Huntington, Pa., who also played on the junior varsity at Kentucky. He also graduated from UK.

Continue reading ‘Who knew the Pacers interim coach is a UK grad?’