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Riley replaces Van Gundy as Heat coach
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-13 08:54
"If I'm getting forced out, I would have gotten absolutely every dollar on my
contract and walked out the door," Van Gundy said. "That's not what happened
here. ... Anybody who's speculating otherwise has to do so in total disregard of
the facts of the situation."
 Riley came to the Heat in 1995 after winning four titles with the "Showtime"
Los Angeles Lakers of Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, followed by a stint
with the Knicks. He has won 1,110 games in 21 seasons, the third-highest victory
total in NBA history.
Van Gundy has always professed to being a family-first man, someone who
abhors road trips and the idea of spending holidays away from his wife and four
children. He said that because of travel, games and practices, he would have
seen his children at home only 49 days out of 170 this season.
"That's just not enough any more for me. It's just not enough," Van Gundy
said. "I mean, it's been like that for my kids' entire lives. I've got a
14-year-old daughter and it started to hit me when I started thinking about her
birthday, which was last month. I've got four more years left with her. Four.
And then she'll be off to college and I'm just not willing to sacrifice any more
of those four more years."
Van Gundy said he began wrestling with the balance between job and family
during the preseason, and told Riley after the regular-season opener at Memphis
that they needed to talk about the future.
"I can't believe people have that big a problem actually believing that
someone would actually want to spend time with their family," Van Gundy said. "I
don't know why that's so hard for people to buy into."
Riley resigned as Heat coach shortly before the 2003-04 season, walking into
Van Gundy's office one morning and asking his top assistant, "You ready?" Van
Gundy went 42-40 in his first season, then 59-23 last year when Miami was the
No. 1 seed for the East playoffs.
The team underwent a major roster shakeup this offseason, with Riley saying
he was building a team to win a title now. Eddie Jones, Damon Jones and Rasual
Butler were among those moving on; Riley brought in Antoine Walker, Jason
Williams and James Posey, among others, to replace them.
And winning respect of the players won't be a difficult chore for Riley. Most
of them call him "Coach" already, and O'Neal commonly refers to him as "the
great Pat Riley."
That's why he has no qualms about taking over, even if he truly wanted Van
Gundy to stay.
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