After a week of speculation, the Orlando Magic have reportedly fired head coach Jacque Vaughn.
After a week of speculation, another report trickled out regarding the job status of Orlando Magic head coach Jacque Vaughn. This particular tidbit from Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski comes with a little more immediacy than those we have heard in the past.
After 10 straight losses, the firing of Orlando coach Jacque Vaughn is imminent, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 5, 2015
That appeared to be more than imminence. Jacque Vaughn has been fired according to reports from Wojnarowski and the Orlando Sentinel duo of Josh Robbins and Brian Schmitz. James Borrego is expected to take over the interim job for the rest of the season. An official announcement is expected later this afternoon.
“Jacque (Vaughn) has been a trusted friend and colleague,” said Magic general manager Rob Hennigan in a released statement. “We thank him immensely for his contributions and sacrifices in bringing our team to this point, and we greatly appreciate his unwavering commitment to our organization. We have tremendous respect for Jacque and certainly wish him the best as he embarks on the next phase of his career.”
In addition to Vaughn, Schmitz reports the Magic have also fired assistant coaches Wes Unseld Jr., Brett Gunning and Zach Guthrie.
Just last Thursday, the Orlando Sentinel’s Brian Schmitz cited sources that kicked the groundswell of doubt around Vaughn into high gear. Wojnarowski piggybacked off that story with his own report of doom for the third-year head coach.
While being mired in the 10-game losing streak, the Magic have also given up 100 points to their opponents in each of the last 14 games. They have also lost 16 of their past 18 games and had only two wins in the entire month of January.
From a progress standpoint, the Magic have the same number of wins this year as they did last year at this point of the season — 15. The thought with this team was that they would be able to take a step forward collectively and compete deeper into the season. That has not happened as the wheels fell off following a .500 West Coast swing in December. The Magic dropped numerous games at home and had begun to look lifeless.
The past two games brought a small change, but it was clearly not enough to delay the inevitable.
The Magic’s next game is Friday against the Lakers (a team a spot behind the Magic in the NBA’s overall standings). If Borrego is going to make any monumental changes to the club, it will likely come following the All-Star Break next weekend.
And he may not get that full opportunity.
Wojnarowski reports Scott Skiles is the early favorite for the long term coaching position. Borrego, a long-time assistant, will get his chance in the lead chair with the opportunity to turn things around in Orlando. Wojnarowski further reports the Magic could move quickly to bring in an entirely new, permanent coaching staff during the All-Star Break. This would make Skiles even more available as he is currently out of coaching and living in the Central Florida area.
Sources: Real chance Orlando makes move for a new head coach during extended All-Star break, and Scott Skiles is a prominent candidate.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 5, 2015
It will be interesting to see what happens. The Magic’s rebuild has taken a very interesting turn with the team falling behind its schedule and moving on to a new leader in the locker room.
Philip Rossman-Reich contributed to this report.