FanPost

Why did Mark Jackson wind up coaching Golden State, and not the Wolves?

One of the obvious objections to Mark Jackson as a head coaching candidate was always that he hadn't paid his dues as an Assistant Coach or in any team's front office. Other wannabe head men – Patrick Ewing, for example – have spent several years waiting for interviews. Why should Mark Jackson be given a pass? Being a point guard isn't necessarily enough, is it?

I'd imagined that positional bias was the main explanation for Jackson's being interviewed here. Catchers and utility infielders make good baseball managers, and point guards become basketball coaches. Still, even Nate McMillan did some time as an assistant, and Brian Shaw – another PG/"Utility Infielder" sort of player – has put in several years without being hired to lead a team.

Who knew, though, that Jackson's coaching fate was in fact being dictated by The Almighty?

Why, Jackson knew, apparently:

"I believe that I was called to coach the Warriors and use that platform, so the pressure is not on me to do it," Jackson said. "I fully surrender and submit to God that there will be plenty of opportunities to get home to my ministry, but I'm not going to compromise my calling as the head coach of the Golden State Warriors."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/01/SPSB1KTB3R.DTL&ao=3#ixzz1WzVzYzk8

Feeling jealous as a Wolves fan? (God hired him out from under us!) Well, feast your eyes on God's further pronouncements with respect to the Warriors:

"I look at the talent, the upside, the draft, the coaching staff and the culture change," Jackson said. "I am not a guy who would say, 'We're going to playoffs' because it's a great headline. That's not me. In fact, people were shocked that I said only that, because that's not all I believe.

"I've been a winner all of my life, and I truly believe that great things are about to happen."

And he believes a higher power will show the way.

"I don't believe it's pressure on me, because my only job is to speak what I believe and then watch what God does," Jackson said. "Sometimes folks will stumble into blessings because of the overflow of favor on my life.

"An old pastor said, 'Favor ain't fair, but it sure is fabulous.' "

The level of arrogance, here.... It is staggering.

It pains me to think that the out-of-check egotism represented here was probably among the strongest reasons for which Jackson, never having done the necessary work to become a head coach, was probably considered too early and too eagerly by the sorts of people who run NBA franchises. If this sort of "God wants me to hit home runs" self-involvement is what passes for being an upstanding citizen.... Yikes.

I have nothing against sincerely held religious beliefs. Lorenzo Romar, when he was on the Wolves' radar briefly last spring, seemed like an example of someone who held such beliefs and wanted to stay in his college position partly because of them. But there's a difference between that and being a schmuck. This kind of crap doesn't glorify religion, it cheapens it.

(Groan.)