MIAMI -- Miami Heat coach Stan Van Gundy is resigning today, citing personal family reasons.

A team official spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision hasn't been revealed publicly. The source told The Associated Press that Van Gundy's decision would be announced later this morning.

Van Gundy led the team to the best record in the Eastern Conference a season ago.

It's not clear who would replace him, but there are indications that former Heat coach Pat Riley could return to the sideline. Riley named Van Gundy as his successor a little more than two years ago.

The Heat are 11-10 this season. Shaquille O'Neal returned Sunday night in an OT win against the Wizards after missing 18 games with a sprained ankle.

Miami leads the Southeast Division by two games over Orlando and Washington.

Pat Riley back as a head coach?????

This might be one of those Lenny Wilkens type of resignations.

Source: Heat coach Van Gundy resigns
Associated Press


MIAMI -- Miami Heat coach Stan Van Gundy, who led the team to the best record in the Eastern Conference a season ago, resigned Monday citing family reasons.

A team official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the decision had not been made public, told The Associated Press that Van Gundy's resignation would be announced later Monday.

The team called a news conference for 11 a.m. ET, saying Van Gundy, team president and former coach Pat Riley and Heat owner Micky Arison would appear.

It was not immediately clear who would replace Van Gundy, but indications were Riley, who chose him as his successor a little more than two years ago, could return to the sideline.

Van Gundy's job status has been the subject of speculation in South Florida for months, starting when Riley -- his mentor -- said shortly after the Heat's 2005 playoff run ended that he decide to take a larger role in the team's day-to-day operations.

That comment, which seemed innocuous at the time, set off a storm of speculation that Riley was planning to dismiss Van Gundy and take over a team with two of the NBA's biggest stars, Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade.

Riley and Van Gundy eventually met for nearly four hours in mid-July. Van Gundy emerged from that session saying he was assured that he'd remain Heat coach.

But the team has struggled in its first 21 games, going only 11-10, albeit without O'Neal for 18 of them while the 12-time All-Star nursed a sprained right ankle. Still, it wasn't the start anybody expected from a team built to contend for an NBA championship.

Van Gundy was Riley's top assistant for eight seasons, getting the job shortly before the 2003-04 campaign when Riley walked into his office unexpectedly and told him he was stepping aside.

And just as suddenly, Van Gundy is now gone, hours after leading the Heat to an overtime win over Washington on Sunday night.

If Riley returns, he'd be bringing some impressive background with him.

Riley, a winner of 1,110 games in 21 seasons, led the "Showtime" Lakers of Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to titles in 1982, 1985, 1987 and 1988. He also coached the New York Knicks (1991-95) and then the Heat from 1995 through 2003.

"I'm not ever going to rule it out," Riley said this summer when asked about returning. "I think over the last couple of years, Stan has done a great job and I've stayed way in the background. I may take a little bit more of an active, I think, participation in some of the things, but for the most part I'm content at doing what I'm doing."

Before coming to the Heat, Van Gundy had college stints at Vermont, Castleton State, Canisius, Fordham, UMass-Lowell and Wisconsin. When Riley joined the Heat, Van Gundy came with him in large part because his brother, Jeff, was under contract to the New York Knicks and couldn't stay on Riley's staff.

His first season as head coach didn't get off to a good start, with the Heat losing Van Gundy's first seven games. But with Wade leading a talented nucleus of young players, Miami finished that season 42-40 and as the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

And that summer, Riley sent three players to Los Angeles for O'Neal, who had been part of three championships with the Lakers. Van Gundy coached the Heat to a second consecutive season of a 17-win improvement, getting them to 59-23 and guiding them to the Southeast Division title and to the East finals.

this has been rumored since early in the summer. it was bound to happen. SVG is getting sort of a raw deal, but I think Shaq and Riley know this team has a two year window at best.

Posted by McK1:

IMO SVG isn't a big game coach.


[Edited by - McK1 on 12-12-2005 10:44 AM]

wade missed a game vs. detroit in the playoffs.
damon jones jocked a 3 and wade got stripped in the final 2 mins of the game.
is that stan's fault?
remember the team a year before that almost made the ECF?
this is shady and i think this comes directly from shaq who wants riley as the coach.

Posted by djsunyc:

Posted by McK1:

IMO SVG isn't a big game coach.


[Edited by - McK1 on 12-12-2005 10:44 AM]

remember the team a year before that almost made the ECF?

not calling timeout when they had 1 left down 3. yeah I remeber it.

Time is money when the title shot is currently riding on Shaq. Gotta play your aces and that includes on the sideline and that means Pat the Rat is back.

Plus in watching the press conference, Pat made a couple of references to the young players like dorrell not developing which is directly attributal to Stan and the team he put together I guess not playing up to its capabilities something he doesn't have the star power to control. SVG did a great job with Wade and Shaq and a lot of role players. He now has a team of guys who have some level of stardom on this level. It takes a bigger star on the sideline to keep the focuses.

Posted by Bonn1997:

I'd view it pretty negatively if he left the team in the middle of the season unless the family reasons are extremely serious.

Seems like the Van Gundy MO

I expected this, shaq is wearing down, the window is closing on miami, The heat invested a boatlod of money in shaq, Riley and the heat are not about to let fat boy vangundy phuch up this small window of opportunity.... I could see this comming..

Posted by martin:

I love Stan cause every time I see him I think of Ron Jeremy.

That was an image I didn't need. If a sex video from any member of the Van Gundy family ever got made it's best to pretend it didn't happen.

Stan got a big head, and like his brother his ego grew faster than the results. He had a nice 2 seasons. Riley is screwing him over, so is Shaq.