Stan Van Gundy opens up about departure from Detroit Pistons

One season after his last game in Detroit, Stan Van Gundy recently opened up in detail about his departure from the Pistons on one of ESPN’s Dan Le Batard’s podcasts.

The Detroit Pistons are one year removed from the end of the Stan Van Gundy era. The former head coach recently opened up about his career as a coach and his time as head coach and President of Basketball Operations in Detroit.

Van Gundy is now a part of ESPN’s NBA coverage team and regularly makes appearances on SportsCenter, The Jump, and The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz. The latest episode of Dan Le Batard’s South Beach Sessions featured a roughly 45-minute interview with Van Gundy during which he reflected on his coaching career.

"“It was upsetting to me because I think we were getting close…” – Stan Van Gundy"

Le Batard — a longtime friend of Van Gundy since his time in Miami — painted the picture of the stresses that come with being an NBA head coach and Van Gundy agreed it was not always enjoyable.

“One of the things that really bothers me is I’ve been at this so long in a job that is a great job and have not really found a way to enjoy it as much as I should,” he said.

Van Gundy and the Pistons agreed to part ways in May 2018 after four seasons in Detroit. The team went 152-176 during his tenure and went 0-4 in their one playoff appearance in 2016.

“It was upsetting to me because I think we were getting close, and we had made the deal for Blake Griffin, and then when we got him in there and Reggie Jackson came back we really thought with that group that we had a chance to be good. We didn’t get a chance to finish it out. Blake got hurt. Those guys only played I think four games together. So it was a feeling of we didn’t get this done; we didn’t get the corner turned, but we’re close.”

The Pistons went 39-43 in Van Gundy’s final season as head coach and team president. He is one of few coaches to take on the dual role in recent years including former Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau and Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich.

"“It was hard for me. I made it pretty quick so that I wouldn’t break down and lose it.” – Stan Van Gundy"

The former coach voiced his feelings about the stresses of wearing both hats for a franchise:

“I had both jobs here in Detroit which meant that I had a lot of people working for me, and the thing that people I don’t think, fans don’t really think about a lot when they’re calling for coaches’ heads and want the coach fired and everything else is; with the head coach that’s fine. We’re all vastly overpaid so we’re in good financial situations if we get fired. I think what people don’t think about is — I had 50 people working for me. The vast majority of them in these kinds of situations will end up out of a job and they’re not making huge money and things like that. They’re worrying about how they’re going to feed their family and where the next job is coming from and everything else.”

Van Gundy reportedly held meetings with Pistons owner Tom Gores after the end of the 2017-18 season before they decided to part ways.

“When the final decision was made [Gores] was kind enough to let me be the one to break it to the staff,” Van Gundy said. “It’s a hard thing to do. If you can beat Woj to a story.”

He says he managed to get everyone on his staff that he could into a room so he could break the news quickly and in a way that was honest to them before the media could confirm it.

“It was hard for me. I made it pretty quick so that I wouldn’t break down and lose it,” Van Gundy said. “I feel like I let those people down.”

The rest of the interview dives into Van Gundy’s sudden departure from his time with the Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal Miami Heat team and his tenure with the Orlando Magic. That interview is available here on ESPN’s Le Batard and Friends South Beach Sessions.