Orlando Magic General Manager Rob Hennigan talked to the media today about the shocking resignation on Thursday from head coach Scott Skiles.
Skiles led the Magic to a 35-47 record after starting the season 19-13 in his only season as Orlando's head coach.
Notable quotes from GM Rob Hennigan and media members from today's press conference at Amway Center.
Rob Hennigan- "This is certainly a challenging day for us, un expected day...with the news we received from Scott yesterday, obviously we were very surprised by it and after talking with Scott and having more dialogue, it became apparent that he came to this conclusion and felt like it was the right thing for him and his family to do, so we reluctantly accepted his resignation."
Rob Hennigan (on events leading up to the resignation)- "I don't think that there's one particular thing that stands out, we had alot of dialogue throughout the course of the season as you can imagine, and lots of different things were discussed but i can't recall one point in time that would indicate that (Skiles resignation)."
Rob Hennigan (on Scott Skiles' frustration as Magic head coach)- "The pain is still with all of us...we wanted to make the playoffs and we didn't...and so we have some work to there..now at the same time we do feel that we made progress this year...i've said that, i think Scott has said that...and i want to make clear, Scott Skiles did a heck of a job for us this year, we improved in a lot of categories. Scott brought a really good structure, a discipline and an accountablilty that our team has not only benefitted from in the short term, but i i really believe we'll benefit even more long term and we believe in Scott Skiles and his ability to coach...he's a heck of a coach."
Rob Hennigan (on Skiles' thoughts about roster players)- " I didn't get the sense that he didn't believe in the players..."
Rob Hennigan (on regretting hiring Scott Skiles last year)- "We don't regret that, we believe in Scott. Sometimes unforeseen circumstances happen in life and there's only so many things you can control at the end of the day. We look at this as a challenging day, it was unexpected, it was surprising, so i think it would be hard to regret something you can't control."
Rob Hennigan (on the upcoming coaching search)- "I think we have a great situation here, we have a great group of guys, a young team, we have guys who are willing to work. We have guys who want to be pushed, want to be coached and we think that the future's really bright here, we really do. You know we won ten more games than we won the season before, that's not an insignificant improvement, our goal is to make the playoffs immedately and that's what were geared to do, but i see our situation as being incredibly attractive."
Alex Martins/ Magic CEO- "He was a fan favorite, he was an Alex Martins favorite to begin with. im as dissapointed as the fans are today about him making this decision. But having said that, the stregnth is in the organization and we talk all the time around here about no one individual is more important than the Orlando Magic organization. The organization is still here, our ownership is still here and in my opinion, we have the one of the best ownerships in the league and in sports and we'll rebound from this. We're on an upward path in terms of winning on the court. We didn't meet our expectations this year getting to the playoffs, but we did improve by ten games. So our expectations will continue with a new leader next year and our expectation is that we will be back in the playoffs
Brian Schmitz/Orlando Sentinel- ”There were some things that he was not happy with. He was not happy with the roster obviously, some of the players that were drafted and that was by Rob Hennigan, so there was a sort of undercurrent that led to this.”
"Right now they are at their low point, really since Shaq left if you ask me. They have lost Dwight Howard, an All-Star center, which is what started this whole rebuilding process, Stan Van Gundy, another terrific NBA coach, and now this with Scott. As they say in politics, this is bad optics. So it’s not a good look for a franchise that is trying to rebound.”
Philip Rossman-Reich/Orlando Magic Daily- ”To have him suddenly not be here, to have the Magic looking for a new head coach is incredibly surprising today. ”If I were interviewing for this job I would ask, what led Skiles to resign, was it something with management, was it something with the way he worked with the team, was it something with the players. What are you as a management group doing to fix that.”