Phoenix Suns Fire Head Coach Frank Vogel After One Season

The Phoenix Suns have officially parted ways with head coach Frank Vogel after just one season, the team announced Thursday.

His dismissal comes a week after Suns owner Mat Ishbia and General Manager James Jones conducted their end-of-season media session. During those interviews, they mentioned the front office would use this week to evaluate the pros and cons of the 2023-24 season and face tough decisions regarding the future.

Vogel was the first domino to fall. Phoenix was swept in the first round by the Minnesota Timberwolves and reports later surfaced of certain players not being thrilled with his offensive system.

With the same core returning next season and their superstars under contract long-term, perhaps this was the only move that made sense. It’s clear the front office knew something had to change, and it’s a much cleaner process to swap out coaches than drastically altering a roster that’s already hamstrung by large salaries and strict CBA rules.

“As we said at the press conference on May 1, team leadership including myself, [CEO] Josh Bartelstein, and ownership would be looking across basketball operations to determine what changes need to be made,” Jones said in a statement. “After a thoughtful review of the season, we concluded that we needed a different head coach for our team. We appreciate Frank’s hard work and commitment.”

Vogel, who still had four years left on his contract, guided the Suns to a 49-33 record and the Western Conference’s six seed. With the context of Phoenix not having a healthy rotation until late December, it felt as if Vogel squeezed as much as he could out of the situation he was dealt.

Across the final 52 games of the regular season, Phoenix went 34-18 and ranked top 10 in both offensive and defensive rating. They had the seventh-highest point differential during that span.

Nevertheless, it wasn’t enough to earn him a second year.

“We are here to win a championship and last season was way below our expectations,” Jones continued in the statement. “We will continue to evaluate our operation and make the necessary changes to reach our championship-caliber goals. We all take accountability, and it’s my job, along with Josh and ownership, to build a championship team.”

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Suns are aggressively targeting former Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer to replace Vogel. It would be the franchise again opting for championship experience and a coach that’s faced a ton of ‘title or bust’ expectations. Although his tenure with Milwaukee ended on a sour note, Budenholzer has always generated regular season success when star talent is on his side. His coaching record with the Bucks reached 271-120, equivalent to a 57-win pace over five years.

Wojnarowski also reports Budenholzer has been working to assemble his coaching staff for next year, regardless of his landing spot.

Budenholzer does have Arizona ties. He was raised in Holbrook, a small town roughly three hours outside of Phoenix.

Once they settle on a new coach, a critical summer will begin. The Suns will be extremely limited in what they can do, but the execution needs to be next-to-flawless for this team to rise in the West standings:

The Suns’ next head coach will be Devin Booker’s seventh in his 10 NBA seasons. He entered the league in 2015 under Jeff Hornacek’s system, but soon found himself playing for Earl Watson, Jay Triano, Igor Kokoskov, and Monty Williams — all within a four-year span.

Williams lasted four full seasons before Ishbia made the decision to let him go. Vogel was the front office’s top choice because of his championship experience with the 2020 Los Angeles Lakers. But with the urgency Phoenix faces as a team deep in the luxury tax and over the second-apron, management knew there was no time to waste.

So, a new coaching staff will soon enter, and training camp will be another fresh start. That’s something Booker is used to hearing by now, but it has to be frustrating.

Stability isn’t a word he’s familiar with in his professional career. His Suns tenure has been anything but stable and free of drama.

For an All-NBA star, which Booker consistently is, this constant carousel of head coaches just isn’t a healthy environment. It’s not an exaggeration to say no player has dealt with this many shifts in philosophy and schematic changes before age 28.

But this is the inherent problem with personnel changes and coaches being let go. Or, should I say, the problem with the national reaction that follows. It’s impossible to know who made the final call.

It could very well have been situation where the Suns’ superstars were on board with hitting the reset button and playing for a different coach. After all, it was evident multiple parties weren’t on the same page — offensively and defensively — as the Timberwolves ran them off the floor.

At the end of the day, when high-level talent is under contract, those players will either give the green light for a coach ... or they won’t.

Maybe this was a situation where the Suns, collectively, knew it was time to cut ties before their championship window closes.