Will Voight to the D-League

[DakotaWiz]

In a...well, let's just call it "surprising" move, the Bakersfield Jam has hired Will Voigt as their new head coach.

I don't know enough to say if this is a good hire or a bad hire, but didn't see anything overly negative or positive on the boards... What do you guys think?

[Alumni96]

I have mixed feelings about this. As a Frost Heaves fan I'm really sad to see him go. He's been the heart and soul of our team since the beginning. It makes me nervous about the Heaves future. However I'm very happy for Will to get this opportunity to show his talent at a higher level. I think that the Jam will be pleasantly surprised. He took a last place team in Norway and won a league title. He took a brand new franchise in the middle of nowhere and made them into either a championship team (ABA) or a playoff team (PBL) despite having no serious local talent pool to draw from.

[CHris902]

I think it's a good hire. Voigt is an excellent coach and was probably the best ingame coach I've seen in the last two seasons of watching minor league hoops in person. He's also a genuinely nice guy. Great choice for the Jam.

It'll be interesting to see what Vermont do now and how this affects them. They seemed to have lost a bit of steam during last season compared to the previous two years and this probably won't help.

[runninref]

I agree with Chris902, Voight is a good guy and a good hire as well. His teams don't have any ego issues ... they play as a team without super (look at me) stars, and players buy into his style of coaching and system. The one criticism I have of him is situational coaching. Example: 5 seconds on the clock, down by 2 ... what do you do? And this will come with time and experience. I expect great things from Coach Voight!

[Chuck the Writer]

I look at it this way.

With Will Voigt and Kevin Whitted (who coached Wilmington in the Sea Dawgs' first year in the PBL) both receiving coaching / assistant coaching jobs, along with last year's hire of Chicago Throwbacks' coach Donnie Boyce, the PBL is being looked at seriously as a new training ground for head coaches for the D-League.

What does this say? It says that the NBA (and, more predominantly, the D-League) are giving credence to the work of these PBL coaches - and with that, credibility toward the PBL.

I don't see that many ABA coaches getting a looksee from the D-League.

[CHris902]

[quote=""runninref""]I agree with Chris902, Voight is a good guy and a good hire as well. His teams don't have any ego issues ... they play as a team without super (look at me) stars, and players buy into his style of coaching and system. The one criticism I have of him is situational coaching. Example: 5 seconds on the clock, down by 2 ... what do you do? And this will come with time and experience. I expect great things from Coach Voight! [/quote]

I actually think his in game coaching is pretty good, but he's definitely better when it comes to defense in-game than drawing up plays for the last shot.

His biggest problem is going to be dealing with egos. When he could pick his own team he simply cut players who had any egos/unique thoughts and got everyone to buy into his robot ball team strategy. He is not going to be able to choose players as freely and will have to deal with the egos of NBA guys who get punted down to the NBADL. I also wonder if his defensive style is going to work coaching the affiliate for GS and the Clippers.

I think he's a great coach and this is a great opportunity for him, but it might be a bumpy road to start out.

[CHris902]

Any word of if Donnie Boyce is back with Reno this year?

Whitted just got signed up as an assistant with the Springfield Armory.

And the mocking of Will Voigt's hiring has spread out through the interwebs.

[formerlyknownasfells]

I have to say that I am very pleased Will has received the opportunity to coach at a higher level. Will is a solid strategist, teaches well and gets his guys to buy into his system. Will has always been a complete gentleman to the fans and to the media as well. (He is a bit rough on refs though. :mrgreen

The Frost Heaves' loss is the gain of Bakersfield. I wish Coach Voigt nothing but the best.

[The Sweeper]

Voigt signs with NBA D-League's Bakersfield Jam
1:00 p.m.

By Anna Grearson TIMES ARGUS STAFF - Published: August 25, 2009


Will Voigt, the three-year head coach of the Vermont Frost Heaves, has signed a two-year contract as the head coach of the NBA Developmental League's Bakersfield Jam, solidifying an offer that was made in July and ending his coaching career in Vermont.

Voigt led the Frost Heaves to back-to-back American Basketball Association titles and an appearance in the playoffs in the team's first season in the Premier Basketball League. The Cabot native was twice named the ABA's Coach of the Year.

"I'll be heading out mid-September to relocate permanently and try to recreate the success we had in Vermont out here," Voigt said by phone from California Tuesday morning prior to a press conference introducing him as the Jam's new head coach.

See the full story in tomorrow's Times Argus.