Mark Jackson Backs Knicks Ex Jeff Van Gundy For NBA Head Coaching Job

Mark Jackson believes "it's a crime" that former New York Knicks coach and ESPN colleague Jeff Van Gundy isn't pacing an NBA sideline.

If anyone knows what Jeff Van Gundy can offer to an NBA game, it's undoubtedly Mark Jackson.

Long before Jackson shared a microphone with him for ABC/ESPN's coverage of the NBA's biggest games, some of his early playing days with the New York Knicks were spent under Van Gundy's partial watch, as the latter was an assistant coach on the staffs of Stu Jackson, John MacLeod, and Pat Riley. The two briefly reunited in New York during some of Jackson's final playing days in 2001 as he made it back to Manhattan by the time Van Gundy was at the helm of the Knicks. 

Jackson and Van Gundy later got back together on ABC/ESPN's airwaves, where they served as color commentators for high-profile hoops alongside play-by-play man Mike Breen from 2007 through 2023 (the streak interrupted by Jackson's head coaching stint in Golden State in 2011-14). Looking back on his time with Van Gundy, Jackson is shocked that no NBA team has invited his fellow former Knick back to the sidelines in nearly two decades.

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"It’s a crime that (Van Gundy) is not a head coach in this league,” Jackson said on the latest edition of his web series "The Mark Jackson Show." “I’m talking about as smart a basketball mind as I’ve ever been around in my life, and I’ve been around a lot of greats. It is a crime."

“People say I should be a head coach, I’m not going to argue with them, I believe that wholeheartedly. (But), Jeff Van Gundy, there’s so many guys trying to be him. (He's a) brilliant basketball mind and I look forward to having him on this show."

Van Gundy spent parts of seven seasons as the Knicks' boss and currently stands as the third-winningest coach in franchise history at 248. After he resigned from the Knicks' post in the early stages of the 2001-02 season, Van Gundy led the Houston Rockets for four years (2003-07) and briefly hosted Jackson for his final NBA season in 2004 before the Worldwide Leader came calling.

Following ESPN's layoff-induced roster shuffle over this past summer, which put Breen, Doris Burke, and Doc Rivers (later JJ Redick after Rivers accepted the Milwaukee Bucks' head coaching job) on its top games, Van Gundy accepted a "coaching consultant" position with the Boston Celtics. Rumors circulated that he and Jackson could've called Knicks games on MSG Network but those plans fell through.

Though Van Gundy is back within an NBA organization's ranks, both Jackson and his son/co-host Mark Jr., a.k.a. Bluu, believe that he is long overdue for a promotion.

"He's a player's coach, he knows the game," the younger Jackson said. "Watching him behind the scenes, he knows it in and out. Whatever circumstance occurs, he knows what happened just now, what difference he would make, what occurred three layers beneath that jump shot off of a downscreen. He's brilliant." 

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Whatever Van Gundy is providing in Boston, it appears to be working: the Celtics (51-14) currently own the NBA's best record, which includes a perfect four-game ark against the Knicks, and can become the first team to clinch its spot in the NBA playoffs on Thursday night.