Title-Winning Ex-Lakers Coach Interviewing For Top Head Coaching Gig This Week

He's got some stiff competition.

Frank Vogel, who coached your Los Angeles Lakers to a title during his first season with the team in 2019-20, but was dismissed after LA's poorly constructed 2021-22 roster failed to make the postseason, will now have another opportunity to potentially lead one of the NBA's other big stars.

Per Marc Stein, Vogel is set to interview with the Milwaukee Bucks this week. Longtime head coach Mike Budenholzer was dismissed after a five-year tenure, which included a championship in 2020. The top-seeded Bucks were eliminated in five games by a hungry Miami Heat team, which capitalized on the absence of Milwaukee All-NBA First Team forward Giannis Antetotkounmpo for two-and-a-half games, plus some listless efforts even when The Greek Freak did return. In fairness, Miami was also playing without its third-best player, shooting guard Tyler Herro, for all but half of that series' first game due to a hand fracture.

The Bucks, dissatisfied with Budenholzer's rigidity in the playoffs, canned their head coach. Milwaukee is casting a wide net in its coaching search. Vogel is just the latest among a cadre of well-respected names up for the position.

Vogel got his head coaching start with the Indiana Pacers, whom he coached to two Eastern Conference Finals berths. Indiana lost both series to now-Laker LeBron James' Miami Heat. Vogel coached Indiana, led by All-Stars Paul George and Roy Hibbert, plus key role player David West, for parts of five seasons. He then moved on to two fruitless seasons with the Orlando Magic, before assuming the reigns for LA in 2019. 

He really did not deserve to be dismissed after LA's miserable 33-49 run in 2021-22, just two years after leading the club to the promised land. The Lakers finished as the West's No. 11 seed as a result of shoddy roster construction and major injuries to stars Anthony Davis and LeBron James, but team president Rob Pelinka opted to throw Vogel under the bus. New head coach Darvin Ham has done a terrific job with the current LA team, which has returned to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since Vogel's first year in Los Angeles.

Touted as a great defensive coach, Vogel holds a 431-389 (.526) regular season record, and a 49-39 playoff record.

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