Mike Woodson Heading Out of Madison Square Garden

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The less than spectacular and downright embarrassing finish this season has caused Knicks president Phil Jackson to fire head coach Mike Woodson. After starting the season 3-13 and watching his players giving sub-par effort throughout the 2013-2014 campaign led to Woodson’s downfall.

Even though there’s a question of whether or not Jackson made the right move in letting go of Woodson, the preseason expectations of winning an NBA title to eventually falling out of the playoff race was enough for the Knicks to say goodbye to the 56-year old.

“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Mike Woodson and his entire staff,” Jackson said in a press release. “The coaches and players on this team had an extremely difficult 2013-14 season, and blame should not be put on one individual. But the time has come for change throughout the franchise as we start the journey to assess and build this team for next season and beyond.

“Everyone in this franchise owes a great deal of gratitude to what Mike and his staff have done. We wish him the best.”

Woodson finished his tenure with the Knicks with a record of 109-79 (.580) after taking over as interim head coach with 24 games left in the 2011-2012 season. Leading his team to a 54-win season in 2012-2013 helped the Knicks clinch their first Atlantic division title in 19 years.

The possibility of winning now seemed questionable as the organization saw quite a few changes in the front office, as well as on the roster. Even though recently retired veterans Jason Kidd and Rasheed Wallace were showing signs of drastic decline, their leadership skills when teaching the young players proved to be vital to the Knicks division title run and their advancement to the second round of the playoffs last season.

Acquiring Andrea Bargnani from the Toronto Raptors for Steve Novak, Marcus Camby and Quentin Richardson, along with a future first round draft pick, and two future second round draft picks proved to be a bust midway through the season. Bargnani’s ligament tore in his left elbow on January 22 against the Philadelphia 76ers sealed the deal on the botched experiment with the overrated Italian star.

Scott Cacciola of the New York Times regarded owner James Dolan’s decision to make changes at the general manager position just before the start of training camp.

“In a curious move, however, Dolan removed Glen Grunwald as general manager of the Knicks,” Cacciola said. “Just days before the start of training camp and replaced him with Steve Mills, a former Garden executive with no experience in that job.

“Dolan also made little pretense about what he wanted, even demanded for 2013-14: a championship,” Cacciola added. “But it was obvious within the first few weeks of the season that the team had major problems that had not been anticipated.”

The search for a new head coach begins now as Jackson must find a candidate that can take control of a Knicks team with a lot of talent but with a lot of personalities. Just like Jackson, Dolan and the fan base, the candidate must have the mindset of winning an NBA title right now.

As stated in my latest article for Tru School Sports, George Willis of the New York Post stated that TNT basketball analyst Steve Kerr “absolutely expects to be offered the job. And if he’s offered the job, he’s definitely going to do it.” Even though Kerr has no prior head coaching experience, the 48-year old has had a long relationship with Jackson since playing underneath the Zen master during his tenure with the Chicago Bulls.

Howard Beck of BleacherReport.com also mentioned Brian Shaw, Kurt Rambis, Derek Fisher, Scottie Pippen and Jim Cleamons as possible candidates because of their strong ties to Phil Jackson.

Zach Libby is an NBA columnist for Tru School Sports. Follow him on Twitter @Zach__Libby.