Corey Gaines of the Phoenix Mercury lost his job, not long after my unnamed friend and I began talking about his job prospects for 2014. I wasn't surprised by Gaines's firing. The only thing I was surprised by was the timing: how swiftly the axe came.
At some point on Rebkell, fans began talking up the point the Gaines Must Go. There had always been a contingent that Gaines Must Go, but with season ticket renewal time in Phoenix, the calls for Gaines's ouster became fast and furious.
Here's something I've known for a long time that I'm sure some fans might not know - the league reads Rebkell. I've know that for a long time. People in various admin positions in the league have actually posted on Rebs, sometimes under a nom de plume. So at some level of management, people read Rebkell. The real question is how high that level of management goes. Does President Lauren Richie read Rebkell? Probably not. But I'll bet $10 that she know what it is, and that it exists, and that if there's anything bubbling on Rebkell it gets to the authorities in short order. The ownership of the franchises and management of the WNBA probably gets news of what's going on on the biggest women's basketball messageboard - what a bunch of middle aged, skinflint fans think about anything might not be persuasive, but I'm sure that they'll at least consider the opinions of The Base like any good old fashioned politicians.
Gaines should have cursed his bad luck when Phoenix got the first round draft pick in 2013. He should have known that after the Quit for Britt debacle that Phoenix season ticket holder expectations would probably be blown sky high. Instead, the Mercury went 0-for-5 against the Lynx and 0-for-3 against the Storm. Taurasi was picking up technical fouls like she was getting paid for each one she could earn. Penny Taylor still isn't healthy.
There are fan expectations, there is reality, and the coach is the figure that sits right in the middle. Gaines was caught between the Scylla and the Charybdis. He's never really been a fan favorite like say Lin Dunn, or Bill Laimbeer, he comes off as a quiet kind of guy.
Maybe too quiet. I've been waiting for Gaines to get the axe since I saw a little clip years ago that promised to take you into the locker room of the Phoenix Mercury. It was time for Gaines to give his instructions to the troops.
He walked up to the whiteboard like your boring high school chemistry teacher. The students - the players - were laughing, joking, and paying this guy no mind whatsoever while Gaines droned on about whatever. That's when I knew he was fucked. I felt that he didn't command the respect of his players. We're not looking for an autocrat here, but we're also not looking for a functionary. We're looking for someone who, when he talks, you know, the players might stop what they're doing and listen to him.
I've been lucky enough to hear what goes on with the coach on one side of a locker room door and me on the other side. I've heard Mike Thibault shout so loud after a game that I thought the door was going to blow down like the Walls of Jericho. (I don't know what he was saying, being muffled by the door, but iw as sure loud.) I've heard the same from Pokey Chatman with the sound of things shattering from behind the door.
They don't like losing. Not a bit. When they do their pre-game chalk talk, I'll bet their players listen.
A bad coach can win if he has good players. A good coach can lose if he has bad ones. Corey Gaines won when he had good players when the Mercury last won the championship, and when the players weren't playing as good, it was time for Gaines to go. Whether he got canned in early August on early December, that train has been coming for a long time.
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