Winning Time: Every Coach The Lakers Considered After Jerry West Quit
The Los Angeles Lakers looked at many coaches to replace Jerry West after he quit, ranging from Jerry Tarkanian to legendary coach John Wooden.
The Los Angeles Lakers scoured the NBA for a new head coach after Jerry West quit in 1979, something that's well-documented in HBO's Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty episode 3. After Jerry Buss bought the Lakers in 1979, he orchestrated the franchise's evolution to become one of the biggest sports teams in the world. This came after the team chose Earvin 'Magic' Johnson as the first pick in the draft, which then-head coach Jerry West didn't agree with, as he wanted the Lakers to draft Sidney Moncrief. The disagreement was one of many reasons why West eventually walked out on the team.
Although Winning Time has changed the true story to place Jerry West's departure much closer to the start of the 1979-1980 NBA season, his decision to leave the Los Angeles Lakers is accurate. He revealed his plans to Jerry Buss at the end of Winning Time episode 2, but the start of episode 3 showed the fallout. Buss was unsurprisingly very upset with West for the so-called "retirement," especially as the new Lakers owner felt a surge of confidence moments before that the team could rise to the top. Once tempers settled down, Winning Time episode 3 largely focuses on the search for the next coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.
The bulk of Winning Time episode 3 is centered around Jerry Buss going after Jerry Tarkanian to become the Lakers' next head coach. Tarkanian is not a consensus selection due to his controversial past, however, which leads Lakers GM Bill Sharman and others to look high and low for other head coaching candidates. Winning Time episode 3 teased some of these other possibilities through background details and cameos, which could be all the more relevant since the episode ends without the Los Angeles Lakers having found a replacement for Jerry West.
The closest the Los Angeles Lakers come to finding their Jerry West replacement in Winning Time episode 3 is through Jerry Tarkanian. At the time, he was one of the most successful coaches in the NCAA after turning around the UNLV basketball program, which included a Final Four appearance in 1977. He was known for coaching teams that used high-pressure defense to ignite quick offensive opportunities. Tarkanian was also highly regarded for his ability to connect with young Black men. However, the UNLV coach also was the center of controversy for recruiting violations. These claims went back to his time at Long Beach State but followed him to UNLV, leading to the NCAA putting the program on two-year probation and Tarkanian being suspended from coaching UNLV temporarily.
The Lakers' head coaching vacancy after Jerry West quit was Jerry Tarkanian's job to lose by all accounts. In real life, Jerry Buss and Jack Kent Cooke both viewed him as the right man to lead the franchise into the future. As shown in Winning Time episode 3, this ultimately didn't happen after tragedy struck Tarkanian. His long-time associate Vic Weiss was murdered during the time he was negotiating a deal with the Lakers, and the event shook Tarkanian so much so that he passed on the job. It meant the Los Angeles Lakers had to go back to square one effectively in their search and re-evaluate other candidates who could replace Jerry West.
The head coach candidate Winning Time episode 3 spends the most time with is Jack McKinney, and for good reason. The Portland Trail Blazers assistant coach comes to Los Angeles to meet with Bill Sharman, and after upsetting Jerry West for his coaching styles, even the former Lakers coach sees the potential in McKinney. He spent three years with the Trail Blazers as an assistant and helped the team win an NBA Championship in 1977. Despite having no head coaching experience in the NBA, Jack McKinney becomes a front runner for the job after Tarkanian bows out. He's ultimately the selection and begins a strong partnership with Magic Johnson, although his tenure with the Lakers has an unexpected development early on. McKinney suffered a nearly fatal head injury from a bike ride early in the season, leading to him being replaced by assistant Paul Westhead.
Winning Time episode 3 indicates that Dick Vitale was also considered to coach the Los Angeles Lakers after Jerry West quit. Now known as one the most iconic basketball announcers in history, Vitale was at the time the head coach for the Detroit Pistons. Vitale had success at every level of coaching prior to the NBA, as he won two high school state championships and led the University of Detroit to an NCAA Tournament appearance in 1977. His first year with the Pistons saw the team finish with a 30-52 record. He was still under contract for the 1979-1980 season, which would've made his transition to the Lakers a bit more difficult. However, Vitale was then fired by the Detroit Pistons after only twelve games in his second season.
The Lakers also had an interest in luring John Wooden out of retirement based on Winning Time episode 3. His name is listed on a chalkboard full of candidates, although he is designated as being "unavailable." John Wooden is one of the most successful coaches in sports history, as his time with UCLA included ten national championships in a twelve-year span. Lakers star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played for the UCLA Bruins and contributed to the success, so it makes sense that the team would at least potentially inquire about Wooden making the jump to the NBA to reunite with Kareem. However, he remained retired after his 27 year run at UCLA ended just two years prior.
Cotton Fitzsimmons is another coach the Lakers possibly considered to replace Jerry West. Winning Time episode 3 seems to include his name on the same chalkboard. Cotton Fitzsimmons was under contract with the Kansas City Kings, now known as the Sacramento Kings, in 1979 and fresh off winning NBA Coach of the Year for turning around the team in his first season. The future Hall of Fame coach stayed with the Kings for five more seasons instead of leaving to join the Lakers. Fitzsimmons led the franchise to multiple playoff appearances during this time but resigned when the franchise moved to Sacramento.
Kevin Loughery may have also been in consideration to coach the Los Angeles Lakers after Jerry West quit. At the time, Loughery was in the middle of his tenure as the New Jersey Nets head coach and was coming off his first playoff appearance. It's unclear if Kevin Loughery and the Lakers ever talked about the coaching vacancy in real life, but Winning Time episode 3 puts him among the people in the running. Instead of becoming the next coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, Loughery made it another season and a half with the Nets before being fired.
Winning Time episode 3 throws another known figure for NBA and Lakers fans into the mix with Adrien Brody's debut as Pat Riley. Although the episode sets up Pat Riley's future with the Los Angeles Lakers and how he becomes a figurehead of the 1980s dynasty, he was not in consideration to replace Jerry West. Instead, Pat Riley was on track to be involved with the organization for a few years as an announcer before getting the coaching gig down the line.
New episodes of Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty release every Sunday on HBO/HBO Max at 9pm EST.