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Chicago Bulls: Can Fred Hoiberg be a “nice guy” and a good coach?

By Luke Askew

NEW ORLEANS, LA - OCTOBER 03: Head coach Fred Hoiberg of the Chicago Bulls reacts during a preseason game against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center on October 3, 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LA - OCTOBER 03: Head coach Fred Hoiberg of the Chicago Bulls reacts during a preseason game against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center on October 3, 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images) /
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The Chicago Bulls have had three full seasons with Fred Hoiberg as the head coach. Can he be the stereotypical “nice guy” and a good coach at the same time?

There’s a common notion in sports: In order to succeed as a coach, you need to be tough, unkind, and nasty. But is that really the case or is that just an age-old myth that some coaches will take to their grave?

Chicago Bulls fans should be especially used to this. With Tom Thibodeau captaining the ship, the Bulls went 255-139 in a five year span – never once having a losing season. And everyone knows how Thibs is. We love him, but would we feel comfortable hanging out with him on the weekends? Probably not, unless you enjoy hearing “Ice! Ice!” shouted at you over and over again in a raspy voice.

But if we back-track to an even older and more successful Bulls coach, we see a different style.

Phil Jackson is arguably the best basketball coach of all time. Nicknamed “The Zen Master,” Jackson was famously calm. But not only was he a calm coach, he was a successful coach. He has 11 NBA Championship rings as a coach (including six with the Bulls) and during his nine-year run as the Bulls head coach, he had an incredible 545 wins and only 193 losses.

There’s obviously a lot more that goes into coaching than just their demeanor. After all, Greg Popovich is a fairly legendary coach in his own right and he is… well… he’s not exactly calm all the time. But despite being a known hot-head, he still has a winning percentage of .689 (which is phenomenal) and five championship rings.

So can Fred Hoiberg be the “nice guy” and also a good head coach?

In Hoiberg’s first two seasons with the Bulls, there was a lot of talk about how he struggled to command the locker room. This can be a common problem with a nice, soft-spoken head coach. But this season, things seemed a bit different. Maybe it was a lack of larger than life egos in the locker room, or maybe Hoiberg is learning how to coach effectively with his unique persona.

It’s easy to go from having success under a guy like Thibs to a lack of success under a guy like Hoiberg and immediately demand that the Bulls need a “tough guy” on the sidelines. Maybe a guy that will get after the team a little bit. And I understand that school of thought. It worked for the Bulls for five years (kind of).

But when you have a young team, maybe a softer personality is a good thing. Can you imagine Lauri Markkanen having as much success as he did during his rookie season if Thibs was still the coach of the Bulls? It simply wouldn’t have happened.

  1. Markkanen probably would’ve played 12 minutes per game off the bench.
  2. Lauri is a soft-spoken, quiet guy. I can’t imagine him responding well to a coaching style like Thibs had.

Hoiberg has a fairly poor record as a head coach in the NBA (110-136). But when it’s all said and done, this last season of tanking should be taken off his overall record. That’s on management, not on Hoiberg. If anything, despite the Bulls going a meager 27-55 this season, I would say that Hoiberg actually had a really nice season as the top dog calling the shots.

We saw the development of future All-Star Lauri Markkanen right before our eyes and saw Kris Dunn start his development into being the player everyone hoped he might be when he was in college.

One guy that I think Fred Hoiberg should study is Celtics head coach, Brad Stevens. Stevens is becoming a living legend in the NBA ranks. He has some of the best ATO (after time-out) sets that we’ve seen in years and he seems to get the most out of every player he puts in the game. But one thing you’ll notice if you watch him on the sidelines: he’s calm. Sure, he’ll get a technical foul every now and then – every coach does. But compared to a guy like Thibs or Pop, Stevens is the kind of coach you’d want to meet your mother.

He’s also the kind of coach that currently has his team in the Eastern Conference Finals – without their two best players. The dude can flat out coach. And probably better than anyone in the NBA.

Hoiberg and Stevens have always had a similar demeanor from what I’ve seen. They don’t belittle their players to get the best out of them – they encourage them – they coach them.

So to answer my initial question in the most round-about way possible, I think the answer is yes. Hoiberg can be his typical “nice guy” self, and also still be a good coach. The key is maintaining the respect of everyone in the locker room, and this season Hoiberg finally seemed to have that.

Now it’s time to establish a winning culture and the rest will fall into place.

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