Chicago Bulls: Billy Donovan parts with bulk of assistant coaches

Former OKC Thunder head coach Billy Donovan is now starting the process of retooling his coaching staff with the Chicago Bulls.

The face lift that the Chicago Bulls coaching staff is about to get beyond the hire of former Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Billy Donovan to replace Jim Boylen appears to be underway as of Oct. 12. Donovan was brought aboard back on Sep. 22 to be the Bulls next head coach to replace the departed Boylen (which was officially announced back on Aug. 14). And he’s already making moves to retool the coaching staff in the way he wants.

According to a report from K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago, the overhaul to the Bulls coaching staff began this week with the departures of four assistants. Donovan parted ways with the likes of Roy Rogers, Nate Loenser, Dean Cooper, and Karen Stack Umlauf. Some of those former Bulls assistant coaches were big names on the staff heading into the offseason.

But there is one name that sticks out that Donovan appears to be bringing back heading into the 2020-21 season. Former Brooklyn Nets assistant, and potential future NBA head coaching candidate, Chris Fleming appears that he will remain on Donovan’s coaching staff with the Bulls. He ran the Bulls voluntary group workouts that lasted for a few weeks in September and October.

What the Bulls are losing in Loenser is a former director of player development with the Iowa State Cyclones basketball program, who was a part of the Bulls organization since 2015. He served in multiple roles with the Bulls and the G-League affiliate Windy City Bulls over the course of the last five years.

Stack was a key part of the Bulls organization for more than 30 years now. She served in some role in the Bulls organization since the mid-1980’s. And she served as the associate head coach under Boylen and former head coach Fred Hoiberg during the 2018-19 season.

Rogers was on staff with a number of teams around the NBA in an assistant coach role. Outside of his job with the Bulls last season, he’s also served on staff with the likes of the Nets, Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons, Washington Wizards, and Houston Rockets.

Cooper has also shared a few stops with Rogers along the way. He’s held various roles around the NBA and G/D-League with the likes of the Rockets, Bulls, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Portland Trail Blazers, among others.

The Bulls could now begin the search to retool the coaching staff with new hires in the shape that Donovan wants it to be. He now has four more openings along his coaching staff that weren’t present beforehand.

Boylen led the Bulls to a record of 22-43 during the shortened 2019-20 regular season. He rounded out his tenure as the Bulls head coach over the course of two years with a record of 39-84.