This. There are many articles that talk about this. Also, aside/in addition to the religion issue, he seems to rub people the wrong way. There are a lot of interpersonal conflicts that tend to follow him. There’s a reason outside of his fairly for him not coaching.
Not saying it’s just his faith. Him being forceful about it onto players is the issue. That lacks tact and is interpersonally shortsighted.
And guys, I spent almost a decade of my life at a private Christian church school, I’m not some outsider who is ignorant of issues surrounding faith-or a faith bashing atheist liberal. But my time within those systems has given me perspective of what some common problems are.
I agree with this 100% Phil Jackson was well known for the way he embraced eastern philosophies. He was even called the Zen master and it was well-documented that he incorporated those spiritual philosophies into his approach to coaching. The media generally regarded it as cool and even praised him for his out of the box thinking. But imagine if a coach was outspoken about employing Christian principles as a coaching strategy. The backlash of criticism would be deafening. He’d be accused of proselytizing, forcing his religion on people, etc. I absolutely believe that there is an anti-Christian bias in many circles within our society today.
We don’t know exactly why Jackson has been prevented from getting another opportunity as a HC, but it certainly would not surprise me in the least if his being outspoken about his faith was a major reason why. The writer of the article linked above seems to have an obvious anti-faith slant, and is employing a common tactic by trying to paint Jackson as some over the top lunatic, which lends credibility to Jackson’s claim that the bias of this narrative has contributed to him being black-balled.
This is spot on. Jackson clearly had success as a coach and I’m certain that he’s far from the only coach who has bumped heads with the front office or has had difficult relationships with a handful of previous players. There just aren’t a lot of valid reasons why he hasn’t gotten another shot, especially when we consider the behavioral shortcomings of a guy like Udoka, or the competitive shortcomings of a guy like Clifford, who got 2nd/3rd chances, or the inexperience of a guy like Nash who had ZERO previous experience, yet got a head coaching job. Given all of this, I don’t think it’s that much of a reach to think that Jackson’s outspokeness about his faith has played a role in his not getting a job.
Phil was more using live lessons from different teachings than trying to convert people to Buddhism. Here’s an article from 1996 describing his approach:
For the last 100 years, the west has found perspectives from the east that changed perspectives on things like warfare and business. I think Phil was in that tradition of finding value in another perspective more so than preaching a faith. But, again, I have zero idea about Mark Jackson. Absolutely none.
I don’t disagree. I don’t think Phil was trying to convert his Bulls players to Buddhism. But my point was simply that I believe a coach who was openly guided by Christian principles would almost certainly be accused of trying to force his faith on others (even if that wasn’t his intent). And I wouldn’t be surprised if that is part of what may be happening with M. Jackson. I was using Phil as an example of what I view as a double standard.
I guess my biggest counterpoint is that’s a common occurrence by coaches all over America (though probably more at the high school and collegiate level) and nobody seems bothered as long as they’re not doing things like coercing prayer participation.
As for Mark Jackson, doing a little bit of reading suggests that faith had less to do with it than him simply being bad at working with people. Here’s Zach Lowe from 2014:
I wish that you guys didn’t take this thread so hard into this direction.
I challenge any of you that hold this sentiment to live a month in this county as someone of another faith and see if you feel there is a double standard “against” Christianity or Christians.
Here’s a Reddit post–which I wouldn’t necessarily put a lot of stock in-- that outlines a lot of questionable things about Jackson. No idea what is true and what isn’t, but some of the things from it are corroborated by Zach Lowe’s article, so I’m guessing at least some of it is true.
Note that, I don’t need Mark Jackson to be some kind of weird spiritual figure to be true if the basic human communication problems and lack of collaboration existed. I wouldn’t hire him.
I can only speak from my vantage point and from my lived experience, and I have most certainly encountered backlash in certain spaces as a result of my faith. I don’t doubt that others may have had similarly challenging experiences for opposite reasons, and I respect that.
And I know that we typically try to keep topics like this out of the discussion. Therefore if we need to close it down I understand that. But as a person of faith, it’s hard to check that at the door, particularly since this topic as it relates to M. Jackson hits close to home. We all bring our whole selves and worldview into whatever space we’re in. I know that can be a slippery slope, but sometimes sports intersects with life and I think it’s actually productive to hear the different points of view, so long as it’s civil. And I’m encouraged that this discussion has been so far.
If Mark Jackson committed a felony or two he would probably have a job as an NBA head coach right now. Instead he is blacklisted for personality quirks and maybe being too out front with his Christian faith!
I am not saying that we should hire Mark Jackson but enough is enough and somebody should hire him!
That is my opinion!
PS, I like Mark Jackson as an NBA commentator and analyst.
I hope Cliff gets fired with plenty of season left because the sooner they start their search for a new coach in my way of thinking the better off the team will be.
The sooner the better. I think it was @powellrmp that said he was looking for the official announcement on JPeterson. I’m starting to get a little nervous about that myself. H-PTSD
