Nelson to Step Down as Coach

Dallas Maverick Coach and General Manager Don Nelson will drop his coaching duties next season and focus on managing the team, he announced.

Nelson met with the Mavericks’ owner-to-be, Mark Cuban, for two hours to discuss his future with the franchise.

“It was a great meeting, just great,” Nelson told the Dallas Morning News. “I told Mark I’d do anything if he asked me, but that I didn’t think it was a good idea for the franchise or for me to coach after this season.”

Nelson also recommended that his son, Maverick assistant coach Donnie Nelson, not be considered as his replacement.

Nelson became the Mavericks’ general manager on Feb. 7, 1997, and Donnie Nelson was hired as an assistant on Jan. 2, 1998. The elder Nelson initially was grooming his son to become the next Maverick coach.

“(Donnie) may be a head coach somewhere else someday, but it’s just not right for him to be a head coach here,” Nelson said. “At one time we thought it was, but Donnie is very open and very comfortable to working here in any capacity.”

The Mavericks have managed just a 44-103 record (.427) since Don Nelson added coaching duties to his general manager title in December 1997.

“I feel very secure at this particular time,” Nelson told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “But if somebody wants to make a change, then, you know, that’s part of life.”

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