VIDEO: From Wildwood Crest and Wildwood High to the L.A. Lakers and the NBA Finals

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

Thirty years ago this week, Frank Vogel was preparing to start his senior season at Wildwood High School, where he was the starting point guard for the boys basketball team.

Tonight, he’ll be coaching the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals.

Vogel’s storybook tale that took him on a winding journey from his hometown of Wildwood Crest to become an NBA head coach adds yet another chapter when his Lakers play the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the best-of-seven NBA Finals this evening. The game airs on ABC at 9 p.m.

Vogel, previously a head coach of the Indiana Pacers and the Orlando Magic, is in his first year with one of the most famous professional sports franchises in the world. He leads a team that features two of the best players in the world in LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Vogel was asked in a press conference held through Zoom if he thought he’d ever get a chance to coach in the NBA Finals.

“You always wonder,” he said. “Obviously I was hopeful I’d get another opportunity. I remained confident in my belief in myself. But right now, this career achievement is so far from where I am mentally right now. I just want to play my part and give our guys a plan. This run is about LeBron James and Anthony Davis and all the guys starring in their roles and the Lakers family. They’re used to being in this position, they’re used to being in the Finals and they’re used to winning championships. This is all really about them.”

A 1991 graduate of Wildwood, Vogel went on to attend Juniata College and played for the school’s Division III basketball team. But initially hoping for a career as Division I college coach, Vogel left Juniata and transferred to the University of Kentucky, where he practically begged his way into the program led by Rick Pitino as a student manager. Vogel eventually became a video coordinator, and made the leap to the NBA in the same capacity when Pitino took the head coaching job with the Boston Celtics in 1997.

Vogel was eventually promoted to assistant coach under Pitino with the Celtics, before joining the Philadelphia 76ers as an assistant for the 2004-05 season when another Pitino disciple, Jim O’Brien, became the head coach.

After O’Brien was fired in Philadelphia, Vogel served as a scout for a couple of NBA organizations for two years before landing as an assistant coach with the Pacers after O’Brien was hired as head coach in 2007.

Vogel then became the head coach of the Pacers in late January 2011 when O’Brien was fired by team president Larry Bird.

Vogel went on to lead the Pacers to two appearances in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals and was named the head coach of the 2014 NBA All-Star Game.

After the Pacers declined to renew Vogel’s contract following the 2015-16 season, Vogel signed a lucrative contract to coach the Orlando Magic. He was fired after his second season.

Vogel then was hired in May 2019 as the head coach of the Lakers. He was the head coach of the Western Conference team in the 2020 NBA All-Star Game and — after the NBA returned to a bubble in Orlando following a shutdown of the league due to the COVID-19 pandemic — has directed the club to playoff victories over Portland, Houston and Denver to land in the NBA Finals against the Heat.

After the Game 5 win over Denver, Vogel thanked his family for the support of his journey. 

“My wife (Jenifer) and daughters are super excited for me,” he said. “Obviously I’m really excited to reach the Finals but I’m more excited for the Lakers family and the Lakers fan base. But my wife and daughters have sacrificed a lot. Being involved in professional basketball is tough on a family but we’re all excited to get to this point.”

Many figured Vogel’s biggest challenge in coaching the Lakers would be handling a superstar such as James. But Vogel has gotten unwavering support from the future Hall of Famer who’s now been in the NBA Finals 10 times during his career.

“He’s been great,” James said during a Zoom press conference. “He’s been unbelievable. I mean … it’s been a crazy obstacle course for our franchise this whole year. I’m not going to sit here and give all the details, but you guys, everyone can go back and just see from the start of the season all the way up until now what we’ve gone through as a team. He’s been able to manage it the whole time. Bringing in guys, losing guys. He’s just always been the anchor, and our coaching staff has been right behind him. I can’t say anything more about that.

“Just happy to be on the floor to kind-of be his coach on the floor and just command to my teammates the same message that’s he’s given me and be an extension of his mind.”

Davis equally expressed his support.

“He trusts us, and that’s the only thing you can ask for in a coach is to trust your players, but at the same time we have to trust him. He’s been doing a great job of managing emotions,” David said during a Zoom interview. “… You want to be a part of it on the floor and I think guys have got nothing but respect for his coaching decisions on who is going to play, who is going to sit, who is coming in the game at one point. Because we know his intentions are good and his intentions are to try to win, just like ours. He’s done a hell of a job along with the coaching staff of making sure that we are in the position that we are now.”

And now, a guy from Wildwood Crest is four wins away from being the head coach of an NBA championship team.