Heat president Pat Riley wouldn’t close the door Monday on resuming his Hall of Fame coaching career, even after insisting when he retired two years ago that he was “definitely sure that I don’t want to do this anymore.”
Riley didn’t come out and say he was thinking of returning as coach. When pressed, he simply wouldn’t reaffirm what he said in the same room two years ago, that his days on the sideline were finished.
Riley recently extended his deal with Heat president Micky Arison to remain as president. Riley wouldn’t reveal any details.
Perhaps it's just talk, but even as he was stepping aside a couple of years ago and saying that his days on the sideline were numbered, I think a lot of people remained skeptical. "Never" seems to be too strong a word to use in the coaching ranks; Riley was supposedly done when Stan Van Gundy took over, Don Nelson supposedly put coaching out of his mind when he took the Mavericks' GM job back in 1997. Both returned as they obviously have a love of coaching and a passion for the game that can't be fulfilled in the front office. Maybe Riley returns to the sidelines, maybe he doesn't, but it's worth noting this quote:
“I’ll do whatever is in the best interest of building the team here. Period,” Riley said at his end-of-season availability. “Whatever it takes, OK? I’ll let you fill in the blanks. … If some free agent were to say ‘I will come here but you must do this,’ well, hell, if that happens that day, then I might have to give it some thought.”
Whatever it takes to land a high profile free agent...or keep their own high profile free agent, who won a championship under Riley back in 2006.
