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The NBA Coach Carousel – SPORTS AGENT BLOG
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The NBA Coach Carousel

The New York Times is also taking note of Lonnie Cooper‘s unfortunate start to the 2008/09 NBA season.  As I previously mentioned, all six NBA coaches fired so far this year are Career Sports & Entertainment clients.  Not exactly something you want to deal with around the Holidays, but Lonnie knows that this business cares little about making life convenient and that work must be done at all times.  I know Lonnie and the rest of the crew at CS&E will rebound, even though you better believe that his competitors will use the firings to their advantage when going after potential new clients.

Lonnie can respond by showing what he has done for a guy like Nate McMillan, who had just finished a successful season coaching the Seattle Supersonics when I first stepped foot into the CS&E office in Atlanta.  McMillan’s contract with the team was up and he was weighing his available options.  McMillan was being courted by a variety of teams, including the Sonics, but ended up picking the Trailblazers, with the advice of everyone at CS&E.  Think he is regretting that decision?  I bet McMillan would refer others to Lonnie even though six of his clients have been fired in this young season.

When the 2008/09 NBA season kicked off, Lonnie Cooper led all agents in number of NBA head coaches represented.  That title is now owned by Warren LeGarie, who represents a total of seven head coaches.  LeGarie got his start with SFX and is now alongside Arn Tellem, BJ Armstrong, and others at WMG.  NBA regulations prohibit agents from representing both coaches and players, so LeGarie works with the coaches while Tellem and Armstrong handle the players.  However, Warren serves as the primary agent for a couple of overseas players (Travis Best and Jerome Allen).  LeGarie also founded the NBA Las Vegas Summer League about five years ago.  Not a bad guy to know.

After LeGarie and Cooper, there is a big drop in the power of coach agents.  Joe Glass has a couple of head coach clients, but Cooper and LeGarie have been the big names for a while now.  Will any new coach agents step up in the near future and join the ranks of LeGarie and Cooper?

By Darren Heitner

Darren Heitner created Sports Agent Blog as a New Year's Resolution on December 31, 2005. Originally titled, "I Want To Be A Sports Agent," the website was founded with the intention of causing Heitner to learn more about the profession that he wanted to join, meet reputable individuals in the space and force himself to stay on top of the latest news and trends.

Heitner now runs Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., which is a law firm with many practice areas, including sports law and contract law. Heitner has represented numerous athletes and sports agents as legal counsel. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington from 2011-2014, where he created and taught a course titled, Sport Agency Management, which included subjects ranging from NCAA regulations to athlete agent certification and the rules governing the profession. Heitner serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he teaches a Sports Law class that includes case law surrounding athlete agents and the NCAA rules.