The team named longtime Nets assistant Zach Vaughn as head coach Wednesday to replace Steve Nash, who was fired last week. Vaughan has coached the team in an interim capacity in the four games since then. Vaughn took over at a particularly difficult time for the organization, whose star point guard Kyrie Irving posted a link to an anti-Semitic film on Twitter in late October. The Nets suspended Irving indefinitely for refusing to renounce anti-Semitism. He has missed three games and the team said he will miss at least two more. “Getting somebody with some stability, that’s JV,” Nets GM Sean Marks said. “Very stable, prepared under pressure. Mr. That’s how it is.” Before Wednesday’s game against the Knicks, Vaughn met with reporters and smiled brightly. In response to a question, he alluded to rampant rumors last week that the Nets had tapped Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka, who is serving a season-long suspension, to replace Nash. “I guess I was the write-in candidate,” Vaughn said with a laugh. He added: “I’m fine with that. I told my wife, I may not have been her first choice and we were together for 20 years. Well, you know, anything could work. We’re off.” Vaughn has been an assistant coach for the Nets since 2016 and served as interim coach in 2020 after Kenny Atkinson was fired as head coach. The Nets considered him as Atkinson’s replacement but eventually hired Nash and Vaughn remained on Nash’s staff. On Wednesday, Marks praised Vaughn for stepping back in as interim coach. This time, Marks saw enough out of him to give him a chance on a more permanent basis. The Nets had a 2-2 record under Vaughn entering Wednesday’s game, and Marks said he liked the energy around the team in those four games. “We’re looking at the big picture here and having a relationship with him for seven years, his relationship with the players, his competitive spirit, a lot of that goes a long way,” Marks said. “We’re seeing how this team, to be quite honest, has responded to that lately.” Vaughn said he had not contacted Irving since he was suspended Thursday. “I thought in the capacity that I was serving that it wasn’t my place,” Vaughan said. “I always understood my limits as an assistant coach. That could change in the future in the position I’m in now.” Marks said he hadn’t spoken to Irving since Thursday, but didn’t explain why he hadn’t. The team announced on November 1 that it had agreed to part ways with Nash. Shortly thereafter, media reports began linking the Nets to Udoka, who was fired by the Celtics in September for violating unspecified team policies. According to two people familiar with the situation who were not authorized to speak about it publicly, Udoka was having an affair with a female subordinate. When asked specifically why he didn’t hire Udoka, Marks said it wouldn’t be appropriate to discuss which candidates were considered. The Celtics have given Udoka permission to talk to other teams and will not demand compensation if another team signs him, according to a person briefed on the matter who was not authorized to discuss it publicly. Nash initially had the backing of Irving and forward Kevin Durant when he was hired in 2020 with no prior coaching experience. But he presided over a chaotic season for the franchise that included: Irving missing most of the 2021-22 season because he would not get a coronavirus vaccine. injuries to Durant and Ben Simmons; and James Harden was traded to the Nets from Houston — and then to Philadelphia from the Nets as the team struggled last season. This summer, The Athletic reported that Durant had asked team owner Joe Tsai to choose between him or Marks and Nash. Nash, Marks and Durant all said at media day in September that they were ready to move on together. Healthy again to start this season, the Nets have continued to struggle. They started the year 2-5 before firing Nash. Marks said the players had “zero” input into the decision and that he and Nash “felt it was time.” “If I were to sit here and list one by one all the things he’s had to go through during his time here, I’d be doing him an injustice because he doesn’t want excuses,” Marks said. “It’s not him. So he certainly hasn’t had a level playing field in two years. And for that, I definitely feel some responsibility because not everything falls on him.” Vaughn began his NBA journey as a player, with a 12-year career that included two seasons with the Nets. He won a championship as a member of the San Antonio Spurs in 2007. In San Antonio, Vaughn’s playing career ended and his coaching career began. He was an assistant under coach Gregg Popovich for two seasons before the Orlando Magic hired Vaughn as head coach in July 2012. The Magic were beginning a rebuild. They traded away All-Star center Dwight Howard that summer, then went 20-62 in Vaughn’s first season. It was the worst record in the NBA and the following year was slightly better at 23-59. After a 15-37 start to the 2014-15 season, the Magic fired Vaughn. He joined Atkinson’s Nets staff in the summer of 2016. The Nets fired Atkinson on March 7, 2020, less than a week before the season was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic. When the NBA resumed the season in a bubble environment at Walt Disney World in Florida that summer, Vaughn coached the team to a 5-3 record in the playoffs and then lost to the Toronto Raptors in the first round of the playoffs. “I was a young coach,” Vaughan said. “I’m definitely happy to get this job. It made me a better assistant coach.” He added: “I just grew as a person. Much more secure in myself, as you can see with this beard here.’
