The Mystery of Mark Jackson: Is He Blackballed?

"Hand Down, Man Down!" is an iconic phrase heard around the world by none other than Mark Jackson. Jackson is a former professional basketball player and coach who is currently working for ESPN and ABC as a broadcaster. Mark Jackson deserves all of the flowers in the world, being that he is basically responsible for unleashing the potential of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, now known as the "Splash Brothers". After three seasons as the Head Coach of the Golden State Warriors, Jackson was fired after the 2013-2014 season, despite achieving a record of 121 wins and 109 losses, while leading the Warriors to two playoff appearances over the course of three seasons. Throughout the history of the National Basketball Association (NBA), we have seen far more subordinate coaches with losing records continue to be given opportunity after opportunity, which raises the question: WHY HAVEN'T WE SEEN MARK JACKSON HIRED SINCE THEN?

I believe that Mark Jackson has been blackballed from coaching in the NBA. Jackson has stated on multiple occasions, that he is open to coaching again and is waiting on an opportunity. There could be no other logical reason for the unhiring of Jackson over the course of 8 years. The league can't blame it on lack of production, since Jackson obtained a winning record during his time in Golden State, so what could it be? Blackballing means to ban, reject, or unfairly prevent someone from joining or paticipating in an organization. A number of NBA players, both current and former, have expressed the same sentiment when it comes to the blackballing of Mark Jackson. Former 16-year NBA Veteran Al Harrington went on record stating, "Obviously he’s been blackballed. It’s just no way around it. I’m not sure who it was, but somewhere in that organization and I think Jerry West was there and I’m sure he has a lot of clout within sports period and I’m not saying it’s him but somebody blackballed him. Because it just doesn’t make sense because he actually was a good coach, you know, there’s coaches that’s gotten situations and coached for three years and won you know, 35 games, 40 games, and they’re still resurfacing either as an assistant coach or as another head coach." It is pretty difficult for someone to argue against the blackballing of Jackson. As previously mentioned, other coaches with notably more failures than Jackson, have gone on to have very long and successful NBA coaching careers.

Mark Jackson, apart from being former coach and current NBA broadcaster, is also a pastor. Jackson is deeply rooted in his religous views and hasn't been shy when it comes to sharing them. Jackson's views on homosexuality and marriage could be the reason he's blackballed. Current NBA player and former player for Jackson's Warriors stated, "We were huge fans of Mark, he was the ultimate player’s coach and was one of my favorite coaches of all time. But once they want you out, they’re gonna find something. One particular issue from what I heard was his views on gender, marriage, or what the Bible said on your sexuality. Our head of our business, Rick Welts… He was a genius in business and celebrated as one of the top execs in sports on the business side. He’s gay, so there were conflicts with that that were widespread." As we can see, it was pretty much a done deal for Jackson once he offended Rick Welts. If Mark Jackson was truly blackballed from the NBA, wouldn't he be blackballed from being a broadcaster as well? I don't know, it is a very pecuilar situation. After the firing of Jackson, the Warriors hired Steve Kerr and the rest is history. The Warriors went on to win 3 championships under Kerr and became one of the best dynastys the world has ever seen.

Still, Mark Jackson deserves his flowers and credit for helping propel the Warriors into what they are today. Current NBA coach for the Warriors Steve Kerr even stated, "When I was in TV, I was doing Warriors games for years; every year they were one of the worst defensive teams in the league. Mark came in and made a focus of being a tough defensive-minded team. [Jackson] set the table for a lot of what’s happening now. He deserves a lot of credit." If the man who replaced Jackson can give him his flowers, we should too. Mark Jackson deserves another opportunity to coach in the NBA.