Resilient Hawks coach heads into 5th year

[HMFFL]

Mike Woodson has always been a little blunt.

He was that way when took over as the Hawks’ head coach in 2004. He has remained true to his ways during the roller coaster ride of his first four seasons.

He starts his fifth season, Monday with the Hawks’ media day and Tuesday’s start of training camp, with a 106-222 career record.

No one was sure Woodson would make it this far.

Not after four straight bitter losing seasons. And certainly not after last year’s relationship with former general manager Billy Knight – who recommended to ownership that Woodson be fired only to be rebuffed.

Knight has moved on, resigning two days after the Hawks’ Game 7 playoff loss to Boston, perhaps the only thing more stunning than the Hawks’ playoff run.

But Woodson swears he was only making good on the presumptuous promise he made four years ago. This despite spending as much — or more — time on the NBA’s hot seat more than any other coach.

“I said when I took the job that I couldn’t do it in two years or even three years, even though deep down I really thought we could do it in three,” Woodson said of a business where coaches routinely get shown the door before their contracts expire. “But I got to that fourth year and I made it clear that if I didn’t get this team to the playoffs in four years I didn’t deserve to be the coach here. And we were able to get into the playoffs, make a good showing once we got in and that’s something to build on.

“Now people can flip it and always use the negative and say we only won 37 games and we shouldn’t have been in the playoffs. There are a lot of ways you can spin it. But the bottom line is these guys worked their tails off and did everything we asked them down the stretch to put themselves into a position to make the playoffs. And last time I checked, nobody has ever said you have to win a certain amount of games to get in the playoffs.”

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