Chicago Bulls part ways with 4 assistant coaches, allowing Billy Donovan to build his own staff
CHICAGO — New Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan will get to help shape the team’s coaching staff going into next season. The Bulls announced Monday they have parted ways with four assistant coaches: Dean Cooper, Nate Loenser, Roy Rogers and Karen Stack Umlauf.
It’s the latest signal the Bulls are committed to making wholesale changes and empowering the new regime to do so. They had picked up a contract option for next season on Loenser in May, Rogers signed a three-year contract last offseason and Stack Umlauf, the first female coach in franchise history, had been with the organization since Jerry Krause hired her to the basketball operations department in 1985.
“I appreciate the time that I was able to spend with Dean, Nate, Roy and Karen. I really want to thank all of them for their service and commitment to the Chicago Bulls,” Donovan said in a statement. “This is the tough side to our business, and I wish all of them the best moving forward.”
The Bulls did not make any further announcements about their coaching staff, which means Chris Fleming, the lead assistant coach under Jim Boylen, remains on staff for now after helping run group workouts at the Advocate Center during the recent minicamp.
Fleming, who interviewed for the head coaching job, joined the Bulls last offseason on a three-year contract and is well-regarded around the league for his offensive mind, even if the results did not come through during his first season (the Bulls finished 29th in offense).
Before joining the Bulls, Fleming spent three seasons with the Brooklyn Nets under Kenny Atkinson and a year as an assistant coach with the Denver Nuggets while Bulls executive vice president Arturas Karnisovas was in the Nuggets front office.
It’s unclear if Fleming will remain on staff or what his role would be, but the Bulls have given Donovan a chance to overhaul his staff and surround himself with whom he feels he needs to be successful.
“The other piece of it, too, with our staff is how do we build out the best staff that I can work with, they can work with me, work with Arturas,” Donovan said at his introductory news conference last month. “So that’s something we’re certainly going to look at from top to bottom, not only maybe around the league but certainly the coaches that are in Chicago right now.
“The biggest focus for us right now is how do we put together the best group that we can put together to help the players.”
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