No news yet on Thibodeau's coaching future

If there were any decisions Friday about who's going to coach the Bulls next season, they were made behind closed doors.

Things were quiet at the Advocate Center a day after the Bulls' season ended with a 94-73 loss to Cleveland in Game 6 of their second-round playoff series. The players met with coach Tom Thibodeau at noon, then generally exited the secure parking lot without speaking to reporters.

Thibodeau has two years left on his contract, so it's not clear how this will play out. Sources close to the situation continue to suggest Thibodeau will not walk away from the Bulls, and that's not a ploy to force the Bulls to fire him and pay the last two years of his deal. His desire is to continue coaching the team.

Why would Bulls management want to make a change after five straight years in the playoffs? That's a complicated issue, but look at it this way - when the playoffs ended, there was already an established storyline across the sports media world that Thibodeau and the Bulls were parting ways.

If Thibodeau leaves, no one will be surprised. Mission accomplished, it sounds like.

Rather than fire him, the Bulls will probably try to negotiate a new home for Thibdeau and see if they can wrangle some compensation, but that might take some work.

Here are some other questions that still need to be answered about the Bulls' coaching future:

When is chairman Jerry Reinsdorf going to sign off?

Reinsdorf has generally handed oversight of the Bulls to his son Michael. Jerry Reinsdorf, who has been managing partner since 1985, stays away from day-to-day operations, but the Bulls aren't going to fire Thibodeau without his blessing.

People can nitpick Thibodeau's coaching style all they want - he wears players down, isn't focused enough on offense, etc., etc. - it's tough to ignore the list of best winning percentage among coaches with five years experience:

Phil Jackson .704, Billy Cunningham .698, Gregg Popovich .685, K.C. Jones .674, Red Auerbach .662, Thibodeau .647.

Yes, Thibodeau has the sixth-highest winning percentage in NBA history. And every coach above him on that list was attached to an all-time legendary player, sometimes 3 or 4.

Thibodeau has gone 4-5 in playoff series, but three of the losses featured no Derrick Rose. How many times did Popovich reach the playoffs without Tim Duncan? When did Phil Jackson navigate the postseason without Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant? The answer, if it isn't obvious, is never.

Maybe Reinsdorf will decide the players are tired of the drama and agree to a change. But someone in the Bulls front office will have to make a very convincing argument.

What coach would do a better job?

The Bulls made a bold coaching change back in 1989, replacing Doug Collins with Phil Jackson and obviously that worked out well.

Let's face it, there's almost always someone out there who could do a better job. But if the Bulls replace Thibodeau and revert to being a .500 team, it could go down in franchise history as a terrible mistake.

As most everyone knows, there is a favorite to take over as head coach if Thibodeau leaves. That would be former Bulls guard Fred Hoiberg, who's been coaching at Iowa State for the past five years. Hoiberg is a smart person, good guy and might very well be a great NBA coach.

Is he willing to make the NBA jump right now? He's about a month removed from surgery to replace an aortic valve below his heart. It's supposed to be sort of a maintenance procedure for the heart condition that forced him to retire as an NBA player. Considering that news, there are less stressful things Hoiberg could do with his life than coach the Bulls.

Also, Hoiberg didn't go to Iowa State because he needed a job. He wanted to bring his family back to Ames, Iowa, where he grew up. Are five years in his old home long enough, especially with his kids still in school?

Only Hoiberg can answer that question, although here's a telling quote made by Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard just this week:

"From the day that he and I sat down and talked about him coaching at Iowa State, that was something he expressed as a long-term goal of his, to coach in the NBA," Pollard said, according to wqad.com "What he has shown in the last five years is that he can really coach. … I'm sure it will happen and when it does, it will be a sad day for all of us, but we're excited for him."

Bulls general manager Gar Forman has surrounded himself with longtime colleagues. His top assistants are ex-Bulls guard Randy Brown, whom he recruited to New Mexico State long ago; and Brian Hagen, a former student assistant for Forman and Tim Floyd at Iowa State.

Forman was an assistant at Iowa State during Hoiberg's senior year in 1994-95, so they go back a long way. According to one source, when Hoiberg left the Bulls in 2003, Forman bought his house.

If Hoiberg doesn't want the job, the Bulls might promote assistant Adrian Griffin, another smart, well-respected former Bull. Ex-Golden State coach Mark Jackson, a contender for the Bulls job in 2010, would be a logical choice.

Alvin Gentry, a current Warriors assistant, popped up on Twitter as a potential candidate Friday. Gentry has spent 12 years as an NBA head coach, went to the playoffs just twice and has a career winning percentage of .475. That would be a tough sell for the fan base.

A better choice would be making it worth Gentry's trouble to move to Chicago and serve as top assistant for Hoiberg or Griffin.

Can the Bulls end their history of coach-front office acrimony?

This might be the toughest question. If Thibodeau leaves, will the Bulls just repeat the same cycle again? Forman and John Paxson are both very good at what they do, but friction with the coaching staff has been a consistent pattern.

The Bulls refused to renew the contract of Thibodeau's top assistant Ron Adams, one of Thibodeau's best friends for 20 years. Adams is also working with Steve Kerr in Golden State these days.

Paxson had an infamous altercation with Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro after a game in 2010. The once-friendly relationship between Paxson and Scott Skiles crumbled at the end.

For now, though, this issue seems to be in Jerry Reinsdorf's lap. Bulls nation is waiting to see if Reinsdorf pushes the two sides back together or lets things fall apart.

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