Don't expect Van Gundy to stop speaking his mind

Last month, Stan Van Gundy got an email from a fan who said he wasn't coming to any more Detroit Pistons games.

Van Gundy wrote him back.

They exchanged views on politics in sports, the reason for the fan's disillusion. Van Gundy offered his take. The fan responded. Van Gundy answered his response.

Back and forth they went.

"So, what happened?" I asked the Pistons coach in a recent conversation in his Auburn Hills office. "Did you talk the guy into coming back?"

He shrugged. "I don't think we ever agreed."

That right there should tell you something about Stanley Alan Van Gundy, born 58 years ago in Indio, Calif. The man is going to speak his mind, even if the result goes the wrong way.

Even if it's with a fan.

Even if it's with an angry fan.

If you spend any time with Van Gundy, you can't help but observe this much: he is sincere. He oozes sincerity. He often takes three sentences to say what could be said in one, because he really, really wants to make a point. He's passionate. He pleads. He's earnest even when he's aggressive.

But no matter what you think of his beliefs-and after his essay in TIME magazine calling protesting athletes "patriots," many are talking about his beliefs-you cannot deny that he's speaking from the heart.

I mean, how many coaches answer a fan's angry email-twice.

In a long, freewheeling conversation about being lured into the Pistons job (he was "very happy" being out of the league), his previous coaching milestones (he "hated" Detroit for keeping his Miami squad from the NBA Finals), his heartbreak in cutting players ("It kills me") and his mental habit of preparing for the worst ("I'm the wrong guy to talk to about optimism"), his most revealing words come in a prolonged exchange about race and protest.

Van Gundy, who calls himself "a poster boy for white privilege," has clearly given deep thought to what his African-American players endure. He is empathetic.
Emphatically empathetic.

Here is some of our exchange, slightly edited, on the subject:

M: What's the biggest challenge today to a white coach working in the predominantly African-America NBA?

SVG: First of all, as a coach, I have to try to understand what their experience is, and understand that it's a lot different than mine. I mean, I didn't grow up rich or anything, but how comfortable and easy has my life been? I can be a poster boy for white privilege, you know?

And then I think from a coaching standpoint, I've never been afraid to speak my mind and I encourage them to speak their mind and do what they think is right.

One problem is that they tend to get pigeonholed. And one of the most offensive things I've heard is that just because these athletes have these salaries, they should shut up and play football, or shut up and play basketball.

To me, that's offensive. To say that this person doesn't have as much right to speak up or to get involved as anyone else. So I'm really supportive of the idea of these guys being bigger than basketball.

M: You made a comment right after Donald Trump was elected president. You said, "We have just thrown a good part of our population under the bus, and I have problems with thinking that this is where we are as a country." What reaction did you get from that?

SVG: I got some people who, you know, were happy that I had spoken up and some who weren't. Same thing if you write a column.

M: So with the Trump comment, you'd say the same thing again?

SVG: No, I'll tell you what I would change. I regret saying something to the effect of I don't have any respect for anyone who voted for him. I regret that, because I do think there are people out there who are not racist, are not misogynists, are not xenophobic, who voted for Trump for other reasons. So I do regret that. I basically just threw anybody who cast a vote for Trump

M: Under the bus?

SVG: I did. That part I reject.

Van Gundy and I spoke a good deal more about those issues in our conversation. Many of them he later addressed in the TIME magazine essay, published last week, which he wrote on a plane ride back from Los Angeles, after being approached by an athlete management firm involved with NFL players.

They were seeking, he said, someone to support their position on the protests happening during the national anthem. Van Gundy's essay-which he said was edited and shaped by others in addition to him-makes a strong case for equal opportunity (something most people agree with) and labels protesting athletes "patriots" (something many don't agree with). "Patriotism " he wrote, "is caring so deeply about your country that you take it as your duty to hold it accountable to its highest values and to fight to make it the very best it can be. Under this definition, these athletes and coaches are role models of American patriotism."

I asked why he would do this in the middle of the NBA season.

"I was approached and I was more than willing and honored to do it. I agree with them, number one, but even if I didn't, I think that their right to protest is one that everyone should appreciate."

As for any negative reaction-especially for using the word "patriots"?

"I stand by it," he said. "Our founding fathers basically violently overthrew the British to form a country. They didn't just stand by silently and shut up."

'We'd be better off' with more dialogue

So take it or leave it. This is Van Gundy, smart, loquacious, passionate, heart on his sleeve.

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