Jim Boylen is still calling the shots of a head coach.
He’s still keeping in contact with his players and the new front office, and he’s still making decisions on the coaching staff.
And while it was Boylen’s call to not retain assistant coach/player development coach Shawn Respert when his contract is up at the end of the season, it was made obvious to the Sun-Times weeks ago that Respert was looking for a new career path long before this campaign was shut down due to the coronavirus.
Respert had long hinted at wanting to be a head coach at either the college or pro level, and didn’t really see that path with his current role on the Bulls staff.
Respert was brought into the organization back in 2017 under Fred Hoiberg, and his immediate focus was player development. He did get more coaching duties the last two years, but was still deemed to be on the player development side.
There was some frustration in that for Respert, who felt like his ideas and philosophies weren’t always heard, despite several players building tight relationships with him and appreciating his knowledge of the game.
The bigger picture, however, is Boylen is still operating as the head coach and making decisions like a guy that has no plans to be leaving that post anytime soon.
