CHICAGO -- Chicago Bulls assistant coach Phil Jackson Friday surfaced as a leading contender to replace recently fired Doug Collins.
Collins, fired Thursday for what Bulls management called 'philosophical differences,' planned to leave the Chicago area for a vacation with his family.
'This is a void that will be in my life,' Collins said. 'And when you get something like this that I've been involved with for three years it's hard to put it away. But I'm going to. I'm going to go on.'
Collins refused to criticize the controversial firing by team owner Jerry Reinsdorf and general manager Jerry Krause, saying, 'I have nothing but the utmost respect for this organization and these people.'
Jackson's secretary at the Bulls' practice facility in Deerfield, Ill., said Jackson was 'vacationing out West' and could not be reached for comment.
In a telephone interview from his Philadelphia office, Collins' attorney John Langel did not say why Collins was fired. But he did say Collins would have liked to stay with the team.
Neither Reinsdorf nor Krause could be reached for comment Friday.
'He's holding up as well as you could expect,' Langel said. 'He's not thrilled with it. He wanted to take this team on. He was very excited about the Bulls' future and he wanted to be a part of it.'
Collins, the second-winningest coach in team history, had a year remaining on his contract with the Bulls.
But differences with Krause and Reinsdorf regarding certain players may have been at at the center of the rift. Collins' lack of regard for former Bulls player Brad Sellers and current center Will Perdue were notable among the 'philosophical differences,' a source told the Chicago Tribune.
'You know what I think of when I hear that? I think, 'Not playing the No. 1 draft choice,'' a source close to the team told the newspaper.
Perdue was the Bulls' top pick in 1988. Collins was reluctant to play either Perdue or Sellers, a first-round choice in 1986.
The Bulls finished the regular season with a 47-35 record in fourth place in the Central Division. Led by NBA scoring champion Michael Jordan, they upset Cleveland and New York in the playoffs before losing in six games to the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference finals. The Pistons went on to become the NBA champions.
On May 23, 1986, Collins became the Bulls' ninth coach at age 36. He compiled a regular-season record of 137-109. In the year before he took over, the Bulls were 30-52 mark but improved to 40-42 in 1986-87 and 50-32 the following season.
Collins, a native of Benton, Ill., starred at Illinois State University, where he became the Redbirds' career scoring leader and was a No. 1 draft pick. He played eight years for the Philadelphia 76ers, averaging 17.9 points a game. He made the NBA All-Star team four times.
