Magic coach stays in the game by sleeping more
On Dec. 4, Steve Clifford left his downtown Charlotte condo early in the morning, drove several blocks to the Charlotte Hornets’ arena and starting prepping for his team’s game that night.
He had repeated the same routine countless times throughout his head-coaching career. But on that day almost six months ago, Clifford just could not function. His body shook. His head pounded — a pain so constant that he could not concentrate.
Clifford called Pat Delany, the Hornets assistant coach who had gameplanned for that night’s opponent, and told Delany, “You’re going to have to do shootaround today.” Clifford decided to go home. He felt so ill that he decided it would be too risky to drive himself home. Instead, he walked.
Two days later, after an examination by a team doctor, Hornets officials announced Clifford would take an indefinite medical leave of absence.
He spent 5½ weeks away from the Hornets. After a barrage of medical tests ruled out a brain tumor or a stroke or something else, doctors determined that a persistent lack of sleep had caused Clifford’s debilitating headaches. A neurologist informed Clifford he needed to do more than change the way he worked; Clifford needed to change the way he lived . He needed to devote more time to sleeping.
When Clifford’s leave of absence started, he could not sleep more than five consecutive hours, no matter how hard he tried to do so.
He had to retrain his body. Sleep now is a priority. “Going through it was professionally the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to go through,” Clifford says now. “It impacted our team in a bad way. I feel terrible about it.
“Now, personally, it was probably the best thing that ever happened to me.”
The change, Clifford says, has been profound. For years and years, he had subsisted on no more than five hours of sleep a night — a product of his work ethic and the demands of his profession.
Since his leave of absence, however, he now sleeps at least 6½ hours each night, and the headaches have disappeared. He says he feels healthier now than he’s felt in years.
Orlando Magic officials believe him. The Hornets fired Clifford in April after five seasons as their head coach, and Magic President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman and General Manager John Hammond considered Clifford for their team’s coaching vacancy.
In two lengthy job interviews during the search process, Weltman and Hammond repeatedly asked Clifford about his health scare, and Clifford described what had happened and the steps he took to regain his health. Clifford also agreed to give a Magic team physician, Kent Hoffman, access to his medical records and allowed Hoffman to speak with his physician.
On Wednesday, the Magic named the 56-year-old Clifford their new coach, signing him to a four-year contract.
“It was very important for us to hear his take on his own health and his ability to control the issues that he had,” Weltman says.
“I’m not a doctor. So what we did was we involved our doctor with their doctors. All I can tell you is they allowed full disclosure on all records, all meetings, all events. And our doctors came away confident that Steve was OK.”
Clifford will be 60 years old when his contract ends, and for his Magic tenure to be successful, one of the things he must do is continue to avoid the health issues that plagued him in Charlotte.
When the Magic introduced Clifford as their new coach Wednesday, he looked well-rested and at ease.
But how will he feel during the doldrums of an NBA season, after, say, a stretch of four games in six nights?
Clifford insists he’ll be fine.
“I had just let my body get to a [bad] place,” Clifford says. “I should have never done it. It’s not a place I’m ever going back to again.”