New Warriors owners named Karl coach, kept Attles as a VP
(This story was originally published on May 24, 1986)
OAKLANi >> The unveiling of the Warriors’ new regime Friday produced about as many surprises as Al Capone’s vault. Then again, the new folks are hoping to save the surprises for next winter.
The naming of George Karl as head coach and the sale of the Warriors by Franklin Mieuli to Jim Fitzgerald, the new chairman, and Dan Finnane, the new president, had been foregone conclusions.
Only a few major questions had remained. Would the new owners keep Al Attles, a Warriors fixture for the last 28 years, and would they remain at the Coliseum Arena?
Yes they would, on both counts. Attles will take on the new title of vice president/ consultant and will be in charge of scouting college and NBA players and taking part in player relations. Attles, who was in North Carolina to meet draft prospect Chris Washburn, has been general manager the last three seasons.
The owners plan to name a director of player personnel — much the same job previously held by Attles — although probably not before the draft. Karl indicated his
preference is Rick Sund, the 34-year-old director of player personnel for the Dallas Mavericks.
“I think it’s well-known that Rick Sund and I are good friends,” Karl said. The new owners also announced that a five-year lease recently had been signed with the Coliseum Arena. They said they stayed with the Arena because of its central location in the Bay Area, easy access and condition of the facility.
Another question — the purchase price — was not answered, but Finnane hinted that the rumored figure of $14 million, less a $4 million loan to Mieuli last June, was on target.
That loan gave Fitzgerald, former owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, and Finnane, a former Bucks director, the option to buy the Warriors. How they would exercise that option apparently was never a mystery to Mieuli.
“He assumed we were going to do it,” Finnane said.
Mieuli, who will remain a minority owner, said goodbye to Warriors employees Tuesday before leaving for a vacation in Europe. Fitzgerald and Mieuli have been friends since Fitzgerald became the Bucks’ owner in 1976, and Mieuli’s former assistant, Ken Macker, said that made the sale easier for Mieuli to bear.
“I think Franklin might have had a terrible time if it hadn’t been for his relationship with Jim Fitzgerald,” Macker said. “Any man who has put as much into it as Franklin has would find it a wrenching experience to divorce himself from the Warriors.”
Though the decision by Fitzgerald and Finnane to buy the team — they have a 50-50 partnership that will own about 70 percent of the franchise — came as little surprise, they apparently left little to chance before making the decision. Finnane moved to San Francisco last September to explore the possibility.
“I don’t believe any market has been researched by buyers like this one has been by Dan and myself,” Fitzgerald said. “If we can’t make it happen here, we’ve done the biggest job kidding ourselves that’s ever been done.”
Their research revealed that the Warriors are located in the fifth-largest market in America, and the Bay Area population of 5.7 million is expected to grow by 400,000 by 1989; that television ratings of the 1985 NBA Championship Series were higher in the Bay Area than in any other area without a participating team; and that adult participation in basketball in the Bay Area was
one-third higher than anywhere else in the country.
And that all sounded pretty good to two men who had helped turn the Bucks into a successful franchise despite being in the 28th largest TV market and playing in the NBA’s smallest arena.
“I remember battles we had in NBA meetings between the haves and the have-nots,” Fitzgerald said. “This market is a have. I came from a have-not.
“I didn’t like it then that the home team got 100 percent of the gate and the visiting team didn’t get any. Now that we’re in the Bay Area, I’d like to keep things just as they are.”
The new owners promised to stick to the business end of the team and stay out of the basketball end. It was a promise they reportedly kept in Milwaukee.
“I had a deal with (Bucks Coach) Don Nelson and (former Vice President-Consultant) Wayne Embry that if they didn’t agree, then and only then did I have a vote,” Fitzgerald said. “It only happened twice.”
Finnane said the franchise’s greatest need, now that a coach has been hired, is in the area of marketing. “We’ve got to market the Bay Area,” Finnane said, “rather than just the Arena area.”
Epilogue: The Warriors did not hire Rick Sund as GM. Instead they gave the title to Jack McMahon, an NBA lifer whose job was to keep the seat warm for Don Nelson. Nelson had been with Fizgerald and Finnane in Milwaukee, but was prohibited from following them to Golden State for a period of one year. In 1987, he joined the Warriors as GM and a year later replaced Karl as coach.