Carlyle’s Way

Accepting a contract extension while firing assistants is not the stuff of leadership

When the Raptors announced re-signing Dwane Casey’s to a new contract, it was explained that the extension was not done during the season because the coach shouldn’t be favored over players with expiring contracts. This clearly is a different philosophy than that espoused by the other sport division of MLSE. Coach Randy Carlyle, who still had one remaining year on his contract, was given an extension today while his three assistants were dismissed.

In sports, making a coach work through the last year of his contract is often thought of as disempowerment. But this didn’t seem to stop Dwane Casey from leading the Raptors to an unexpectedly successful season. So why did Brendan Shanahan and Dave Nonis not take a page from Masai Ujiri?

Given an offer of an extension, did it cross Carlyle’s mind not to accept it given that his assistants would be fired? A real leader would say, “Not now.”