Yesterday, the Miami Heat shuffled their coaching and executive hierarchy, moving Juwan Howard into an assistant coach position instead of the last man on the bench. They promoted Andy Elisburg to general manager — President Pat Riley will remain the top executive in charge of player personnel – and now Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has signed a multiyear extension to remain in Miami.
After Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reported earlier today the Heat and Spoelstra were nearing completion on a multiyear extension — the Heat, like most teams, don’t disclose the pay of coaches and executives — Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel has confirmed that the new extension has been signed.
Confirmed to Sun Sentinel by NBA source: Spoelstra extension signed. He will continue to have personnel input.
— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) September 29, 2013
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Spoelstra, like before, will have input on personnel decisions, which makes it a triumvirate of voices weighing in on possible roster moves. President Pat Riley still holds the final say on player moves even after Andy Elisburg was brought on as the general manager.
The 42-year-old former video coordinator under Riley and Stan Van Gundy has now taken the Heat to three straight NBA Finals appearances as their head coach. He’s won two titles in that three-year span after losing to the Mavs in 2011. In five seasons, Spoels has a .633 winning percentage and an overall regular season record of 260-134 after winning 27-straight games last season in route to the No. 1 seed in the 2013 NBA Playoffs. The Heat finished the year with a franchise record 66-16 regular season mark.
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