The plan was to only coach basketball for three years. But, one thing led to another as Phil Jackson ended up guiding the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships in nine years from 1989-1998 and guided the Los Angeles Lakers to three titles in his first stint as head coach from 1999-2004. Jackson took a year off and returned to the Lakers in June of 2005. He finally hung up his hat last season with the Lakers.
What now? Would Jackson ever consider coaching in the NBA again? It's not quite as appealing as it use to be but that doesn't mean it won't happen.
"I don't want to coach again," Jackson told Bulls.com. "That doesn't mean I won't. I don't think I'll coach again. I'd like to see if there's another side of basketball."
There are plenty of other sides of basketball, but general manager isn't on his list either.
"GMs have to lie too much," Jackson said. "It's one of the hardest things to do is to be a prevaricator, or whatever you want to call it, to equivocate all the time. It's almost like being in political office."
For now, Jackson is going to concentrate on writing a book. "It will kind of be a sequel to Sacred Hoops, the book I wrote almost 20 years ago," Jackson said. "I want to bring back some of the principles and what I believe in coaching and some of the things that happened in the years subsequent."
Jackson also went on to say that he will focus on the eight championships that were won since his first book.
NBA
"Every one had a specific kind of characteristic and overriding theme that goes into it, and I think that's a story worth telling."
In the end, Jackson believes that he's accomplished all that he wanted to accomplish and would be perfectly okay not returning as a coach in the NBA.
"I can say I'd like to come back to go to win a dozen championships, but that is ridiculous to almost even say that aloud," he said.
Jackson, 66, was named Coach of the Year in 1995-'96 and the Top 10 Coaches in NBA History in 1996-'97,
Check out the rest of the in-depth interview on Bulls.com