Carlisle to coach Pacers this year

INDIANAPOLIS -- A week ago, Rick Carlisle was content to spend this NBA season in a television studio.\nOn Wednesday, he jumped back into coaching.\nCarlisle ended a week of speculation by signing a four-year contract with the Indiana Pacers, the same team that bypassed him in favor of Isiah Thomas three years ago.\nCarlisle was the only person new Pacers president Larry Bird considered for the job.\n"I was probably two or three days from taking ESPN's offer before Larry called me with this opportunity," he said.\nCarlisle didn't hesitate to give Bird an answer. The only hang-up was contract negotiations.\nBird, Carlisle and Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh all declined comment on how much the deal was worth.\nBut Bird indicated Carlisle agreed to a contract worth less than the going rate for an experienced NBA coach, at least initially, because the Pacers still owe Thomas $5 million for this season. Thomas was fired Aug. 27.\nThe Detroit Pistons owe Carlisle $2 million after firing him in June.\n"It would never have happened if he didn't help us out in a big way," Bird said.\nCarlisle replaces Thomas, who was 131-115 in three seasons. The Pacers reached the playoffs all three years under Thomas, a Hall of Famer who spent his entire 13-year playing career with the Pistons, but also had three straight first-round exits.\nWednesday's news conference announcing the hiring of Bird's longtime friend, Boston Celtics teammate and former assistant was in stark contrast to the one in July when Bird was named team president and he and Thomas walked off the stage, glaring at each other.\nInstead, Carlisle and Bird joked, shook hands and seemed to enjoy sharing the spotlight.\n"Donnie wanted me to go to charm school and Larry wanted me to go to a Dale Carnegie course," Carlisle joked. "I told him I'd gone to a Dale Carnegie course in 10th grade. He didn't believe me."\nCarlisle turned the 45-minute session into his version of the Oscars, thanking everyone from his former players in Detroit to the Pistons front office to ESPN executives to the Pacers owners and front office.\nHe spent two seasons in Detroit, winning the NBA's 2001-02 coach of the year award, and leading the Pistons last season to their first Eastern Conference finals since 1991.\nWhile his 100-64 record and postseason success weren't enough to keep him employed in Detroit, Carlisle's track record and relationship with Bird were enough to win him the Pacers job.\n"I like this roster very much," Carlisle said. "I had opportunities to get involved again, but I declined. This was a job, that when it came up, you had to take it."\nThe move brings Carlisle back to one of his previous stops, where he was an assistant all three seasons Bird coached the Pacers, the most successful three-year span in Pacers history. Bird's time as coach ended with Indiana making its only NBA Finals appearance against the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000.\nBird left after the season and Carlisle was one of three finalists to replace him. Walsh, then team president, chose Thomas over Carlisle and Byron Scott.\n"He's very serious about his work, and I think he'll do a fine job," Bird said of Carlisle. "I expect no problems at all."\nCarlisle's first task with the Pacers will be patching up a relationship with All-Star forward Jermaine O'Neal, the team's leading scorer and rebounder who in July signed a seven-year contract to stay in Indiana.\nLast week, O'Neal said he would not have re-signed if he knew Thomas would not return.\n"I had a very nice conversation with Jermaine Saturday," Carlisle said. "I told Jermaine, I understood what Isiah Thomas meant to him as a coach, mentor and friend and I told him in no way would I try to replace that."\nBird said he wanted to meet with O'Neal in person when he returned to Indianapolis.\nThe quick return to coaching was not something Carlisle had expected.\n"This summer, I really thought I'd be taking the path I did three years ago -- taking the year off," he said. "I think, generally, things happen for a reason"