Why Doc Stayed Put

Now that Glenn "Doc" Rivers has established himself as the man for the job, a question remains why he stayed on as coach of the Celtics through the dark days that preceded this year.

After going 45-37 in his first regular season with the Celtics, Doc's successes thereafter were far and few between.

The troubles started when the Cs lost to the Pacers in the first round of the playoffs. The Pacers were short-handed, and many of the players who suited up were injured. But the Celtics players imploded, and Doc got blamed for being outcoached by Rick Carlisle.

Doc followed that up with 33-49 and 24-58 seasons.

The criticism flowed freely:

Doc couldn't settle on a rotation.

He substituted wholesale, like he was coaching pro hockey.

Doc didn't know how to coach young players.

He was terrible at Xs and Os.

Bill Simmons was calling for Doc's head.

Websites popped up devoted to no other purpose than getting Doc canned.

"Fire Doc" chants were commonplace in da Gah-den.

Local columnists, who professed their love for Doc, began wondering out loud if he was right for the job.

In the rear view mirror, it all seems so clear now.

Other than Paul Pierce, the Celtics stunk.

Al Jefferson was hurt for much of his tenure in green, and even Pierce missed a large chunk of last season.

Meanwhile, national observers, who had been asking Doc why he "took that crappy Celtics job" began advising him to leave.

Last Spring, he had the perfect chance to do just that. Doc had one year left on his contract. Danny was only offering a one-year extension. The Celtics were primed for yet another infusion of youth with their pending lottery pick. Trading Pierce was not out of the question.

Instead, he renewed for another year.

Now the Celtics are off to the fourth best start in history, and Doc is the toast of the town across the NBA. NBA stalwarts such as Pat Riley are calling Doc a great coach, one of the best in the league.

I'm beginning to believe them.

So it seems worth asking, then, why on earth did Doc put up with the losing and what must have seemed like an interminable youth movement?

"I think our relationship helped get us through that," said Rivers. "I don't know if it would have worked had Danny and I not had a great relationship. Both parties were frustrated, clearly. You wanted to win. Danny has been a Celtic almost his whole life and to see the franchise the way it was it had to be painful for him. I was the coach sitting there taking it and it was painful for me. Neither one of us, through it all ... blamed each other. We were in it together."

Ainge never wavered in his support of Rivers, and defending Rivers at every turn made some question Ainge's judgment. When the Celtics rewarded Rivers with a contract extension coming off a 24-win season, Ainge noted that something like that had probably never before happened in the NBA.

"I am just happy that Doc has a chance to succeed now," Ainge said this week. "I watched practice every day and I had listened to Doc talk about the game. I knew that if Doc had been given the opportunity to succeed then he would succeed. Doc is a leader and that was the most important thing about him to me. We are not playing with chess pieces. Doc is a manager of people."

Rivers said, while confident in his own abilities despite the team's overall struggles, he did appreciate Ainge's continuous public support and that the pair provided a support system for others at times over trying two years.

"Danny just came to me a lot telling me to keep my head up and things are going to work out," Rivers recalled. "Then there were times last year when we had a couple of deals and I just said, 'Don't panic. I'm in it now.' That was the attitude I adopted after a while. If I were going to go through this pain, I didn't want to make a trade to make us win four more games. I just thought that would be silly."