Frank Vogel is headed back to the Pacific Division, and the Phoenix Suns will not have to wait long to run into their former coach.
The Golden State Warriors are bringing Vogel onto Steve Kerr’s staff as associate head coach ahead of the 2025-26 season. It’s a familiar move for a coach with a long track record, and it gives Golden State another experienced voice as the franchise keeps trying to squeeze the most out of its veteran core.
Vogel spent one season in Phoenix, going 49-33 in 2023-24 before the Suns were swept out of the first round of the Western Conference playoffs by the Minnesota Timberwolves. After that, he spent the last two seasons with the Dallas Mavericks, most recently working as the team’s lead assistant coach for the 2025-26 season.
For Vogel, the new role is another stop in a career that has already included a Finals run with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020 during the bubble season, plus head-coaching jobs with the Indiana Pacers from 2011-16 and the Orlando Magic from 2016-18.
“When you put in this type of work for the 25 or so years that I’ve been doing it, you reach a level of expertise that you don’t want to go to waste,” Vogel said (h/t The Mercury News).
“And I love just being able to take all of the battle scars and all the knowledge that I’ve accumulated over the years, and using that to contribute to a group that is trying to do something special.”
Golden State’s timing makes sense. The Warriors are in a moment of real transition, with Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler all deep into the later stages of their careers and Kerr also part of the broader uncertainty around how long this core stays intact.
Phoenix, meanwhile, is trying to stabilize after a stretch of coaching turnover. After Monty Williams, Vogel and Mike Budenholzer, Jordan Ott is now entering his second season as the Suns’ head coach, and the team is hoping to build around Devin Booker with more continuity.
Vogel’s return to the division means the Suns will see plenty of him. He was direct about the opportunity Golden State sold him on, too.
“He made a great pitch and how I could come in here and make an impact on their team,” Vogel added. “That I would run the defense, and that there’s nobody in the league that they would want more to do it than me.”
The Suns will host the Warriors in their regular-season home opener on Saturday, Oct. 24 at Mortgage Matchup Center.
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