Henry Bibby, the father of former Sacramento Kings star Mike Bibby, is set to interview with the Kings on Monday. And if he gets the job, the elder Bibby says his son would be included on his staff.
Seems like an obvious choice, right? Not exactly. When Mike was leading the University of Arizona to an NCAA national championship in 1997, he made it clear that his father was not part of his life. Henry was coaching at USC at the time, and Mike credited his mother, Virginia, for having raised him and said he is annoyed when people say his father — also a former NBA player — was always there for him. You can read more about the once-estranged relationship between the two here.
Apparently things have changed. According to Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee, Henry says Mike asked Kings general manager Vlade Divac to give his father an interview. Henry claims he has been on good terms with Mike for 15 years, and now they are ready to help lead the Kings together.
“What I’m trying to get back is what Vlade used to have up there, the old Sacramento Kings,” the elder Bibby said. “I want to get that back again, that excitement. They played as a team. They ran that corner offense, and that’s what I’d run. I’d put (center) DeMarcus (Cousins) where Vlade was (on offense), and you play basketball with (Rajon) Rondo, (Ben) McLemore and guys like that.
“It’s my time. I never got the break. And this business, it’s all about connections.”
Henry Bibby won two championships in the Continental Basketball Association and coached nine seasons at USC. He also spent a short stint as head coach of the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks and has bounced around several teams as an assistant in the NBA. The Kings are considering a number of candidates for their head coaching vacancy.
Mike Bibby hasn’t played in the NBA since 2012, but we know he hasn’t lost his passion for the game. He was thrown out of his son’s high school game a couple years back.
