Joel Abelson Offically Out as Sioux Falls Skyforce Head Coach

The news is official.  Joel Abelson is out as Sioux Falls Skyforce coach.

Abelson was essentially on a one year deal last season in his first year as a head coach and since the Skyforce became a direct affiliate of the Miami Heat via the hybrid model, the Heat now control player personnel and coaching decisions

Their decision is to move forward in a different direction at head coach. The Heat will most likely stay in house with their next coaching decision in regards to the Skyforce opening and numerous names have been rumored.

Those are the facts surrounding the exit of Joel Abelson from the Skyforce organization and here is some perspective.

Sioux Falls had 10 more wins in the 2012-2013 season than they did the previous year and had a revived sense of brand awareness in the market.

Now certainly the move of home games from the Sioux Falls Arena to the newly constructed Sanford Pentagon helps with that buzz, but the better product on the court and leadership from Abelson added to the equation.

As a sports radio host, I don't try and allow emotions to over whelm my thought process, I tend to leave that up to the callers on my show.  But in this scenario, I feel like a Twins fan who just watched the All Star Game with eight of their previous players on All Star rosters; that feeling being disappointment.

I'm disappointed that one of the bright basketball minds in the game is not going to be affiliated with our team.  I'm disappointed that the Miami Heat had already made up their mind about the direction of the head coach without even letting Joel prove himself to their organization.  Finally, I'm disappointed that there wasn't an exception made in the hybrid process to allow the Skyforce themselves to hand select the coach for a period of adjustment into to the new model.

Obviously I preach all the time on my show "Overtime" that life isn't fair, but that doesn't mean there is a sour taste in my mouth in regards to the decisions made in this process and question the justification for the move.

All that being said, I am optimistically intrigued about who the next coach will be and I am excited about the opportunity to hopefully learn as much about the game from the new coach as I did from Abelson.

Joel will land on his feet, he is so highly respected by his peers, the players and within the D-League itself, that his services should be sought by numerous teams.  Whomever the next coach will be will also be stepping into a good situation and should thrive as well.

It is what it is, but that doesn't mean that I have to like it.

** YOU CAN EMAIL JEFF THURN at JeffT@espn991.com AND FOLLOW HIM ON TWITTER @JTESPN991