Knicks coach search update: Jerry Stackhouse interviews, Jeff Van Gundy out?

The Knicks’ coaching carousel: Round and round and round it goes, where it stops, nobody knows!

Two big items came up in the Knicks’ quest for a new leader today: one new face officially became the first candidate to arrive for his interview, and one old face has apparently been ruled out. First, the new face:

Stack! If you all remember, Stackhouse’s G-League Raptors 905 team knocked out our beloved Westchester Knicks from the G-League playoffs, eventually losing to the Austin Spurs in the final. From Bondy’s story:

The 43-year-old Stackhouse, who coached Toronto’s G-League team the past two seasons, also has interviews lined up with the Hornets and Magic.

He is among the frontrunners on a list of Knicks candidates that includes David Fizdale, Mark Jackson and David Blatt. Clippers assistant Mike Woodson is scheduled to interview with the Knicks in L.A. on Wednesday, according to the L.A. Times, but is more of a longshot. Perhaps not coincidentally, Jackson were both on the West Coast this weekend for the Warriors playoff game. A source confirmed that the Knicks have shown no interest in hiring Jeff Van Gundy, despite previous contact between parties.

It’s unclear if Stackhouse’s interview will be Monday, Tuesday or extend over both.

So, he may have interviewed today, or it could be tomorrow. Either way, good news! Stackhouse is a young coach, and he’s been a large part of developing the NBA Raptors’ league-leading bench from the G-League club. With Frank Ntilikina being the pile of potential that he is, Stackhouse could prove to be a perfect coach for the Knicks.

In other news, a familiar name has officially been ruled out of the search, at least for now:

Apparently with Mike Woodson back in consideration for the Knicks, there’s only room for one former Knick head coach in these proceedings, and Van Gundy is out. The language from Begley is ambiguous at best, however:

Van Gundy, a former Knicks coach and current NBA analyst for ESPN, would be open to talking about the position if he were approached by New York, league sources say. But league sources familiar with the matter say that despite contact between the team and Van Gundy’s representatives, there is no interest currently.

So... the Knicks have talked to JVG’s reps, and JVG’s reps have talked to the Knicks, and JVG himself is interested, but the Knicks aren’t interested. Perhaps this was a veto from Jazzy Jimmy Dolan, after Van Gundy abruptly left the Knicks and started their decade-plus free-fall in the early 2000s.

Either way, we know Stackhouse is officially interviewing, and Woodson, David Fizdale, Mark Jackson and David Blatt round out the candidates known to be getting interviews this week. Here’s hoping it’s anyone but Mark Jackson!