Nate Bjorkgren

Nate Bjorkgren (born c. 1975, pronounced BEE-ork-Gren) is an American basketball coach and former collegiate player of the University of South Dakota and Buena Vista University. He is currently known for being an assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns, although he also used to take on the role of the player development coordinator there as well back in 2015.

Early life and college career

Bjorkgren was born in Storm Lake, Iowa sometime in 1975. When Bjorkgren started playing basketball in college, he first began by playing for the University of South Dakota in 1994. After a couple of seasons playing there, he decided to transfer to Buena Vista University nearby his hometown. During his time there, Bjorkgren would help Buena Vista out in gaining the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship in their 1996–97 season.^[1] At the time, it was the university's first conference championship earned since 1976. He would eventually graduate in 1998 with a degree in Exercise Science.^[2]

High school and D-League coaching career

After graduating from Buena Vista University, Bjorkgren would move out into Phoenix, Arizona four years later.^[3] It was there that he would soon begin his tenure on coaching basketball. From 2004 to 2007, Bjorkgren would begin his coaching career with Cactus Shadows High School in Cave Creek, Arizona. During each of his three seasons with Cactus Shadows, he would lead the Falcons to the Cactus 4A State Tournament. In addition, he also was named both the Regional Coach of the Year during the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons and the Arizona State High School Coach of the Year for the 2005–06 season.

After his third and final season at Cactus Shadows High School, Bjorkgren would get called up in 2007 for an assistant coach role under Nick Nurse's coaching staff for a new expansion D-League team with his home state's Iowa Energy.^[4] During his last season as assistant coach for Iowa, Bjorkgren would make his coaching debut in the D-League under an overtime victory for the Energy.^[5] Under his last season as assistant coach for the Energy, the team would win their first ever D-League championship with his assistance at hand. That would later cause the Dakota Wizards to call upon Bjorkgren's service as the team's new head coach. During the Wizards' last season under the Dakota name, he would lead the team to an improved 29–21 record after having a poor 19–31 record the previous season before losing in the first round to the Bakersfield Jam. After that, the Dakota Wizards would change their name to the Santa Cruz Warriors due to the Golden State Warriors gaining complete control over the franchise by that point. Under the first season with the Warriors name, Bjorkgren would help improve the team even further, managing the team to the point where they would make it to their first D-League Finals as the Warriors, before eventually losing to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers 2-0. Before trying again with the Warriors, Bjorkgren signed a new deal to return to the Iowa Energy as their head coach. In his only season there, Bjorkgren would help improve the Energy from a pitiful 14–36 record to a much improved 31–19 record, which helped him gain recognition by scouts as a potential NBA head coach someday. After losing out to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers once again, Bjorkgren would sign up to a new deal to coach the Bakersfield Jam. During his only season coaching the Jam, he would help improve the team once again, managing to go from an average 24–26 record to a much improved 34–16 record. While he would help his players earn multiple honors that season, the Jam would ultimately lose in the playoffs 2-1 to the Austin Spurs.

Professional coaching career

On July 30, 2015, Bjorkgren would find himself promoted to the NBA by being named both an assistant coach and the leading player development coordinator under an updated coaching staff for head coach Jeff Hornacek.^[6] Before being officially hired, though, he would take on the head coach role for the Phoenix Suns' Summer League team in the 2015 NBA Summer League, where he'd lead the team to a nice 5-2 record, making it to the Las Vegas Finals before losing to the San Antonio Spurs. Under his debut season, he would go from being both an assistant head coach and player development coordinator to becoming a full-time assistant coach after both assistant coaches Jerry Sichting and Mike Longabardi would be fired by December 28, 2015. With the coaching staff undermanned and the Suns performing poorly due, at least in part, to injuries involving some of their key players, it would ultimately lead to Jeff Hornacek being fired by February 1, 2016, after finishing the month of January with a 2-12 record. Immediately afterwards, Bjorkgren was considered a prime candidate to take over the vacant coaching spot before the position was ultimately given to Earl Watson.^[7] However, despite performing under one of the worst seasons in franchise history, Bjorkgren would continue to remain as a part of Earl Watson's newest coaching staff, being one of only two members of Earl Watson's original staff to remain there after the 2015-16 NBA season ended. Bjorkgren would also take on the role of the Suns' Summer League coach once again for the 2016 NBA Summer League, this time recording a 4-2 record with the team missing out on their third Las Vegas Finals showing after losing to the #24 seeded Minnesota Timberwolves.

References

External links

• NBA BEHIND THE SCENES: I WAS A D-LEAGUE COACH