Cohan Leaves Legacy of Warrior Failure

The tenure of Chris Cohan as owner of the Golden State Warriors has been an unequivocal failure.

Under Cohan's 15-year-long watch, the Warriors have had exactly two winning seasons, and just one visit to the postseason. The franchise has botched myriad draft picks; the good prospects Golden State did manage to acquire typically end up elsewhere in short order. The best players always leave, often pushed. Bad contracts for bad players has become a modus operandi, no matter who Cohan installs as the personnel boss. Underperformance reigns, no matter who Cohan hires as the coach.

Failure is the only way to define Cohan's Warriors, unless you want to grab Roget's and mix in a little "disastrous" or "laughable" or "calamitous" or "hapless" or "pestilential."

Typically, when an owner moves to sell his team, uncertainty hangs over the fan base, and anxiety can sweep over. In the case of Cohan, who this week put a "for sale" sign on Warriors? The announcement is the best thing to happen to Warriors fans in decades.



Share Mind you -- there is uncertainty. Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle and one of the richest men in America, is said to be the leading candidate to take over the Warriors. Many fans will welcome his high-dollar, big-personality style. He will meddle. He will be closer to the huddle than Mark Cuban, have more of his players in his VIP booth than Jerry Buss and will be the target of more press than Michael Jordan and Paul Allen combined. He will probably cause some problems -- clashing egos, a heavy hand from the owner's box, management alienation. He has been called a lunatic by reasonable people, and I'm not sure he minds.

But Cohan is so bad that the Warriors' fans will welcome all this coming crazy with open arms. Some extra drama is worth extra wins, especially for a team so devoid of success.

Consider that during Cohan's tenure the Warriors have tied for the league's third-worst winning percentage, behind only the Grizzlies (who began play as an expansion club during Cohan's first season at Golden State's helm) and the Clippers (the Clippers!). As of today, the Warriors have the same winning percentage over the past 15 years that the Charlotte Bobcats have for their entire, terrible existence. Take Charlotte's failure since 2004, and extend it nine years. That's just an overwhelming amount of suck.

And it's not like Cohan can blame it on bad luck. He hired a guy (Don Nelson) who had previously sued him for unpaid salary, a coach known to be a destructive if occasionally brilliant influence on those around him, an eternal diva. He gave that diva tacit control of the franchise, letting Warriors legend Chris Mullin be pushed out coldly in the process. Before that, Cohan hired and fired a parade of bad choices for the G.M. and coach roles. He let those decision-makers make a host of bad personnel decisions -- in the draft, in free agency, in the trade marker.

Through it all, Cohan had no plan but this: take every dollar possible from the devout fans.

Well, I suppose he was successful at doing one thing. Because the fans are still around, still paying to cheer the team and wear the laundry. Cohan didn't deserve the fans or their money, and thank Heavens that as soon as a sale is completed, he won't earn another dime off their loyalty. Good riddance to you, Chris Cohan.