Pacers announce multi-year extension for head coach Frank Vogel

The Indiana Pacers have signed head coach Frank Vogel to a multi-year contract extension, the team announced Wednesday.

"We're very happy to extend Frank's contract," president of basketball operations Larry Bird said in a statement. "I believe he has done a great job and I look forward to continuing our relationship and working together to achieve all of our goals."

Vogel also commented in the release:

"I’m excited for the opportunity to continue my tenure as Pacers coach," he said. "It’s an honor to represent this franchise and lead this team. I look forward to the challenge ahead. I’m grateful to have had good, coachable teams along with coaching staffs that have been second to none."

Terms of the contract were not disclosed.

Vogel took over the head coaching job in Indiana on an interim basis in 2011 after Jim O'Brien was fired in-season. Prior to that, Vogel had worked as an assistant in Boston, Philadelphia and Indiana since 2001. 

Over three seasons and change, Vogel's fashioned a 167-100 record, good for a .633 winning percentage. He is yet to miss the playoffs, leading the Pacers to consecutive conference finals the past two years on the back of the league's premier defense.

The extension comes at an important time for Vogel, as he was set to enter the final year of his current deal under less than ideal circumstances. The Pacers collapsed in the second half of 2013-14 amid reports of internal turmoil, and they enter 2014-15 having lost their best two offensive players in Lance Stephenson (to free agency) and Paul George (to injury). It could be a tough year in Indiana, and Vogel can now move forward coaching without looking over his shoulder.