Pretty good stuff:
http://www.indystar.com/article/2011...IndyStar.com|s
http://www.indystar.com/article/2011...IndyStar.com|s
Five-year-old Arianna Vogel took only a few bites of her yogurt before placing it on the kitchen table and turning her attention elsewhere.
"Come on, Daddy, let's go outside," she said, tugging on Indiana Pacers coach Frank Vogel's right arm.
It's Arianna and her older sister Alexa's favorite time of year with their father.
Vogel is not focusing on coming up with a defensive scheme to slow Chicago's Derrick Rose or finding a way to get Danny Granger easier shots on offense.
With the NBA lockout in full effect and no end to the labor issues in sight, Vogel's focus is on his family.
"I miss out on a lot of stuff during the season. That's why I make sure I'm helping out every possible moment I can," he said about his daughters. "Everything else is put on hold outside of my family. I have to get back and take advantage of every moment I can with them."
No longer is Vogel arriving at Conseco Fieldhouse at 6 a.m. or pulling into his driveway at home well after his family has gone to bed.
Vogel, 38, is home in time to help with homework and give the kids baths at night.
He calls himself an "assistant coach" in the morning, helping his wife of 10 years, Jenifer, make breakfast and walk the kids to the bus stop.
"I joke with Frank that when the season starts, the blinders go up," Jenifer said. "I would say the blinders are half up because he's constantly thinking. But he's more available now."
Just one of the guys
It's not uncommon for Jenifer to look through their kitchen window and see Vogel playing wiffle ball in the backyard or for him to be reliving his career at Juniata College by playing basketball against some of the neighborhood kids.
Vogel may be the hot name around the Indianapolis area after he was named coach in July after the Pacers' first playoff appearance in five years last season.
But to those who live in his Carmel neighborhood, he's simply known as Frank Vogel, the husband and father who knows the name of every kid on his street.
"You wouldn't even know he was a coach by talking to him," friend Drew Miroff said. "He acts like he's known you for 20 years when he talks to you. Frank remembers what it was like to be a kid. He interacts with all the kids no matter what age they are."
The Vogel household has been the headquarters of a number of neighborhood barbecues where Vogel is the grill master. He also leads golf chipping competitions in his backyard.
"We're big backyard BBQ people, as is our whole neighborhood," Vogel said.
"It's a time to interact with everybody around us and to have a good time."
Coaching never far away
Jenifer realized what she was getting into with her future husband on their second date more than 12 years ago.
What was supposed to be dinner and a movie turned into Vogel breaking down film and Jenifer reading a magazine next to him at the Boston Celtics practice facility.
"I should have known then that he was a workaholic," Jenifer said, laughing.
"He said he felt like he didn't do his work good enough that morning. He wanted it done right."
That's still the case today.
Vogel spent most of Alexa's first soccer game yelling instructions to her from the sideline.
"Go here. Go get the ball," he constantly said to her.
Jenifer finally had to tell him to grab a seat.
"I was the nervous parent," Vogel said. "My calm demeanor at Pacers games was not evident at the game. I was on the edge of my seat. Every little play I was wincing, applauding. If there was a reaction, I was doing it."
Alexa wasn't the least bit embarrassed by her father's actions.
"I like it when he tries to help me," she said in a shy voice.
Alexa, 7, and Arianna get their dad back by beating him on Nintendo Wii or gang-tackling him when they're playing around.
"Frank is like the third child in the house," Jenifer said. "If the kids are out there in the yard, he has to go out there and be the fun dad. I'll look out there sometimes and wonder who the kid is. That's every day."
Movie junkie
Vogel enjoys golf, bowling and going on bike rides as a family along one of the trails in their neighborhood. He also likes popping in one of his favorite DVDs that he has likely already seen dozens of times.
A native of Wildwood, N.J., he's a self-proclaimed movie junkie, especially those from the 1980s and '90s. Favorites include "Major League," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Happy Gilmore," "Jerry McGuire" and "A Few Good Men."
"I could go on and on," he said. "There are a few hundred (I like)."
He even used a clip from "Rocky II" last season to get the Pacers to embrace the underdog role as they made their run to the playoffs.
Vogel had his five minutes of fame as a kid when he spun a basketball on the end of a toothbrush on David Letterman's TV show. His other hidden talent is being able to recite lines from movies word for word.
"We'll be talking about movies and he'll just start running off the lines of ones he's seen," another neighbor, Bob Boyer, said. "That's Frank for you. He's just a genuine guy, a normal guy who will strike up a conversation just as easily as he'll be seen throwing a football around with my son."
"Come on, Daddy, let's go outside," she said, tugging on Indiana Pacers coach Frank Vogel's right arm.
It's Arianna and her older sister Alexa's favorite time of year with their father.
Vogel is not focusing on coming up with a defensive scheme to slow Chicago's Derrick Rose or finding a way to get Danny Granger easier shots on offense.
With the NBA lockout in full effect and no end to the labor issues in sight, Vogel's focus is on his family.
"I miss out on a lot of stuff during the season. That's why I make sure I'm helping out every possible moment I can," he said about his daughters. "Everything else is put on hold outside of my family. I have to get back and take advantage of every moment I can with them."
No longer is Vogel arriving at Conseco Fieldhouse at 6 a.m. or pulling into his driveway at home well after his family has gone to bed.
Vogel, 38, is home in time to help with homework and give the kids baths at night.
He calls himself an "assistant coach" in the morning, helping his wife of 10 years, Jenifer, make breakfast and walk the kids to the bus stop.
"I joke with Frank that when the season starts, the blinders go up," Jenifer said. "I would say the blinders are half up because he's constantly thinking. But he's more available now."
Just one of the guys
It's not uncommon for Jenifer to look through their kitchen window and see Vogel playing wiffle ball in the backyard or for him to be reliving his career at Juniata College by playing basketball against some of the neighborhood kids.
Vogel may be the hot name around the Indianapolis area after he was named coach in July after the Pacers' first playoff appearance in five years last season.
But to those who live in his Carmel neighborhood, he's simply known as Frank Vogel, the husband and father who knows the name of every kid on his street.
"You wouldn't even know he was a coach by talking to him," friend Drew Miroff said. "He acts like he's known you for 20 years when he talks to you. Frank remembers what it was like to be a kid. He interacts with all the kids no matter what age they are."
The Vogel household has been the headquarters of a number of neighborhood barbecues where Vogel is the grill master. He also leads golf chipping competitions in his backyard.
"We're big backyard BBQ people, as is our whole neighborhood," Vogel said.
"It's a time to interact with everybody around us and to have a good time."
Coaching never far away
Jenifer realized what she was getting into with her future husband on their second date more than 12 years ago.
What was supposed to be dinner and a movie turned into Vogel breaking down film and Jenifer reading a magazine next to him at the Boston Celtics practice facility.
"I should have known then that he was a workaholic," Jenifer said, laughing.
"He said he felt like he didn't do his work good enough that morning. He wanted it done right."
That's still the case today.
Vogel spent most of Alexa's first soccer game yelling instructions to her from the sideline.
"Go here. Go get the ball," he constantly said to her.
Jenifer finally had to tell him to grab a seat.
"I was the nervous parent," Vogel said. "My calm demeanor at Pacers games was not evident at the game. I was on the edge of my seat. Every little play I was wincing, applauding. If there was a reaction, I was doing it."
Alexa wasn't the least bit embarrassed by her father's actions.
"I like it when he tries to help me," she said in a shy voice.
Alexa, 7, and Arianna get their dad back by beating him on Nintendo Wii or gang-tackling him when they're playing around.
"Frank is like the third child in the house," Jenifer said. "If the kids are out there in the yard, he has to go out there and be the fun dad. I'll look out there sometimes and wonder who the kid is. That's every day."
Movie junkie
Vogel enjoys golf, bowling and going on bike rides as a family along one of the trails in their neighborhood. He also likes popping in one of his favorite DVDs that he has likely already seen dozens of times.
A native of Wildwood, N.J., he's a self-proclaimed movie junkie, especially those from the 1980s and '90s. Favorites include "Major League," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Happy Gilmore," "Jerry McGuire" and "A Few Good Men."
"I could go on and on," he said. "There are a few hundred (I like)."
He even used a clip from "Rocky II" last season to get the Pacers to embrace the underdog role as they made their run to the playoffs.
Vogel had his five minutes of fame as a kid when he spun a basketball on the end of a toothbrush on David Letterman's TV show. His other hidden talent is being able to recite lines from movies word for word.
"We'll be talking about movies and he'll just start running off the lines of ones he's seen," another neighbor, Bob Boyer, said. "That's Frank for you. He's just a genuine guy, a normal guy who will strike up a conversation just as easily as he'll be seen throwing a football around with my son."
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