Erik Spoelstra in as Coach at Miami?

Some reports are saying he's in as the Heat's next coach:

The reports -- from the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Miami Herald and The Associated Press -- say Riley will stay on as team president.

The Sun Sentinel reported that current Heat assistant coach Erik Spoelstra would replace Riley.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3372092

For those who don't know, Erik was a point guard at UP in the late 80's/early 90's and still is in the Pilot record books as one of our top three point shooters and assist guys. He's a Portland kid too... went to Jesuit, I think. He's been an assistant with Riley for something like 13-14 years now and has been rumored as the heir apparant for a while.

But after this dreadful season, I was a bit worried that the owner would want to go in a different direction, but clearly Riley still has enough juice to put Spoelstra in place.

If it's true, congrats to Erik!!!

Confirmed, according to ESPN.com.

Here's the official release from UP's website, which includes a link to Miami's official release:

http://www.portlandpilots.com/sports/mbball/release.asp?release_id=4962

Again, congrats to Erik!

Good for him. Great to see a a local kid and UP grad in such a highly visible position. He's only 37, and he's been talking about coaching since he was playing here, so I'm very happy for him He did go to Jesuit Stoney. You knew I would get that one in there.