I didn't ever believe the guy would be remotely interested in the job and so I was getting ready for Burgess to be the head coach.

I wonder if he felt the NBA is too much of a grind. I once heard an interview with Rick Pitino talking about coming back to the US (after coaching in Europe) to coach. He mentioned how the NBA was such a grind and had no desire to do that again. He told his agent to help him find a D1 job at a Catholic school (he took the Iona job).