Patience not included with the purchase of sports franchises

As the expression goes, "patience is a virtue," but apparently, this saying does not apply to owners of professional sports franchises.

Matt Ishbia, who bought the Phoenix Suns last year for a record $4 billion, has fired his head coach for the second straight season. First Monty Williams, and now Frank Vogel, just 11 months after hiring and signing him to a five-year contract.

Ishbia has officially owned the Suns for 15 months and, yet, has already employed three different head coaches. But he's not unique.

Looking at the recent ownership changes in sports, you'll notice a similar trend.

In Major League Baseball, Steve Cohen bought the New York Mets in 2020 for an MLB record $2.4 billion. In his four seasons as owner, he has employed four different general managers and four different managers, including the well-regarded Buck Showalter, who was shown the door just one year after leading the Mets to 101 wins, the franchise's most since 1986.

In the National Football League, David Tepper set a league record when he purchased the Carolina Panthers in 2018 for $2.2 billion. He then fired Ron Rivera, the winningest coach in franchise history, midway through his second season as owner, which sent the Panthers into a tailspin. 

Panthers fans saw Matt Rhule, who had never been a head coach in the NFL before, make it only 38 games into his seven-year contract. He was followed by just 11 games of Frank Reich, the shortest head-coaching tenure since 1978. Tepper is now on to his seventh head coach (including interims) in year seven. 

Full-time head coaches under Tepper have averaged a stint of only 25 games coached, equivalent to 1.5 seasons.

Rob Walton, of Walmart fame, broke Tepper's record when he obtained the Denver Broncos for $4.6 billion in 2022. In his first year as owner, the Broncos fired first-year head coach Nathaniel Hackett after only 15 games on the job. Current head coach Sean Payton, despite having a Super Bowl on his resume, might already be on the hot seat, after just one season. 

Josh Harris passed everyone when he purchased the Washington Commanders for $6 billion last year. After one year in charge, Harris fired his coach, too (the aforementioned Rivera again).

Ishbia isn't even unique in his own sport.

Elsewhere in the NBA, Joe Tsai bought the Brooklyn Nets for a then-record $2.3 billion in 2019. He fired Kenny Atkinson 62 games into his ownership and has employed five coaches in what will be six seasons, not counting Jacque Vaughn twice. 

Glabe Plotkin then passed Tsai when he acquired the Charlotte Hornets for $3 billion last year. Like most of these other owners, Plotkin made a coaching change after year one too. 

Ishbia is far from being the only horse in the stable of impatience.  

As the prices of these franchises skyrocket to all-time highs, the owners' patience dips to all-time lows. When you spend as much as these owners do, you strive for immediate success. These businessmen want to see the return on their very large investments. 

Just like George Steinbrenner's character said in "Seinfeld," "Chaos does not work for the New York Yankees," patience does not work for these franchises either.

But maybe it should. The three NFL teams mentioned have zero winning seasons in the nine combined years of new ownership. The Mets have one winning season under Cohen. The three NBA franchises have yet to surpass the second of the playoffs in eight combined years of new ownership.

Like your mother likely used to say, "Good things happen to those who wait."