Golden State Warriors: Chris Cohan, Don't Let the Door Hit You on the Way Out

Rejoice, rejoice!

Chris Cohan has finally decided to sell the Golden State Warriors, which will relieve the Bay Area of one of the worst ownership reigns in not just its history, but possibly the history of all professional sports. 

The recent announcement that the Warriors are employing Galatioto Sports Partners (or GSP) to help sell the franchise is welcoming news to most Warrior fans (and I’m being nice here).

Cohan officially took control of the Warriors franchise after suing then controlling partners Dan Finnane and Jim Fitzgerald on October 8th, 1994, a day that will live in infamy! 

From the outset he was wrong for the team.

Merely a month after swiping controlling interest (November 1994), Cohan decided to trade first round draft pick and soon to be perennial All-Star, Chris Webber, to the Washington Wizards for Tom Gugliotta. 

Supposedly the decision to depart with Webber was because of the cantankerous relationship he had with “former” Coach Don Nelson.  However, defying all logic, Cohan fires Coach Nelson soon after, too.

It was at about this time that Warrior fans started looking like the RCA dog, with tilted heads of wonderment.

When the Warriors lost their most promising player in Chris Webber, they looked to the draft, but unfortunately the results were less than stellar. 

In 1995, instead of picking Kevin Garnett, they picked Joe Smith with the first overall pick. 

In 1996, instead of picking Kobe Bryant, they picked Todd Fuller. 

In 1997, instead of picking Tracy McGrady, they pick Adonal Foyle.

When they finally drafted a decent player in 1998 in Vince Carter, they immediately traded him away for Antawn Jamison.

This latest development had people wanting to hog tie Cohan. It was at this point that he had become an anathema to all Warrior fans.

When Antawn Jamison developed into an above average player, sure enough, the Warriors lost him. Ditto for the likes of Jason Richardson, Gilbert Arenas, and Troy Murphy.

Finally, the Warriors started to turn things around by hiring Chris Mullin in April 2004.

Mullin  brought Warrior fans the team’s first legitimate All-Star since Cohan’s infamous era began in Baron Davis. He also brought in proven winning coaches, by hiring Mike Montgomery and Don Nelson. He even procured the controversial, but tough nosed Stephen Jackson.

Mullin’s decisions resulted in the first playoff appearance since the Cohan Era began, but what does Cohan decide to do? First, he starts pushing Mullin out, then Barron Davis loses interest, and then coach Stephen Jackson loses interest.

After those dominos began to fall, sure enough the bottom fell out yet again for the organization.

Warriors fans were like Sisyphus, rolling the mythological stone of progress up the hill, year after year, only to have it fall back again, year after year.

The Warriors winning percentage since Cohan took over majority ownership is a pitiful 37 percent.

In sixteen seasons as owner, Cohan has made the playoffs a total of (drum roll please…) ONCE.  His predecessor (Fitzgerald) made the playoffs five times in eight years.

In the past sixteen years, fans have witnessed nine head coaches, not double counting Don Nelson.

In the Fitzgerald years, the Warriors had only legendary coach George Karl, Don Nelson, and an interim coach in between named Ed Gregory.

Coaches and GMs have come and gone, but the losing has persisted with only one common denominator: Chris Cohan. 

Finally this year exacerbated fans gained hope when Larry Ellison showed interest in buying the team. Ellison even went to a game to check out his potential investment. Shortly thereafter, though, Larry Ellison voiced his frustration with Cohan’s resistance to sell.

It was at this point that many Warrior faithful threw their hands up in the air in disgust. "You’ve got to be kidding," many surely said! While the loyal fanbase had been so loyal through many horrendous years, it appeared at that moment that they were about to pull their hair out with looniness.

Let’s hope the latest news reports about Cohan are true and he can actually manage to sell the team .  

If he can, Warrior fans will be hugging each other on top of Mt. Tam, doing pirouettes down Market Street (horns a blowin’) and streaking through Jack London Square with ebullient joy.

Then, the real hard works begins: Transition.