Nets must wait if they want Jeff Van Gundy as coach

• Jeff Van Gundy confirms he won't talk to any team about coaching while someone currently is in place
• Still, Nets have interest in Van Gundy, and Phil Jackson, Mike Dunleavy, Nate McMillan

The Brooklyn Nets' coaching search hasn't officially started, and there are already delays.

Jeff Van Gundy, the former Houston Rockets and New York Knicks coach who is an ESPN analyst, confirmed in a text message to USA TODAY Sports that he has a personal policy of not talking to teams about jobs as long as a coach is in place. The Nets made assistant coach P.J. Carlesimo the interim head coach after firing Avery Johnson on Thursday, and it appears Van Gundy -- who is known to be a top candidate -- will stay out of this fray for now.

Asked if reports from Yahoo Sports and CBSSports.com were accurate that he would never talk to a team that has a coach in place, Van Gundy wrote, "That's true." Van Gundy had declined to comment to USA TODAY Sports on Thursday, writing then, "(It's) totally inappropriate for me to comment at all since P.J. (Carlesimo) deserves every chance to succeed."

Carlesimo has a combined 204-297 record over eight seasons as a head coach for the Portland Trail Blazers, Golden State Warriors and Seattle SuperSonics/Oklahoma City Thunder. His last position was with the Thunder before he was fired 14 games into the 2008-09 season.

Also known is that Van Gundy's oldest daughter is in her last year of high school in Houston. He had hoped to hold off on a return to coaching until she had graduated.

Van Gundy, who last coached in the 2006-07 season, which was his fourth with the Rockets after seven with New York, was extremely popular during his time with the Knicks. He took them to the playoffs in all but one season, including an NBA Finals appearance in 1999, when they fell to the San Antonio Spurs in five games.

The Nets are willing to wait until the offseason to find a new coach "if the right name is not there," one person with knowledge of their plans told USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity because of the private nature of the matter. But because of their serious interest in Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson, it's far from certain that the job will still be available by season's end.

The team fully intends on reaching out to the retired Jackson and trying to persuade him to return to his roots. The question is whether the deep pockets that billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov has been known for since taking over the team in May 2010 will be enough to lure Jackson - the former Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls coach who won a league-record 11 championships.

Jackson played 10 of his 12 seasons with the Knicks (playing a large part in the 1972-73 title team) and the other two for the New Jersey Nets. Although his representative, Todd Musburger, indicated to NBA.com that Jackson "has no interest in the Nets job at this time," the person with knowledge of the situation advised, "I wouldn't read much into that."

Prokhorov told reporters on Friday that he would consider "the usual suspects" for the job, and the person with knowledge of the Nets' plans said that list includes Jackson, Van Gundy, former Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan and longtime head coach Mike Dunleavy (Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks, Portland, Los Angeles Clippers for 17 seasons in all). Despite reports to the contrary, the person said Houston assistant Kelvin Sampson is not currently on the list.

Dunleavy expressed his desire for the position in an interview with Sirius XM on Friday, saying, "I'm from Brooklyn. Coaching there would be a dream come true."