McHale Fires Wittman Names Himself New Coach

Great to Isiah Thomas II. Two pathetic GM's I am sure McHale will have same results as coaches.

Kevin McHale is back on the bench for the Minnesota Timberwolves ... and out of the front office.


Sheridan: Hot seat
Randy Wittman became the fourth NBA head coach to be fired this season. Who else is on the hot seat? Chris Sheridan has his odds on who might be next. Story
The Wolves announced the widely anticipated firing of Randy Wittman on Monday morning once McHale agreed to take over as head coach, but still managed to deliver a surprise with the news that the much-maligned McHale is relinquishing his long-held duties as Minnesota's vice president of basketball operations.

An official press release from the club states that McHale has assumed "head coaching responsibilities of the team on a full-time basis from this point forward" so he can "concentrate on his coaching duties."

It was not immediately clear if McHale will have any chance to return to a personnel post in the future or if staying with the organization he joined in 1993 depends on him succeeding on the bench. The Wolves have also yet to announce whether the bulk of McHale's front-office duties will be absorbed by general manager Jim Stack or assistant general manager Fred Hoiberg, with Hoiberg regarded as McHale's eventual successor for some time.

McHale and Wolves owner Glen Taylor will be addressing the media at a 3 p.m. ET news conference after McHale coaches his first practice. It's the NBA's fourth firing already this season, following dismissals in Oklahoma City (P.J. Carlesimo), Washington (Eddie Jordan) and Toronto (Sam Mitchell).


Still a green coach

Kevin McHale's .613 winning percentage, albeit in a brief tenure, stands up pretty well against some of his former 1980s Celtics teammates.

Some '80s Celtics as coaches W-L Pct.
Larry Bird 147-67 .687
McHale 19-12 .613
Danny Ainge 136-90 .602
Rick Carlisle 292-219 .571
Dennis Johnson 8-16 .333
M.L. Carr 48-116 .293
Quinn Buckner 13-69 .159

ESPN.com reported Sunday that Taylor, in the wake of a 23-point home loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, was prepared to fire Wittman only if McHale agreed to take Wittman's place on the bench. NBA coaching sources told ESPN.com on Monday that McHale has spent the past few days mulling Taylor's stipulation, given McHale's longstanding aversion to coaching.

Sources say McHale was equally reluctant to coach in the 2004-05 season after firing Flip Saunders, but his 19-12 record as interim coach -- which left the Wolves just shy of making the playoffs after a 25-26 start -- represents one of his more successful periods with the organization.

Yet when McHale coached previously, his roster was built around Kevin Garnett and still featured Sam Cassell, Latrell Sprewell and Wally Szczerbiak from the group that went to the 2004 Western Conference finals under Saunders in the most successful season in franchise history.

The current Wolves are much younger and still early in the rebuilding process after Garnett was traded to Boston in July 2007.

McHale nonetheless said coming into the season that he thought that this team -- using last season's respectable 17-26 finish as a springboard -- could make a run at .500 ball. The Wolves are well off that pace, losing 15 of 18 games since an opening-night win over Sacramento and looking increasingly disengaged under Wittman, judging by their four consecutive double-digit losses last week. The last two defeats -- away to New Jersey and the loss at home to a 3-16 Clippers team -- came by a combined 52 points.


Going Backward

Randy Wittman has coached some bad teams and they haven't gotten better in his tenure.

Team Record Pct.
Cavaliers 32-50 .390
Cavaliers 30-52 .366
Wolves 12-30 .286
Wolves 22-60 .268
Wolves 4-15 .211


"It's obvious that something has to change," one team source said Sunday.

Said Wolves rookie Kevin Love, who had 13 points and 15 rebounds in Saturday's heavy loss: "As you can imagine, no one is particularly excited. We have hit rock bottom."

The Wolves could have as many as four first-round picks in the June draft, but McHale has increasingly absorbed heavy criticism for his front-office moves since the 2004 playoff run.

In addition to the controversial Garnett deal and much-criticized Cassell deal with the Clippers, McHale preferred Randy Foye over Brandon Roy in the 2006 draft, used the No. 7 overall pick in 2007 on Corey Brewer -- only for Brewer to struggle mightily as a rookie and then suffer the misfortune of a season-ending knee injury on Nov. 29 -- and surrendered Memphis' O.J. Mayo in a draft-day deal last June that brought back Love and perimeter specialist Mike Miller. Even in a deep rookie class, Mayo is widely considered as the most serious threat to Chicago's Derrick Rose in the NBA's Rookie of the Year race.

"There were certain goals and expectations that we had for this team at the start of the season and we have not lived up to them," Taylor said in Monday's statement, after proclaiming Wittman safe roughly two weeks ago.

"I am disappointed in our record and believe that we have more talent than our record indicates. A change had to be made and, with three-fourths of the season remaining, there is still time to make substantial progress this year. ... Kevin has assembled the players on this team and believes in their talent and skill level.

"It is my expectation that Kevin will be able to get the most out of our team and our players in his new role as head coach. He has been involved in the NBA game for almost 30 years, is a tremendous teacher and has a wealth of basketball knowledge. I am confident that our players will respond to the new voice and perspective that Kevin will provide."

Said McHale: "I truly believe that we have a talented group of players in our locker room who have a great amount of potential. I'm confident that we can get this turned around and get back to playing a brand of basketball that our fans can be proud of."

Wittman leaves the Wolves' bench with one of the lowest career winning percentages of all-time at .326. He has a career record of 100-207, going 62-102 in two seasons as Cleveland's coach (1999-2000 and 2000-01) and a record of 38-105 since taking over from Dwane Casey on Jan. 23, 2007. The Wolves were 20-20 in the 2006-07 season when Casey was dismissed, then went 12-30 under Wittman in Garnett's last days in Minnesota.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3754151