Zygi Wilf could not wait to fire Mike Tice after he coached an undertalented and injury-plagued Vikings team to a 9-7 record in 2005. Wilf promptly hired Brad Childress in a change that did not accomplish what Zygmunt hoped.

Robert Bruininks, the University of Minnesota president, and Joel Maturi, his athletic director, could not wait to fire Glen Mason after his team blew a huge lead in a meaningless bowl game. They hired Tim Brewster as a replacement and wound up going severely backwards with the football program.

Norwood Teague, Maturi's replacement as athletic director, could not wait to fire Tubby Smith in March 2013 after the Gophers beat UCLA in the first round and then lost to Florida in the NCAA men's basketball tournament. After many turndowns, Teague wound up with young Richard Pitino, who just coached the Gophers to the worst season in school history.

Tice was fired 20 minutes after the last game on the schedule. Mason and Smith were fired soon after getting off the team plane.

There could be a lesson here: Haste might be a waste.

Or better yet: Owners and administrators better be confident they have a line on an upgrade before making an immediate decision to fire a coach.

Tice was in his fourth season and growing in competence. Mason and Smith were veterans and more than competent. And they were replaced on impulse, more than with a solid plan for finding a replacement.

It would appear that Glen Taylor, after many missteps in approving coaches in his 22 years as Timberwolves owner, did not fire Sam Mitchell on Wednesday without having done proper homework on how to go big for a replacement.

Jed Hughes is the "vice chairman and global sector leader, sports" for Korn Ferry, a search firm (among other things). Hughes is the current hot name in putting NBA teams together with coaches and general managers.

It would be naive to suggest that Taylor and Hughes just started to work on a succession plan for Mitchell on Wednesday. That's when Sam officially was informed in a phone call with Taylor that the Wolves were going to look elsewhere for a coach.

Taylor, who also owns the Star Tribune, was at a Board of Governors meeting and was not able to tell Mitchell in person.

Clearly, the owner wanted to get it out quickly that the Wolves job was open, so that unemployed coaches such as Tom Thibodeau, Scott Brooks and Jeff Van Gundy would not leap at openings in Sacramento, Houston and elsewhere before looking at the Timberwolves.

Mitchell wound up with this job under extraordinary circumstances, when Flip Saunders entered treatment for Hodgkin's disease last summer with a full expectation of recovery, and wound up with complications that could not be contained.

Mitchell was appointed as the interim coach before the start of training camp. Flip died on Oct. 25, and the interim part of Sam's title remained throughout the entire season.

This was done out of respect for Saunders' memory — and now, we have to believe, also because Taylor always knew Mitchell was going to remain an "interim" until he found a high-profile basketball man to replace Flip.

Mitchell did a respectable job bringing along this young collection. The Wolves blew out shorthanded, disinterested New Orleans in Wednesday's finale to finish at 29-53.

Timberwolves loyalists had dwindled to a small legion through the prior 11 non-playoff seasons. These novice-heavy Wolves were a cinch to make it 12 in a row from the start, but the season wound up with more encouragement for the public than at any time since the unraveling took place in the winter of 2004-05.

You get the impression that Taylor saw this group — starting with Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins — and had the revelation:

This was it. This was his last shot to transform his legacy as the owner of a major league sports franchise in Minnesota.

Taylor turns 75 on Wednesday. If he is ever going to see another Western Conference final, see a first NBA Finals or even a title, it will be with Towns and Wiggins, with Zach LaVine and probably Ricky Rubio, and a couple of reinforcements.

Floating along in a half-empty arena and playing season after season to maximize pingpong balls. That finally had to get very old for a man used to winning in the business world.

We will see if Taylor is willing to write out the check for Thibodeau, or bribe Jeff Van Gundy to return to coaching, or lure Tom Izzo from Michigan State. We will see if he makes such a dramatic move that would announce the Timberwolves are fully committed to maintaining this nucleus, adding to this nucleus, and to winning.

Winning big.

Patrick Reusse can be heard 3-6 p.m. weekdays on AM-1500. • preusse@startribune.com