Wolves: Wittman fired, McHale to coach

Minnesota basketball legend Kevin McHale tumbled in one tumultuous Monday from beleaguered boss to coach of a Timberwolves franchise that is driving fans away with every mounting loss.

Owner Glen Taylor stripped McHale -- the team's chief decisionmaker since 1995 -- of his front-office title and duties. The Hall of Fame player who drafted teenager Kevin Garnett 13 years ago but never built a consistent championship contender around him reluctantly agreed to Taylor's request that he replace the fired Randy Wittman as the new permanent head coach.

In doing so, Taylor has asked McHale to restore a pulse and passion to a franchise both men deconstructed when they traded Garnett, the face of the franchise and a future Hall of Famer, to Boston 17 months ago. Garnett won an NBA title in his first season with the Celtics.

The Wolves have won 26 percent of their games since the trade, are 4-15 this season and Saturday night's moribund loss to the dysfunctional Los Angeles Clippers left a small Target Center crowd heckling McHale and mocking a collection of players he assembled.

"I put the guys together," McHale said at a Monday afternoon news conference where he and Taylor announced the moves. "If this doesn't work, it'll be on me."

Still hopeful

Taylor said he had other options, including coaches outside the organization to replace Wittman, but said he chose McHale to coach because he considered him the best choice to save a season before it is completely lost. Taylor called McHale the best option for a necessary midseason change he'd rather not make because McHale is the architect of the team's rebuilding plan and the man who drafted or traded for every player on the current roster.

"I'm still confident we can have a good season," said Taylor, a Mankato businessman who kept the franchise from moving to New Orleans by buying it in 1994. "I didn't want to give up on the season."

A season that began with heightened expectations just 42 days ago quickly dissolved into a forced march that left the team playing in recent days "almost like we were dead," McHale said. The Wolves' play gave the franchise's dwindling fan base little reason to buy expensive tickets in a troubled economy.

"Right now, the only enjoyment our fans get in the game is cat-calling players," McHale said. "That's not the fans' fault. That's our fault. We've got to win our fans back one game at a time. One play at a time. One possession at a time. ... We had no joy in our play. This is the best job you're ever going to have, playing in the NBA. It just looked like a black cloud over us."

McHale reluctantly coached for the first time in his career after he fired Flip Saunders as coach with 31 games remaining in the 2004-2005 season. He took over a team that had lost six consecutive games, was 24-25 at the time and went 19-12 the rest of the season.

This time, he said, he intends to restore a "rhythm" and "flow" to a team he hopes will establish its identity by playing through forward Al Jefferson, the 23-year-old scorer who was the prize among five players and two first-round draft picks acquired from Boston for Garnett.

More than anything, though, McHale must restore confidence and hope to athletes who played their last two games like they possess absolutely none. The Wolves won their season opener by a basket, then lost eight consecutive games, including several close ones that McHale said of his players "really tore their hearts out."

Taylor said he knows simply changing coaches won't fix his franchise. "I don't believe that's the only problem we have here, and I don't want you to sit here and think we just solved it," Taylor said. "I've never seen a situation where it's that simple. To me, it's a number of different issues players have to sort out for themselves and with Kevin and the coaches."

The last straw

Taylor grimly left Target Center after Saturday's loss after briefly meeting with McHale and telling him the team's lack of effort was not acceptable. The Wolves trailed by as many as 29 points to an opponent that had won three games (to the Wolves' four) in the season's first five weeks.

"I think seeing Glen's face Saturday night said it all to me," McHale said. "I knew at that point something was going to be done."

On Sunday, Taylor asked McHale to leave the front office and become the head coach. He gave McHale the day to decide. McHale said his wife, Lynn, urged him not to return to coaching. He made up his mind while attending mass Sunday, where, he said, "I got that calm, peaceful feeling."

"I thought long and hard," he said. "I love the practices and the games. I didn't like the travel [his first time coaching]. If you can play all home games, I'm in. I'm just traveled out."

McHale told Taylor Sunday night that he would coach. On Monday morning, Taylor fired Wittman -- who joined the Wolves as an assistant just after Taylor bought the team 14 years ago -- with the rest of this season remaining on Wittman's contract. McHale will proceed without a contract.

"He's never had a contract since he has worked with me," Taylor said. "Still doesn't."

McHale still will report directly to Taylor, but Taylor said general manager Jim Stack now will answer the telephone when other NBA teams call the Wolves to discuss trades. Front-office executives Fred Hoiberg, Rob Babcock and Zarko Durisic keep their current scouting and administrative duties. Taylor refused to answer when asked whether McHale would have kept his front-office job had he not accepted the coaching job.

Taylor will not replace McHale this season but will consider doing so by next summer's NBA draft. In the meantime, Taylor said, those four remaining front-office executives will make personnel moves by committee and said McHale will have the same voice in decisions as Wittman and Saunders have had.

Asked whether McHale will have the option of returning to his old job after this season, Taylor said, "No, that would be the wrong decision."

Instead, McHale will be back on the bench tonight when the Wolves play Utah at Target Center. Today is also the 20th anniversary of Utah's hiring of Jerry Sloan, the most tenured coach in pro sports. McHale's presence marks the franchise's eighth coaching change in its 20 seasons.

"I like some of the things we've put together, but now we have to get them playing better," McHale said. "I believe in this team, otherwise I wouldn't have taken the job."