Raptors Fire Head Coach, Four Assistants
Posted on: Friday, 16 April 2004, 06:00 CDT
TORONTO - The Toronto Raptors fired first-year coach Kevin O'Neill on Friday, a day after he questioned the team's commitment to winning.
The Raptors finished 33-49 this season and missed the playoffs for a second straight year. Toronto also fired general manager Glen Grunwald on April 1 after a rift between O'Neill and Grunwald became public.
Interim general manager Jack McCloskey told O'Neill of the decision Friday.
"He said 'You know, Jack, I screwed up yesterday. You told me to play things cool. I made a mistake,'" McCloskey said.
Team president Richard Peddie said two weeks ago that a new general manager would decide whether O'Neill would return, but the team decided not to wait.
"He said to me a lot of times, 'This does not seem to be going right. Maybe I shouldn't be here,'" McCloskey said.
O'Neill said Thursday the franchise is more excited about just being part of the NBA than winning.
"I can just tell you right now, the focus is not on winning here all the way through the organization all the time," he said. "There needs to be drastic measures taken."
The team also fired assistant coaches Tony Brown, Bob Beyer, Jim Sann, and Ron Oliver.
The rift between O'Neill and Grunwald became public after a story in a local newspaper quoted unidentified sources, including former Raptors, saying that current players had grown tired of O'Neill's abrasive style.
O'Neill became the fifth Toronto coach in June after being the top assistant with the Detroit Pistons under former coach Rick Carlisle.
The Raptors gave O'Neill a two-year, $3.5 million contract to replace Lenny Wilkens.
O'Neill had never been a head coach in the NBA, but he was 190-197 as a college coach at Northwestern, Tennessee and Marquette.
He also served as an assistant to Jeff Van Gundy in New York.
O'Neill said Thursday that he expected a new GM to want to hire his own coach.
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