Boston Globe says Bird has flown the Coop!

["Jan Crocker" <jan@netgworld.com>]

    Has Bird really flown the Coop? According to this article from the
Boston Globe site he has accepted the job and will hold a press conference
on Friday. 

JC              






                   Indiana Pacers offer coaching
                   job to Larry Bird

                   By Howard Ulman, Associated Press, 05/07/97

                   BOSTON (AP) -
                   The Indiana Pacers
                   confirmed today
                   they have offered
                   Larry Bird their
                   coaching job, and a
                   newspaper said he
                   has accepted. 

                   A Pacers
                   spokesman said
                   club president
                   Donnie Walsh had made the offer but wouldn't say
                   whether Bird had answered. 

                   However, The Eagle-Tribune of Lawrence, which
                   didn't cite its source, said Bird would sign a contract
                   with Indiana on Friday worth about $4 million a year.

                   The newspaper said the former Celtics great would
                   coach at least two seasons, with an option to then
                   become the team's director of basketball operations. 

                   Neither Bird nor the Celtics was immediately
                   available for comment. 

                   Rick Pitino, who was hired as the Celtics' coach
                   Tuesday, said he wanted to keep Bird, now a special
                   assistant, with the team. 

                   As one of the first acts as coach, Pitino said he
                   planned to call Bird to gauge his interest in joining
                   what would be a dream front office _ one of the best
                   college coaches and one of the best pro players. 

                   At a news conference Tuesday in Lexington, Ky.,
                   Pitino said he was interested in keeping Bird, but
                   ``Larry's got to want to be part of it,'' and decide
                   whether he wants to coach or be in the front office. 

                   The Boston Globe reported today that an unidentified
                   source close to Bird indicated Bird would accept the
                   Pacers' offer but delay the announcement until after
                   Pitino's scheduled news conference Thursday in
                   Boston. 

                   Larry Brown resigned last Wednesday as Indiana's
                   coach and was hired as coach of the Philadelphia
                   76ers on Monday. 

                   Bird told The Indianapolis Star that ``if they're willing
                   to let a guy come in with no experience and coach
                   the team, I'm very seriously thinking about doing it.'' 

                   The Boston Herald quoted Bird as saying ``I really
                   have no feeling yet, one way or the other. ... But I
                   have to do something soon.'' 

                   Bird had called Pitino on April 2, two days after
                   Kentucky's overtime loss to Arizona in the NCAA
                   finals, to see if he was interested in coming to the
                   Celtics. And Pitino said last month Bird would have
                   to be part of the Celtics for him to join the team. 

                   On one of the most important days in Celtics history,
                   Bird was home in Naples, Fla., playing golf. He was
                   in a foursome with three others who won a raffle for
                   his son's school. 

                   Meanwhile in Boston, the Celtics launched a
                   front-office shakeup that some believed was
                   designed in part to answer Bird's complaints about
                   how the team was run. 

                   General manager Jan Volk, a club employee 26
                   years, resigned. One day earlier, four others were
                   fired _ director of travel and team services Wayne
                   Lebeaux, director of publications and information
                   David Zuccaro and two marketing employees. 

                   And the Celtics' three assistant coaches _ K.C.
                   Jones, Dennis Johnson and John Kuester _ were
                   fired Tuesday. 

                   ``This is the business, same as any business,'' said
                   Jones, who led the Celtics to their last two NBA
                   championships, in 1984 and 1986. ``People are hired
                   and people are fired.'' 

                   AP-ES-05-07-97 1237EDT