Out: Ayers ~ In: Ford ~ Still hanging: OBrien

[Tammo29@xxxxxxx]

Assistant Ford promoted to replace Ayers

The Philadelphia 76ers, who have lost eight of their last 10 en route to a 
21-31 first-half record, fired coach Randy Ayers on Tuesday, ESPN's Stephen A. 
Smith reports.
Assistant coach Chris Ford will take over as 76ers coach, Smith has learned. 
Ford has previously been head coach of the Celtics, Bucks and Clippers.
The Sixers have called a news conference for 12:30 p.m. ET, but they did not 
say why.
Philadelphia is 1= games behind the Celtics for the final playoff berth in 
the Eastern Conference.
Ayers was promoted from assistant in June to replace Larry Brown, who left 
the team after six seasons to become coach of the Detroit Pistons.
The former head coach at Ohio State, Ayers spent six seasons as Brown's 
assistant.
Ayers had not been the Sixers first choice as successor to Brown, who led the 
Sixers to the NBA Finals two season ago. Team president Billy King initially 
tried to get permission to speak to Portland coach Maurice Cheeks, a former 
76ers' star. Also during that time, former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy and 
Kentucky coach Tubby Smith said they weren't interested in the job after speaking 
to King.
Van Gundy took over in Houston, replacing Rudy Tomjanovich. Smith remained at 
Kentucky and received a hefty extension.
King also interviewed former New Jersey Nets assistant Eddie Jordan, former 
Atlanta coach Mike Fratello, Hawks interim coach Terry Stotts, 76ers assistant 
Mike Woodson and Miami Heat assistant Bob McAdoo.
There has been speculation recently that Ayers had lost control of the team.
After the Sixers suffered an embarrassing 110-80 loss at home against the 
Celtics on Feb. 7, Ayers said he would consider changing the lineup. 
But the following night, against the New Jersey Nets, the starting five 
remained the same: Allen Iverson and Eric Snow at guard, Glenn Robinson and Kenny 
Thomas at forward, and Samuel Dalembert at center. The Sixers lost 99-87.
Dissension in the locker room, which has been growing for some time now, took 
a public turn for the worse in Saturday's loss to the Nets. Glenn Robinson, 
the team's No. 2 scorer, refused to participate in the team's huddles after he 
was pulled by Ayers with in the final minutes of the first half, the 
Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
After the game, Robinson complained about a lack of playing time, a comment 
he's made several times already this season. 
"I really don't even want to talk about it," Robinson told the paper. "That's 
the way [Ayers] coaches, that's his style. I don't agree with it. But I said 
what I had to say a couple of weeks ago.
"I can't do nothing but keep playing. I don't like the way my minutes are 
going. I don't want to seem selfish. I don't want to make it seem like I'm just 
upset about myself, because I'm all about the team. I realize what I can do as 
far as helping this team. I just don't feel like I'm being allowed to do that 
sometimes."
Iverson, who leads the league in points and steals per game, lashed out at 
the team for a lack of heart following the team's 93-80 loss to the Raptors on 
Feb. 4. 
"We're not playing with no heart. We're not playing with no pride. Nobody out 
there is taking a challenge like they should, and it's sad," Iverson told the 
Inquirer after the loss. "We've been a good team for six years. Then this 
year, we don't have a sense of urgency. We see that we're down in the standings, 
not in the playoffs right now, trying to fight uphill, and we're not taking 
the challenge."
However, the All-Star guard refused to place blame on Ayers.
"We have a lot of trust in Randy's ability," he told the paper. "We believe 
he can get it done. I believe in him. I know he can coach. But I mean, you 
can't put that on a coach. He doesn't go out there and play, not one minute of the 
game. He can only do so much."
All but one of the 15 Eastern Conference teams have changed coaches since the 
end of last season -- and now the 76ers have done it twice in that span.
Ford joined the Sixers' coaching staff last summer after two seasons as the 
head coach at Brandeis University. He led the Boston Celtics to consecutive 
Atlantic Division titles in 1991 and 1992.
He compiled a record of 311-358 in nine seasons as head coach with Boston 
(1990-95), Milwaukee (1996-98) and the Clippers (1998-2000). His best season was 
his first, when the Celtics went 56-26 and reached the second round of the 
playoffs.
Ford won NBA championships with the Celtics as a player (1981) and an 
assistant coach (1984, 1986).
He also has strong ties to the Philadelphia area. A native of Atlantic City, 
N.J., Ford attended Holy Spirit High School in Absecon, N.J., and went on to 
play at Villanova University from 1968-72, where he helped the Wildcats reach 
the 1971 NCAA championship game against UCLA.
Ayers went 124-108 as coach of the Buckeyes for eight years. He led Ohio 
State to four postseason appearances and was the AP Coach of the Year in 1991 
after the Buckeyes went 27-4 and won the first of consecutive Big Ten 
championships.
His stay at Ohio State ended with four consecutive losing seasons and 
off-court troubles. As a result of 17 rules violations, the Buckeyes were put on 
probation by the NCAA.
Only 15 of the 33 players Ayers brought into the basketball program exhausted 
their eligibility. And many got into trouble with the law.
After Ayers was fired by the Buckeyes, five of his recruits were dismissed or 
left the program with the approval of his successor, Jim O'Brien.
Stephen A. Smith is an NBA analyst for ESPN


http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1731658