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Hornets think pink Former Bulls coach Floyd will meet with team next weekPosted: Tuesday May 06, 2003 10:04 PMNEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The New Orleans Hornets, looking for a new head coach after declining to renew Paul Silas' contract, plan to interview former Chicago Bulls coach Tim Floyd, a team source confirmed Tuesday. Floyd will be the first candidate interviewed since the Hornets on Sunday essentially fired Silas, the winningest coach in franchise history. When Floyd resigned as Bulls coach in December of 2001, his record in a little more than three seasons was 49-190, one of the worst records ever for an NBA coach. However, Floyd had little to work with in Chicago when he replaced Phil Jackson. Floyd was assigned to rebuild after then-general manager Jerry Krause's demolition of the dynasty that revolved around Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Floyd could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Before taking over at Chicago, Floyd was 81-47 in four seasons as head coach at Iowa State, with three of those teams going to the NCAA tournament. His 1996-97 team reached the NCAA midwest regional final before losing 74-73 in overtime to UCLA. Floyd coached at the University of New Orleans for six season, compiling a 127-58 mark, including NCAA berths in 1991 and 1993. Floyd is 243-130 overall as a college coach with five NCAA tournament appearances. Floyd is expected to meet with the Hornets next week and is not necessarily a leading candidate. Team officials have said they expect to meet with several candidates, although they have not named any others. One possible candidate is Mike Fratello, who coached in Atlanta and Cleveland and is a friend of Hornets minority owner Ray Wooldridge, who also once lived in Atlanta. Former New York Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy could be another candidate but the Knicks have yet to allow him to meet with other teams before his contract with them expires Aug 1. Hornets owners George Shinn and Ray Wooldridge still have yet to specify why they let go of Silas, who was popular among players and fans and had taken the team to the playoffs four times in five seasons, twice getting to the second round. Team spokesman Harold Kaufman said Tuesday that the owners just wanted to "go in a different direction."
"They feel Bob Bass is the architect of one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference and they feel they owe it to the fans to help get the team to next level," Kaufman said. "They think the talent is there."
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