Doug Moe's unsuccessful running style no longer has him running the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Sixers fired the head coach Sunday night, halfway through his first season. Moe, 54, was hired in May and had 41/2 years left in his contract.Moe, the NBA coach of the year in 1987-88 with the Denver Nuggets, will be succeeded for the rest of the season by assistant coach Fred Carter, according to 76ers general manager Jim Lynam, who had handpicked Moe to succeed him.
Carter will be the 76ers' first black head coach.
The dismissal came one night after the 76ers lost 149-93 to the Seattle SuperSonics. It was the second 56-point loss for the 76ers this season. They lost 154-98 to the Sacramento Kings Jan. 2.
In addition, the 76ers have lost five games this season by at least 25 points. Philadelphia is 19-37 and in sixth place in the Atlantic Division.
A team spokesman said Carter will coach his first game tonight against the Timberwolves in Minneapolis. Sixers owner Harold Katz was to hold a news conference about the firing this afternoon.
"The way things were going I felt that we had to make a change," Lynam said. "We had made some progress after the bad start we had at the outset of the season. But since that stretch where we played well, we have gone downhill.
"I did not see the prospects of it changing, thus the decision to make a change."
But despite the downward spiral of the Sixers, Moe said he was surprised by the move.
"I didn't know it was coming . . . I look at it from the standpoint things always work out for the best. They did what they felt they had to do and you go on about your business," Moe said from Minneapolis.
"I know it was difficult for them. They saw things going downhill and felt they had to make a change. That doesn't mean I agree with them, but I understand it."
In 13-plus years with Denver and the San Antonio Spurs, Moe had a 609-492 career record. He is one of only 11 NBA coaches with more than 600 victories.