McHale takes over as T-Wolves coach; Saunders reassigned

Taylor gave Saunders a vote of confidence earlier in the week, saying that if things didn't improve by the end of the season, he would have to take a long look at McHale and Saunders' job status.

But after yet another uninspiring performance in a loss at Utah on Friday, Taylor called McHale and approved the move.

McHale said the fault probably lies more with the players than Saunders for the team's struggles, but making a coaching change was a quick fix.

"This is a players' league," McHale said. "We have to get our players playing at a higher level."

A native of Hibbing, McHale has been with Minnesota since 1993, serving as a special assistant to the coaching staff, broadcast analyst, and assistant general manager before becoming vice president of basketball operations in May 1995.

Saunders' firing is the fifth coaching change in the NBA this season.

He was just never able to figure out how to motivate this season's team, and general manager Jim Stack said it just seemed like time for a change.

"Flip's been here a long time and in the history of pro sports, sometimes when you're here for that long, your voice starts to fall on deaf ears," Stack said. "I'm not sure if that's what happened here. It's an issue of underachieving."

Exactly what Saunders will do next was not immediately clear. He is under contract through next season under terms of a five-year, $25 million extension he signed in 2001.

McHale, a hard-nosed power forward from the Celtics' championship teams of the 1980s, has a no-nonsense attitude and has not hidden his contempt for the lack of effort.

"There have been nights where it has been embarrassing to watch," McHale said of his team's performance, including a 29-point home loss to Phoenix. "I have to do what I can do to get guys playing at a more confident level, and I thought I could do that better from the bench and being around them more."

Although he has a strong reputation for working with post players on their offense and taking young players under his wing -- including a skinny, 19-year-old Garnett in 1995 -- McHale has long said that being a coach wasn't one of his goals.

"I don't want to be a long-term coach," McHale said. "You have to stop the bleeding somehow and start looking forward to playing better basketball."