Chicago Bulls Fire Interim Coach Jim Boylan

The Bulls ditched their coach after an extremely disappointing basketball season.

Jim Boylan compiled a 24-32 record as the team finished the season 33-49, which is the opposite of their 2006-07 record when they advanced to the 2nd round of the NBA playoffs. Boylan was promoted from assistant to his first NBA head coaching job after Chicago fired Scott Skiles in December.

The team won 49 games and a playoff series last year but took a step backward in 2007-’08, finishing 33-49. Boylan was brought in to coach the team in the middle of the season before the Bulls ended his tenure. n“I had a lot of fun doing it,” he said. “It was full of all kinds of experiences — some good, some not so good. Sitting in the head coach’s seat was comfortable and enjoyable. I loved the challenge.”

Last season, the Bulls had a 1st round sweep of Miami and their first series victory since the Michael Jordan/Scottie Pippen days. They pushed Detroit to 6 games in the 2nd round, but the optimism started to disappear as the season began.

"It really just came down to the fact that I think we need the option to look at things differently," General manager John Paxson said. "I want to now be able to explore candidates and listen to different philosophies on how to use our personnel." Paxson also said he doesn't have any one person in mind to replace Boylan and that NBA head coaching experience is not required. He's willing to consider an assistant or college coach. A possible candidate for his replacement is former Detroit and Indiana coach Rick Carlisle.

The Bulls made their reputation the last few seasons as a team that played good defense. That fell apart this season as their defense fell to 16th in the NBA and several player discipline issues. Boylan's dismissal came as no surprise and he and the players seemed to accept it.

Boylan faced a difficult task in taking over a team that was 9-16, a poor start that probably was caused in part by Kobe Bryant trade rumors and failure to sig
Gordon and Luol Deng to contract extensions. Luol Deng and Ben Gordon turned down 5 year contract extensions worth more than $50 million. The Bulls had gotten off to slow start in previous seasons but just weren't able to break out of it this year.n nn