HOUSTON -- Rudy Tomjanovich, who finished last season as the Houston Rockets' interim head coach, Wednesday was named the club's coach for next season.
The Rockets gave Tomjanovich a multi-year contract, which is reportedly a three-year deal starting at $475,000 for next season.
Tomjanovich, 43, was promoted from assistant to head coach when Don Chaney was fired Feb. 18. The team went 16-14 under Tomjanovich, despite the suspension of center Hakeem Olajuwon suspension over an injury dispute.
Houston finished 42-40 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 1984.
Tomjanovich has been with the Rockets organization for 22 years. He was a five-time All-Star during a career that spanned 1970-81. His third on the team's career scoring list, and Tomjanovich and Calvin Murray are the only Houston players to have their uniform numbers retired.
Tomjanovich worked as a Rockets scout for two seasons following his retirement, and became an assistant coach in 1983. He will retain assistant coaches Bill Berry and Carroll Dawson.
Rockets owner Charlie Thomas, general manager Steve Patterson and Tomjanovich met Tuesday to finalize details of the contract. Tomjanovich waited four weeks for Thomas to make a decision on who should lead Houston back from its first non-playoff season in eight years.
Thomas interviewed only one other candidate, former Atlanta Coach Mike Fratello.
'Rudy deserves it,' one club source said. 'He started off 11-4 and would have had us well up in the playoff order if it hadn't been for the other stuff (the Olajuwon hamstring controversy.)'
Team management argued with Olajuwon about the severity of an injury that Olajuwon said kept him from playing until his personal doctor authorized it. Expressing disappointment with the way the situation was handled, Olajuwon said he was willing to finish the season but then hoped to be traded.
Tomjanovich and his staff will spend the next few weeks preparing for the June 24 draft. Houston owns the 11th selection, its highest pick since 1984.
His hiring is not expected to have a bearing on whether the Rockets trade Olajuwon. Depending on the attractiveness of bids, the head coach probably will not know until after the NBA finals whether he will begin his permanent tenure with Olajuwon as the team's focal point.
The Rockets already have had general trade inquiries from numerous clubs but are expected to wait until the salary cap goes up the day after the finals before consummating any deal.
