MILWAUKEE, April 27 -- The Milwaukee Bucks announced Saturday that they have fired head coach Mike Dunleavy, though he will remain as the club's vice president of basketball operations. The announcement was made by Bucks owner Herb Kohl at an afternoon news conference. No coaching successor was named. 'It came down to a judgement based on all the factors that you would expect someone to take into consideration,' said Kohl. The move was not a surprise since WITI Television in Milwaukee reported two weeks ago that Dunleavy would be relieved of his coaching duties. The official announcement was delayed pending the completion of negotiations regarding the four years left on Dunleavy's eight-year contract and his status as vice president of basketball operations. 'I understand the move and I'm going to go forward with this job and do everything else in a professional way to help this organization attain the goals we had four years ago and that's to be a championship contending team,' Dunleavy said. Milwaukee finished with a 25-57 record this season, a nine-game slide from 1994-95 when the Bucks were 34-48. Dunleavy has a 107-221 record in four years as Bucks' coach. Dunleavy, 42, resigned as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers in May of 1992 to accept an eight-year, $8 million contract with the Bucks. Dunleavy succeeded Pat Riley as coach of the Lakers in June of 1990. He led the Lakers to the NBA Finals in his first year as head coach in 1991 and compiled a 101-63 record in two years with the Lakers.
Dunleavy played 11 seasons in the NBA after being selected by the Philadelphia 76ers in the sixth round of the 1976 draft. He also played with Houston, San Antonio and Milwaukee and helped the 1980-81 Rockets to the NBA Finals. Dunleavy retired after the 1985-86 season and became an assistant coach for the Bucks, where he suited up for a total of seven games during the 1988-89 and 1989-90 seasons.
