Tony Fritz Out, Duane Ticknor in as Sioux Falls Skyforce Head Coach

Filed under: NBA D-League, Sioux Falls Skyforce

The Sioux Falls Skyforce announced late Friday evening that Tony Fritz has been relieved of his duties as head coach of the NBA Development League franchise with assistant coach Duane Ticknor (shown right) taking over as interim head coach for the time being.

"Tony led us to the best regular season record since joining the NBA D-League last year but unfortunately this season has not gone as planned and we feel it is in the best interest of the franchise to make a change," Skyforce owner/president Mike Heineman said in a press release. "We're confident that Coach Ticknor will put a competitive product on the court."
Fritz, a longtime minor league assistant who began his career as an intern with the CBA's Yakima Sun Kings during the 1997-98 season, compiled a 34-34 record after taking over the Skyforce to begin last season.

Ticknor will be the 14th head coach in team history following in the footsteps of Flip Saunders, Dave Joerger and Mo McHone. Ticknor has been around minor league basketball, becoming an assistant coach with the CBA's Rapid City Thrillers in 1989 and has been in either the CBA, IBA or NBA D-League ever since. His most recent head coaching job came with the Dakota Wizards when he guided them to a 27-23 record and ensuing playoff berth during the 2008-09 season before stepping down due to health concerns.

"It's my responsibility to put a winning club on the floor, and we weren't doing that," Fritz told the Argus Leader Friday night. "I let the Heinemans down, I let the organization down, and most importantly I let the great fan base here down. They deserve winners -- and I didn't get the job done."

While Fritz was quick to put the blame on himself, it's difficult to say that the team's record thus far this season -- two wins, 16 losses and losers of 11 straight -- was indicative of his coaching abilities.

The Skyforce chose former NBA player Cheikh Samb with their first round pick and he ended up never reporting -- the only player in the entire draft to buy out of his contract without actually reporting to the team.

The team's top three scorers were all away from the team over the past couple of weeks as Miami Heat training camp invitee Anthony Mason Jr. and veteran Chris McCray were both waived due to injury while point guard Leemire Goldwire left the league for a more lucrative offer overseas.

With the team's main players out of the lineup, one player told FanHouse after the Skyforce's most recent loss that the team's morale had simply vanished and they didn't believe they'd win another game this season. The player also believed that many of his teammates had quit playing hard for Fritz.

"I've been telling these guys that they have to play hard for Fritz or none of us are going to be able to get jobs again," the player said. "Fritz is going to get fired and it's going to be because of us, not him. We've got to play harder for him or everyone's going to be right back in the D-League next year ... hopefully."

The Skyforce will play their first game under Ticknor tonight at home against the Bakersfield Jam.

 

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Source: http://nba.fanhouse.com/2011/01/15/tony-fritz-out-duane-ticknor-in-as-sioux-falls-skyforce-head-co/

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