Suns Choose Wetzel as New Head Coach

The Phoenix Suns, trying to rebound from three straight losing seasons as well as recent drug charges against several players, Monday hired assistant coach John Wetzel as their new head coach.

Wetzel, 42, becomes the seventh head coach in the team’s 19-year history. General Manager Jerry Colangelo said Wetzel will soon sign a two-year contract “with an option for two additional years.”

Wetzel was one of only two candidates interviewed for the vacant head coaching job. The other was Providence Coach Rick Pitino.

Pitino, who guided Providence to the NCAA’s Final Four this season, said a week before coming to Phoenix to be interviewed that he was considering canceling the trip because of a drug investigation involving current and former Suns.

The ongoing investigation resulted in April 16 indictments against five current and former Suns players. Another Suns player, All-Star guard Walter Davis, turned himself in and entered a drug rehabilitation program for the second time in 16 months.

Veteran center James Edwards, third-year guard Jay Humphries and rookie guard Grant Gondrezick, plus former players Garfield Heard and Mike Bratz were indicted on charges ranging from possession to trafficking in cocaine and other illegal drugs.

Davis, rookie center William Bedford and former players Don Buse, Alvin Scott, Johnny High and Curtis Perry, were implicated, but not charged.

The Suns passed over Wetzel on Feb. 26 when they fired head coach John MacLeod and replaced him on an interim basis with former Phoenix player Dick Van Arsdale for the final 26 games.

Phoenix went 14-12, winning 10 of its last 11 games with Wetzel calling most of the plays.

Wetzel, a 1966 graduate of Virginia Tech, played professionally for the Suns, the Atlanta Hawks and the Lakers.