Charlotte Hornets Fire Harter as Coach

The Charlotte Hornets fired Coach Dick Harter Wednesday and named assistant Gene Littles as interim coach, team officials said.

“A skill that a coach must have is communication and it came to the point where I couldn’t, as the owner, communicate with Dick and I know that he had lost his communication link with the players,” owner George Shinn said.

Harter, 58, was 8-32 this season and 28-92 in 1 1/2 seasons.

“We know that the building process is a long one, and that was not a factor,” said Carl Scheer, team president. “But the development of our younger players and the team is our priority, and with that in jeopardy, a change was necessary.”