Chris Ford Chosen as Coach of Celtics : Basketball: He was the only member of coaching staff retained after Jimmy Rodgers was fired May 8.

The Boston Celtics tapped Chris Ford as their new coach today, moving the longtime assistant coach of the club into the top spot.

Team officials described Ford as “a guy who is truly a Celtic, a guy who has paid his dues.”

Ford told a news conference that he expects his tenure to be “a good time.”

He added, though, that it is “going to take a lot of hard work and dedication to get us back on top.”

He said he wants a team “that is going to play with fire, passion, emotion; that is going to have the work ethic that is going to put us on top.”

Ford, the only coach retained after Jimmy Rodgers was fired May 8, two days after the Celtics were eliminated from the NBA playoffs by the New York Knicks, had been considered the leading candidate.

But Dave Gavitt, named May 30 as chief operating officer to handle basketball operations with the Celtics, had been in contact with Duke University Coach Mike Krzyzewski in recent weeks concerning the job. Krzyzewski informed Gavitt last Thursday that he was withdrawing his name from consideration to remain with the Blue Devils.

Ford, who played 10 seasons in the NBA for Detroit and Boston and who is credited with making the first three-point shot in the NBA on Oct. 12, 1979, was traded to the Celtics on Oct. 19, 1978, along with a draft selection for Earl Tatum. He was a member of Boston’s 1981 championship team.

He played one more season and then joined the Celtics coaching staff for the 1983-84 season, where he has worked for K. C. Jones and Rodgers.

Ford, Detroit’s second-round draft pick out of Villanova in 1972, was a member of championship teams in 1984 and 1986, joining K. C. Jones, Bill Russell and Tommy Heinsohn to be part of NBA titles in Boston as both a player and coach. The latter three were head coaches.

Ford, 41, becomes the Celtics’ 11th coach, following in the footsteps of Red Auerbach, who coached the Celtics to nine NBA championships before moving to the front office after the 1966 season, Russell, Heinsohn, Dave Cowens, Bill Fitch and Rodgers.

Ford attended the NBA college tryout camp in Chicago last week and has also taken part in just about every scouting meeting as the Celtics prepare for the NBA draft later this month.