Moe Out; Westhead Said to Be Next Mugget Coach : Pro basketball: Loyola Marymount coach was in Denver, where news conference is scheduled today.

Highly placed NBA sources said Thursday that Loyola Marymount Coach Paul Westhead would be named coach of the Denver Nuggets at a news conference this morning.

Doug Moe, who had coached the Nuggets for 10 seasons, was fired Thursday.

Sources said that Moe had told friends that Westhead was being named as his replacement, and Donnie Walsh, president of the Indiana Pacers, also reportedly has said that Westhead was being hired. As the Nugget coach, Walsh had brought Moe to Denver in 1980 as an assistant.

Television stations KUSA and KCNC in Denver reported Thursday night that Westhead would be named the Nugget coach today and showed film of his arrival at the city’s Stapleton Airport.

The Denver Post reported in today’s editions that Westhead, 51, would be offered the job.

Westhead was unavailable for comment.

General Manager Bernie Bickerstaff, hired two months ago from the Seattle SuperSonics, did not say who would replace Moe. Bickerstaff is among a group of four--including Westhead--who were said to be in contention for the job.

The others are Doug Collins, former Chicago Bull coach currently working with the TNT network’s NBA telecasts; and Mike Fratello, former Atlanta Hawk coach who has been announced as a commentator for NBC’s new NBA package. Besides NBA coaching experience, their links to the Denver club probably would be through Robert Wussler, head of COMSAT Video Enterprises, which bought controlling interest in the Nuggets 11 months ago.

Wussler formerly was president of Turner Broadcasting System, Collins’ employer through TNT and Fratello’s when he coached the Hawks.

The Nuggets had scheduled a news conference this morning in which the coaching issue was to be addressed.

If Westhead becomes Denver’s coach, it will mark his return to the NBA after an absence of seven years. He coached the Lakers from 1979-81, winning the NBA title in his first season and being fired 11 games into his third. He coached the Bulls in the 1982-83 season and has an overall NBA record of 140-104, 112-50 as coach of the Lakers.

In five seasons at Loyola Marymount, he has a record of 105-48, with four postseason appearances, three in the NCAA tournament. This season’s Lions went to the NCAA West Regional final, before being beaten by eventual national champion Nevada Las Vegas.

It was an emotional season in which Hank Gathers, one of Westhead’s brightest stars at Loyola, collapsed and died March 4, during the opening round of the West Coast Conference tournament at Loyola’s Gersten Pavilion. The tournament was canceled and Loyola awarded the championship and automatic NCAA bid after winning the regular-season championship.

Gathers’ death has been followed by a lawsuit filed by the family and naming several Loyola officials--including Westhead--as respondents.

Westhead’s style of play at Loyola, with an emphasis on fast-break offense and full-court defense, was similar to the wide-open attack Moe employed with the Nuggets.

Moe’s firing ended a string of 10 usually successful, if occasionally tempestuous, seasons in Denver. He joined several key personnel out of jobs in an organizational restructuring process.

Though the Nuggets and Moe said they had “mutually agreed to end their relationship,” after a news conference, Moe said: “I was fired, basically.”

According to the Associated Press, Moe will be paid for the remainder of his contract, which extends through the 1992-93 season at about $700,000 a year.

He coached four seasons with the San Antonio Spurs, with a 177-135 record, before joining the Nuggets as an assistant coach in 1980. He became head coach midway through the 1980-81 season, going 432-357 over the 10 seasons. He led the Nuggets to two Midwest Division titles. In March, he became the 11th coach in NBA history to win 600 games.

“All parties agree it is best if we move in another direction,” Nugget President Carl Scheer said. “The very success of an NBA franchise in Denver, and the fact that there is even a team here, is because of Doug Moe.”

The decision to fire Moe was made at a meeting Wednesday, and Bickerstaff contacted Loyola Athletic Director Brian Quinn the same day for permission to talk to Westhead. As of Thursday night, Quinn said he had not heard from Westhead.