Timberwolves Close to Naming Rodgers as Their New Coach

Jimmy Rodgers, former coach of the Boston Celtics, is expected to be named the new coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves today.

President Bob Stein of the Timberwolves said Tuesday that the team was “down to an announcement tomorrow.”

Bill Musselman was fired on April 22, despite exceeding all expectations by winning 51 games in the Timberwolves’ first two years in the NBA. Stein said that Musselman was canned not because of the team’s performance but because he refused to accept the organization’s goal of building for the future.

Conversely, the Celtics fired Rodgers on May 8, 1990, after his team failed to live up to the Celtics’ expectations for the present.

Rodgers, 48, had 42-40 and 52-30 records in his two seasons at Boston but was fired two days after Boston lost the finale of a best-of-five series against New York that the Celtics had led, 2-0. Rodgers was out of basketball last season.