Shoe Drops on Clippers’ Schuler : Pro basketball: Team’s sixth coach in 10 years is fired. Calvin named on interim basis.

Ending several weeks of speculation, the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday fired coach Mike Schuler, their sixth coach in 10 years.

Schuler will be replaced on an interim basis by assistant Mack Calvin until a new coach is named during the All-Star break, General manager Elgin Baylor said.

“The level of tension and general uneasiness on the team has progressed over a period of time to the point that our performance on the court has suffered,” Baylor said in a statement released by the team Sunday night. “We’re not playing up to our capability. It has not been a relaxed, comfortable or enjoyable situation for anyone. For these reasons, we find it necessary to make a coaching change.”

In the past two weeks, it had been reported that Schuler’s performance was under scrutiny and that he was in danger of losing his job. Baylor said those reports had nothing to do with the team’s problems.

Schuler was hired in May 1990 to replace Don Casey, fired at the instigation of team members. Schuler was 52-75 with the Clippers, including 21-24 this season.

The Clippers haven’t made the playoffs since 1976, when the franchise was in Buffalo, and haven’t finished with a winning record since 1978-79 when they were the San Diego Clippers.

The firing came the day after the Clippers broke a four-game losing streak with a 99-88 victory over New Jersey. They had lost 10 of 14 previous games.

The team is off until Tuesday, when it plays host to the Dallas Mavericks and plays nine of its 12 February games at home.

An unmistakable sign that Schuler’s days were numbered came when the team, which is all black, defied the coach by refusing to practice on Martin Luther King’s birthday.

Baylor and team owner Donald Sterling met Thursday, ostensibly to discuss Schuler’s status.

Schuler’s contract runs through the end of next season.

Calvin, 42, joined the Clippers in September after spending four seasons as an assistant coach in Milwaukee.