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Pago C2The Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, PaNATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATIONKnicks fire St. Francis graduate Scott LeydanBy CHRIS SHERIDANTHE ASSOCIATED PRESSNEW YORK - In a change of leadership that almost no one at Madison Square Garden saw coming, Scott Layden was fired yesterday as president of the New York Knicks and was replaced by Isiah Thomas.The move comes after New York missed the playoffs the past two seasons with a roster largely assembled by Layden. The Knicks are 10-18 this season, and recent speculation centered on coach Don Chaney possibly losing his job.Instead, the man forced out was Layden, who joined the Knicks in the summer of 1999 after they were coming off an appearance in the NBA Finals.LaydenI don’t think there’s any question that everybody is underperforming. Just look at our record,” said James Dolan, the chairman of the team’s corporate owner, Cablevision. “Thisis the thing we could do right nowr tomost help the team. That’s the bottom line of it.Layden, the son of former Utah Jazz head coach Frank Layden. spent four years playing for St. Francis University in Loretto, Pa. Hewas recruited by former Red Flash coach Pete Loner-gan in 1976. Layden played two seasons for Lonergan, and then two more for former coach Dave Magaritv.Layden played sparingly, but was captain of the team in the 1979-80 season. his senior year.He joined the Jazz in 1981 as an assistant coach to his father andworked his way up in the operation to Vice President of Basketball Operations until being hired by the Knicks in 1999 as General Manager.Lavden’s Assistant General Manager also has St. Francis ties. JeffNix was hired as an assistant coach by then-Knicks head coach Pat Riley. Nix was an assistant coach at St. Francis from 1981 until 1984, coaching for Magarity and then Kevin Porter.He left St. Francis to take a job under former Notre Dame head coach Digger Phelps.Nix has been with the Knicks for nine years and developed a reputation as one of the top advance scouts in the game prior to taking the job as Lavden’s assistant last year.Layden is the second St. Francis graduate who has left the top echelon of the NBA. Jeff Bower, a St. Francis graduate and assistant coach forfour years, stepped down as president of the New Orleans Hornets last spring.Bower first accepted an assistant coaching job at Penn State, but changed his mind and stayed with the Hornets as an assistant coach.Thomas has been out of the NBA since being fired over the summer by the Indiana Pacers, where he was the coach for three seasons.He received a phone call from Dolan and Garden president Steve Mills on Friday, then spent Saturday meeting with them.He was introduced at a press conference in the same Garden restaurant where Layden made his first public appearance as the Knicks’ general manager 4*2 years ago.Freelance writer Hugh Conrad, who covers sports for The Tribune-Democrat, contributed to this report.
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Johnstown Tribune Democrat
Johnstown, Pennsylvania, US
Tue, Dec 23, 2003
Page 20
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NY, USA 15 Jul 2020
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