Bulls Fire Coach Jim Boylen After Missing Playoffs Again
Aug 14, 2020, 9:12 AM
Head coach Jim Boylen of the Utah Utes gestures as his team takes on the San Diego State Aztecs in a quarterfinal game of the Conoco Mountain West Conference Basketball tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center March 10, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada. San Diego State won 64-50. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Bulls fired coach Jim Boylen on Friday, the new front office beginning its remake of a team that missed the playoffs again.
The Bulls were 22-43 and were one of the eight teams that didn’t qualify for the NBA’s restart at Walt Disney World. That meant they wouldn’t make the postseason for the fourth time in five years.
The Chicago Bulls have fired coach Jim Boylen after two seasons, the team announced Friday.
Boylen was 39-84 without a playoff appearance after taking the head-coaching job in December 2018. https://t.co/W7QT5CfGm2
— ESPN (@espn) August 14, 2020
Chicago then hired Arturas Karnisovas as executive vice president of basketball operations, and on Friday he decided he wanted a new coach.
“This was a very difficult decision, but it is time for our franchise to take that next step as we move in a new direction and era of Chicago Bulls basketball,” Karnisovas said in a statement. “Jim is a great human being that cares deeply about this organization and the game of basketball.”
Boylen finished 39-84 as Bulls coach. He joined the franchise as associate head coach during the 2015-16 season and became head coach on Dec. 3, 2018.
Boylen coached the University of Utah basketball team from 2007-2011, before moving to the NBA where he spent time with the Pacers, Spurs and finally the Bulls.
