Don Nelson would be willing to retire in order to keep his son from leaving town.

Nelson told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Friday that he would gladly step down as head coach of the Dallas Mavericks to keep Donn, an assistant coach, in town. Donn interviewed for the Denver Nuggets' coaching vacancy on Friday.

"I would do that; that's no problem," Don Nelson told the newspaper. "I could never coach another game and be the happiest guy in the world."

There's no set timetable, but it is believed Donn will replace Don as Mavs' coach sometime in the near future. Don Nelson's contract runs out after next season, so a likely scenario is Donn taking over for the 2003-04 season.

"I could coach eight more years," Don Nelson told the Star-Telegram, "or I could coach no more years. I could be the general manager, or I could go home to Maui and just be a consultant. I can be flexible, no matter what happens." Whenever that happens, Don Nelson -- and owner Mark Cuban -- want Donn Nelson to be the next coach of the Mavericks.

"He's more responsible than I am for turning this thing around," Don Nelson told the newspaper. "The two guys he got me to take -- (Steve) Nash and (Dirk) Nowitzki -- turned this thing around. The one guy we can't lose is Donnie."