ATLANTA -- Stan Kasten insisted the timing was coincidental -- if not comical.

Two of the sports franchises he runs for AOL Time Warner Inc. in Atlanta fired their coaches Thursday, all within about eight hours.

First, the Thrashers released Curt Fraser, the only coach the team had in 3½ seasons. Later in the day, the Hawks dismissed Lon Kruger.

Two separate news conferences, held at two different locations.

''Fortunately, the teams already had scheduled practices for two different times, so we were able to sequence it a little with the practices,'' said Kasten, president of both teams.

Thrashers general manager Don Waddell will be the interim head coach when the team plays at Carolina on Friday, and assistant Terry Stotts takes over for Kruger on Friday night when the Hawks play host to San Antonio.

Waddell's only previous coaching experience was in the minor leagues a decade ago, when he was coach and GM in San Diego. Stotts has been an NBA assistant for nine seasons, including eight under George Karl in Seattle and Milwaukee.

Both moves followed a similar pattern: Waddell and his counterpart with the Hawks, Pete Babcock, spoke of underachieving teams displaying a lack of effort and, ultimately, victories.

''We don't go out in the paper and criticize our guys,'' Kasten said. ''But we do an awfully lot of it internally on a daily basis, we're evaluating ourselves every day.

''Part of that process includes consequences if there isn't any success.''

Fraser is the fourth NHL coach to be dismissed since the start of the season, following Darryl Sutter (San Jose), Greg Gilbert (Calgary) and Bob Hartley (Colorado).

Thrashers assistant coach Tim Bothwell also was fired. Goaltending coach Steve Weeks will help Waddell as an assistant coach, and defenseman Uwe Krupp will act as an assistant while on injured reserve.

Waddell said there was no timetable for hiring a full-time replacement, and the new coach will have the opportunity to hire his own assistants.

''The bottom line is we have to win more games,'' said Thrashers forward Dany Heatley, the Rookie of the Year last season. ''It's going to come down to us anyway. You can bring in whoever you want, but bottom line, it's going to come down to these 20 guys in this room. We've got to do it.''

The Thrashers are 8-20-1-4 this season, and Fraser leaves with a record of 64-173-31-15.

Kruger is the second NBA coach to be replaced this season, following Memphis' Sidney Lowe.

Veteran assistant Gar Heard also was let go by the team, and Alex English was promoted from director of player development to assistant coach.

''I guess when you talk about wins and losses, we haven't gotten the job done, and so it didn't really come as a surprise,'' Kruger told The Associated Press.

Kruger was 69-122 in more than two seasons with the Hawks.

''The only thing I regret is that I didn't help these guys turn the corner,'' Kruger said.