"When you've got a situation in our profession where it isn't working, there comes a point in time when a change is needed," said Garry St. Jean, the team's general manager who fired Carlesimo on Monday and also assumed his coaching duties.

	P.J. Carlesimo, who was 46-123 with the Warriors, came to Golden State in June 1997 soon after being fired by Portland.

"I don't know that there is a perfect time to do this. You're going to ask me, 'Why now?' It was my decision that this was the time."

Speaking on Tuesday from his San Francisco restaurant, P.J. Mulhern's, Carlesimo said he hopes to coach again.

"I was disappointed because I loved coaching the Warriors," Carlesimo said. "And when you enjoy something, you don't want to see it come to an end, but that's life in the NBA."

Carlesimo, whose coaching style was questioned both before and after Sprewell attacked him at a Dec. 1, 1997 practice, fell victim of his own poor record.

Carlesimo said he had not talked to team owner Chris Cohan, who is vacationing in Hawaii, and got the news from St. Jean. "They just felt we weren't winning games and wanted to go in a different direction," Carlesimo said.

At the time of his firing Monday, the Warriors had the second-worst record in the league, part of his overall mark of 46-113 at Golden State. There was no quick fix Monday night, when the San Antonio Spurs spoiled St. Jean's coaching debut by sending the Warriors to a fourth straight loss, 105-83.

"Sometimes, you can't blame it on the coach even though coaches are always the first ones to get axed," Warriors forward Donyell Marshall said. "But I think it was a decision the organization probably needed to make. I think they've been waiting to make it for a long time, and it just finally happened."

Carlesimo's dismissal comes with 2½ years remaining on a reported five-year, $15 million contract.

St. Jean, a former NBA head coach, agreed to a multiyear contract and will fill the dual functions of GM and coach.

		Mon, Dec. 27 Really, Carlesimo losing his job came within an inch of happening a month ago. The Warriors were 2-16 and on an Eastern trip. Then they won in Atlanta and came from 20 points down to win in Minnesota. Garry St. Jean was ready to step in and coach then, but couldn't fire him. Then the Warriors beat Miami at home. I was there and the pressure appeared off. If P.J. had kept winning, he would have kept his job. But they had lost six of seven recently. The All-Star game is in Oakland this year, and there was talk P.J. would last past the break. But they felt he just couldn't turn things around. I expect he wouldn't get offers in the NBA for awhile. They did have injuries and frankly, not very good players, but the coach bears responsibility. P.J. is a capable coach and a very nice guy. But it's a tough world. You gotta find a way to win.

Also fired was third-year assistant coach Bob Staak. Taking Staak's place was Brian Winters, former head coach of the Vancouver Grizzlies and an assistant with Denver two years ago.

Rod Higgins was the lone holdover, remaining as an assistant coach. Paul Westhead, another assistant under Carlesimo, was reassigned in the basketball operations department.

Carlesimo came to Golden State in June 1997 soon after being fired by Portland. He led the Trail Blazers to three straight winning seasons but was dismissed because of clashes with his players over his sometimes abrasive coaching style.

That in-your-face approach initially was promoted by the Warriors, whose first ad campaign centered around the theme, "No More Mr. Nice Guy" with a stern, sun glasses-clad Carlesimo staring down from billboards and the backs of buses throughout the region.

But his style almost immediately became an issue when tensions developed between him and Sprewell, his star player.

The emotions boiled over at a practice Dec. 1, 1997, when Sprewell responded to Carlesimo's terse command of "put a little mustard" on a pass by choking his coach. It took several players and team officials to break up the attack, which an angry Sprewell renewed 15 minutes later.

Sprewell initially had his contract terminated by the Warriors and was suspended a year by the NBA, but the sanctions were reduced by an arbitrator to a 68-game suspension that still cost the All-Star guard $6 million in wages.

Following his reinstatement, the Warriors traded Sprewell to the New York Knicks, where he has become a star and fan favorite.

Last month, Carlesimo and Sprewell met on the basketball court in Oakland for the first time since the attack. There has been no reconciliation between the two, and neither spoke to the other during their game in Oakland and a later one in New York.

St. Jean said the Sprewell episode did have an effect on Carlesimo's stay, but that it was difficult to measure its impact.

"That was really a time that none of us will forget," he said. "It's there and it's not going away. Whatever you want to say, I'll say this to you: I applaud him for the way he handled the situation when they played the two basketball games."

While Carlesimo weathered the stormy aftermath of the Sprewell episode and, according to some Warriors, toned down his shrill techniques, he never was embraced by his players, who chafed under his deliberate offensive schemes.

His stay also was complicated by a rash of injuries that contributed to the Warriors' bad start.

St. Jean served as an assistant under Don Nelson in Milwaukee (1980-86) and Golden State (1988-1992) before being hired May 22, 1992, to coach the Sacramento Kings. He spent four years with the Kings, going 159-236 before being fired midway through the 1996-97 campaign.