Kevin O'Neill has put his first ? and emphatic ? mark on the Toronto Raptors.

The team's new head coach has told the three incumbent assistants, Jay Triano, Craig Neal and Walker D. Russell, that they will not be members of the coaching staff when training camp opens in October.

While hardly earth-shattering news ? new coaches often want to bring their own people ? O'Neill made the move after just two days on the job. He had said at his introductory news conference Wednesday that nothing had been resolved concerning the existing staff; he met with Triano, Russell and O'Neal Thursday evening and yesterday morning, and they got the bad news yesterday afternoon.

"I'm really disappointed, this might have been my one shot and this is how it turned out," said Triano, the Canadian national team coach who spent his first season in the NBA watching Lenny Wilkens coax a 24-58 season out of the Raptors. "I feel like I let a lot of Canadian coaches down."

Raptors GM Glen Grunwald said all three remain under contract for the coming season and could be offered jobs in the organization. "They all want to coach but unfortunately we don't have any coaching positions. I hope to retain at least some of them."