New Orleans Hornets lead assistant coach Alvin Gentry resigned to become an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns. An official announcement will be made by the Phoenix organization Tuesday, after the holiday weekend.

Gentry sought permission from the New Orleans front office to seek other job opportunities May 7, when former head coach Tim Floyd was fired.

New Orleans named Byron Scott, a former New Jersey Nets head coach and Sacramento Kings assistant coach, its coach earlier in the week.

The rest of Floyd's assistant coaches -- Kenny Gattison, Jan Van Breda Kolff, and Jeff Bower -- remain on the team's payroll and will be given an opportunity to be retained by Scott.  In the meantime, they have been assisting in pre-draft workouts for the Hornets.

Gentry is a former head coach with the Los Angeles Clippers, Detroit Pistons and Miami Heat, and has extensive assistant coaching experience with San Antonio, the Clippers, Detroit, Miami, and New Orleans.

ESPN has learned that ex Nets coach Byron Scott will takeover the reigns of the New Orleans Hornets head coaching position.

"They were real interested in me, as I was in them, and I jumped on it," Scott said.

Scott currently works as a tv analyst but has said he can't wait to start working as a coach again.

In the past two season with the Nets, he took his team to the Finals both times.

George Shinn, the majority-owner of the New Orleans Hornets, will interview Byron Scott for the head coaching position today.

Shinn has a wish list and will now begin the final interview process.  Mentioned among the other top candidates are Mike Fratello, Brian Hill and George Karl.  Scott's fellow former Laker, Michael Cooper, now coaching the Los Angeles Spark of the WNBA, is also considered a potential candidate.

Scott's only comments on the prospect of becoming the Hornets' coach came during ABC's NBA studio show before Thursday's broadcast.  Scott said he was interested in the job and was a fan of Baron Davis and other Hornet players.

"If the owner gives me a call, I'll be more than happy to go down there and talk with them," Scott said during the show.

While Shinn has said he wants a coach with experience winning in the NBA, a league source says he's also considering NBA assistant coaches such as Donald Newman with the Nets and Lionel Hollins with the Grizzlies.  Native New Orleanian Avery Johnson is also mentioned as a possibility.

Former New Orleans head coach Tim Floyd was stunned about his firing last week.

"I didn't see it coming," Floyd told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Thursday. "We were picked to finish fourth before the season and that was with a healthy Jamal Mashburn and Baron Davis. I really don't feel that we did that bad of a job, given that we didn't have Davis and Mashburn for 48 games and we won only six fewer games than they won a year ago. I'm proud of our effort and proud of our guys."

Floyd is expected to be an unpaid advisor next season to his former assistant at Iowa State, Larry Eustachy , who is the men's basketball coach at Southern Mississippi.

Floyd has two years remaining on his Hornets contract, which are valued for a total of $3.5 million.

According to sources, the New Orleans Hornets will begin interviewing head coaching canadiates this weekend.

One that will be interviewed is former New Jersey Nets head coach Byron Scott.

Other canadiates include former head coaches like Brian Hill, Rudy Tomjanovich, George Karl, and Mike Fratello.

Some assistant coaches mentioned for the job include "Donald Newman, an assistant with the New Jersey Nets; former Lakers star Michael Cooper, who has coached the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks; Memphis Grizzlies assistant Lionel Hollins; and New Orleanian Avery Johnson."

The Hornets have not decided whether to hire a general manager before they hire a head coach.

When New Orleans owner George Shinn announced he wanted "someone who has succeeded in the NBA, a person who can manage egos and the personalities" as his next head coach, not many pointed to Byron Scott as the guy. Shinn, however, has set his sights on Scott, and is hoping to interview him for that vacant head coaching position.

New Orleans is considered a long shot, however, because Scott is regarded as the favorite to replace Phil Jackson in Los Angeles, should he decide to leave. Scott also has ties to Sacramento, where he was an assistant before hired by Rod Thorn in New Jersey, and to Memphis' GM Jerry West.

New Orleans native Avery Johnson, Hornets assistant coach Alvin Gentry and veteran TV analyst Mike Fratello have also been mentioned as Hornets candidates.

Following the firints of Terry Stotts and Tim Floyd from their respective teams last week, Atlanta and New Orleans become teams in need of a new head coach.

Brian Hill, currently an assistant with the New Jersey Nets, declined comment on these two openings proclaiming that all he was interested in right now was focusing on Detroit and their 2nd round matchup in the Eastern conference semifinals. Speculation alread may begin, however, after New Orleans owner George Shinn's announcement of wanting "someone who has succeeded in the NBA, a person who can manage egos and the personalities" as his next head coach. Brian Hill fits both criteria, having led a Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway Orlando team to the NBA Finals in 1995.

Brian Hill was a Paul Silas assistant in New Orleans for two seasons and was a finalst for that head coaching position last summer before it was given to Tim Floyd. He started his coaching career in Atlanta as an assistant under Mike Fratello in 1986.

New Orleans Hornets owner George Shinn wants a winner and his next coach and unlike previous years, he is willing to spend whatever it takes to hire the right head coach.

Shinn said this during yesterday's press conference to announce the firing of Tim Floyd after just one season as coach.

"We're going to do what we have to do to get better," Shinn said. "I've got some candidates in mind, but the first call I will make will be to the league office to get more names and start conversations to call other people."

"I have a bigger passion, with bigger dreams, to make this team successful," he said. "We're going to be looking for someone that has succeeded in the NBA. It's not just a person that can handle and manage Xs and Os."

Rumored canadiates for the job include former New Jersey Nets head coach and current ABC analyst Byron Scott, former Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers coach Mike Fratello, Hornets assistant coach Alvin Gentry, New Jersey Nets assistant Brian Hill, who was an assistant for the Hornets under former coach Paul Silas and declined the same spot on Tim Floyd's staff after being a finalist for the top job last year.

However, Gentry said during the playoff series between the Hornets and the heat that he woulds not be interested in the job if it was vacant because of Floyd's firing.

Former Milwaukee Bucks and Seattle Supersonics head coach George Karl is also mentioned even though him and Hornets guard Baron Davis were rumored to have butted heads at the 2002 World Basketball Championships when Karl coached Davis on that team.

With Bob Bass' retirement, the Hornets have a GM opening and Shinn is likely to hire one so he can help pick the next head coach.

He is not interested in having one person do both jobs.

Another coach bites the dust. This time it is happened in New Orleans.

After only one season as head coach of the New Orleans Hornets, Tim Floyd was fired today.

With Terry Stotts fired by the Atlanta Hawks on Friday, five NBA coaches -- all in the Eastern Conference -- have lost their jobs since the regular season ended less than a month ago. Boston (Doc Rivers) and Philadelphia (Jim O'Brien) have hired replacements; Toronto is still looking for a new coach.

Floyd was hired by New Orleans last summer with the expectation of guiding the Hornets deep into the playoffs in the team's last year in the East before switching to the tougher Western Conference."

With this season in the books, Floyd's career NBA coaching record is 93-235.

New Orleans general manager Bob Bass retired Wednesday after a career that lasted over 50 years.

"I know when it's my time, and this is my time," Bass said.

"I coached two years in high school, 17 years in college, then spent 36 years in the ABA and NBA -- that is a hell of a long time any way you look at it," the Texas native said. "It's time to take a permanent leave and go back to Texas and enjoy whatever I have left."

It appears he went out on his own terms as Bass was decided by owner George Shinn as the "most knowledgeable basketball mind I have ever been around."

In Bass' nine seasons with the Hornets, they never had a losing record.

Shinn said the Bass will remain to help with the draft and will try to retain him as a part-time consultant.

Bass' retirement is expected to be the first of many changes for the Hornets after a dissapointing first round exit from this year's playoffs.

"There's going to be a trickle-down effect," said Hornets forward P.J. Brown, one of several players who attended Bass' goodbye news conference. "We all know there's going to be substantial changes and we're just going to have to wait and see."

Many are speculating that the first change will be the firing of head coach Tim Floyd.