They're linked by their dapper attire and locker-room ire. Newly hired Panthers coach Mike Keenan and Heat coach Pat Riley have crossed paths before but in much better times.

Keenan has taken over a foundering Panthers team and Riley is in the midst of a career-worst 11-game losing streak. Both teams are tied for the fewest victories in their respective leagues.

Keenan and Riley enjoyed a glorious springtime run in New York when they coached their teams to championship drives in 1994. While Keenan guided the New York Rangers to their first Stanley Cup title in 54 years, Riley and the Eastern Conference champion New York Knicks fell one John Starks' jump shot short, losing to the Houston Rockets in Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

"We would chat occasionally,'' Riley said of his former Connecticut neighbor. "That was a storybook season for him. It really was.''

Keenan's in-your-face style builds winners but often burns bridges. And judging from recent comments made by Tim Hardaway and Anthony Mason, Riley's methods also can rub players the wrong way.

"He's a taskmaster, a disciplinarian,'' Riley said. "A lot of guys from our era are. That's who we are. But he might've been a little more than me.''