Frank Isola of the New York Daily News reports: John Starks has followed former teammates Herb Williams, Patrick Ewing, and Doc Rivers into the coaching ranks.

Yesterday, Starks was named the head coach of the Westchester Wildfire, a USBL team whose inaugural season runs from April 19 through June 21.

"This is a great opportunity for me," Starks said yesterday. "I'm happy to be back in the New York starting a new profession."

Starks even got a congratulatory phone call from former coach Jeff Van Gundy.

Van Gundy told Starks he was buying season tickets just to see Starks' reaction the first time "someone comes down and jacks up a three in transition. John's going to go nuts and I'm going to be laughing."

Said Starks: "As long as he makes the shot I won't complain."

"Whenever you're able to learn under a great coach like coach Pat Riley and Jeff you tend to catch the coaching bug," Starks said. "They taught me a lot about the game."

If you want to play for Starks, the team is holding open tryouts on March 29-30 at SUNY-Purchase, the same site where Starks practiced with the Knicks. The Wildfire official Web site is http://www.westchesterwildfire.com.