Terry Stotts no longer has to tango with other NBA teams for jobs. And Billy Knight has an answer for free agents who wonder aloud whether he or Stotts will be around at the start of the season.

They both will. The "interim" tag was stripped from Stotts and Knight on Monday, when Hawks president Stan Kasten announced that the two were given two-year contracts to remain coach and general manager, respectively.

"The first of many contracts with the Hawks, I hope," Kasten said. "We are very excited about the possibilities ahead with both Billy and Terry."

The moves put to rest what appeared to be a summer-long holding pattern while the team is being sold to Texas businessman David McDavid. Kasten said he brought together AOL Time Warner and representatives of McDavid's group on Friday, and the parties decided to end the suspense and do what made sense with only seven weeks left before the Hawks begin training camp.

"That's great news," said Hawks center Theo Ratliff, who was in New York preparing to play in the Rucker basketball tournament. "At least we know we got a coach. I thought if Stotts had the job at the beginning of the year [last season], we would've been a lot better."

Hired as an assistant coach last August, Stotts replaced Lon Kruger on Dec. 26 and led the Hawks to a 24-31 record, but the team went 21-20 the last 41 games of the season. The uncertainty surrounding the ownership change had Stotts in limbo for months. He interviewed for assistant coaching jobs with at least three teams and head coaching jobs in Philadelphia and Milwaukee, which hired Terry Porter last week.