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NBA: Bulls dump Thibodeau as coach after five seasons

Tom Thibodeau was fired as coach of the Chicago Bulls on Thursday, unable to bring playoff success despite five winning campaigns with the NBA club. Thibodeau went 255-139 in his tenure as coach, guiding the Bulls to Central division crowns in 2010-11 and 2011-12. But the Bulls, nagged by injuries to star Derrick Rose during his stay, went only 23-28 in playoff games under him. "When Tom was hired in 2010, he was right for our team and system at that time, and over the last five years we have had some success with Tom as our head coach," Bulls general manager Gar Forman said. "But as we looked ahead and evaluated how we as a team and an organization could continue to grow and improve, we believed a change in approach was needed." Thibodeau, 57, was named the NBA Coach of the Year in 2011 when he matched the NBA record for rookie coaches with 62 wins. He was part of a championship squad as an assistant coach with Boston in 2008 and also had assistant's stints with San Antonio, Minnesota, Philadelphia, New York and Houston over 21 years before landing his first coaching post with the Bulls. Tensions between Thibodeau and management grew over the years and became more than ownership wanted to tolerate after the Bulls were ousted by Cleveland in the Eastern Conference semi-finals earlier this month. "The Chicago Bulls have a history of achieving great success on and off the court. These accomplishments have been possible because of an organizational culture where input from all parts of the organization has been welcomed and valued, there has been a willingness to participate in a free flow of information, and there have been clear and consistent goals," Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said. "Unfortunately, there has been a departure from this culture. To ensure that the Chicago Bulls can continue to grow and succeed, we have decided that a change in the head coaching position is required. "Days like today are difficult, but necessary for us to achieve our goals and fulfill our commitments to our fans." Bulls coach John Paxson said change was needed to improve on team trust and communication. "We probably wouldnt be sitting here if we had won a championship, but we didn't," he said. "It goes back to that communication and trust in an organziation that you need to grow." Forman said the search for a new coach was under way and would not limit any sort of contenders for the job, from experienced veterans to assistants or college coaches seeking their first NBA coaching post. "We're not going to limit the search in any way," he said.