Clippers Scratch Fitch

The Clippers will have a new coach next season, and they will play in a new arena the year after that.

But if the organization hangs onto its old ways of choosing and retaining players, the Clippers will remain one of pro sports’ perennial doormats.

The Clippers fired 63-year-old coach Bill Fitch on Monday, two days after a season that saw his rebuilding program slide downhill to a 17-65 record in his fourth year.

Fitch has coached--and lost--more games than anyone in NBA history. He is second only to Lenny Wilkens in career wins with 944, while he compiled 1,106 losses.

He joins a lengthy list of coaches who have futility tried to turn the woeful franchise around.

Fitch and the coaches who preceded him with the Clippers always have been hamstrung because the organization has a history of bad draft picks and bad trades, and of letting good players leave rather than paying high salaries.

The Clippers’ only winning season in the past two decades was under a succession of Mike Schuler, interim Mack Calvin, then Larry Brown in 1991-92.

Fitch, who guided Boston to the NBA championship in 1981 and took Houston to the finals in 1986, actually had the Clippers in the playoffs a year ago.

This season, however, without a solid center and with forward Bo Outlaw lost to free agency before the season and Loy Vaught out most of it because of back surgery, the Clippers slipped back into their old role of NBA patsy.

Their record was the third-worst in the league, behind only Denver, which won 11 games and also fired its coach Monday, and Toronto, which won 16 games and saw its coach resign in February.

Fitch was not immediately available for comment Monday, but he said after the Clippers wrapped up their season over the weekend: “From the standpoint of disappointing seasons, from all aspects, this would have to be as miserable a season as I’ve encountered.”

“It’s depressing, but it’s also one that makes you want to say, ‘Never again.’ We’ll get it going in the right direction again,” he said.

With the Clippers owing him $4 million for the two years left on his contract, Fitch obviously thought he would return next season. Then team vice president Elgin Baylor stepped into the coach’s office at the L.A. Sports Arena on Monday morning.

“We had a very long conversation,” Baylor said. “Like any coach, he was disappointed. We talked about a lot of things. We probably talked half an hour or longer.”

During a conference call with reporters, Baylor said there were several reasons Fitch was dismissed.

“If you look at the disappointing season, I know we’ve had injuries and all, but the organization felt we should have had a better season,” Baylor said.

“Looking at the record and the overall performance, and the direction the team was going. . . . we felt it was time for a change.”

Owner Donald Sterling is moving the team after next season from the Sports Arena to a new arena to be built nearby. The Clippers will share the facility with the Lakers and the NHL’s Kings, however, and will be the building’s “third tenant” as far as scheduling games goes.