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This was 10 games into Lawrence Frank's tenure as Nets head coach. There was always an intriguing story behind him, but he started the season an anonymous assistant coach to Byron Scott. By the time we sat down for an exclusive interview he had become the flavor of the month in the New York metropolitan area.

The background: During the 2003-04 it was the Nets' policy to not make assistant coaches available to the media, so it was Scott who was the lead mouthpiece to a team off two straight Eastern Conference championships to address the team's underachieving play on the court and speculation of a rift between he and star point guard Jason Kidd.

One game i covered was a Sunday afternoon when they defeated the Boston Celtics to move to 22-20 and snap a five-game losing streak. Scott was ejected early in the contest and Frank led the team to victory, leaving the starters in the game even when the end result was academic. I asked Scott the reasons behind it. He smiled and deflected further comment to Frank. Citing policy, Nets PR man Gary Sussman relayed Frank's comments after Kidd addressed the media about the importance of playing the game to the very end without making any assumptions that it was over - before it was over.

That day was the last Scott met the media as head coach. He was fired and the media fired its venom towards Kidd in search of answers over how one person - even a player of Kidd's immense stature - could allegedly force a coach who led a once pathetic team to consecutive NBA Finals to lose his job. In the middle of it was Frank, who broke into basketball, a sport he loves so much, as Bobby Knight's student manager, and now was the head coach of an NBA franchise for the first time in his life. The Nets' training center was packed with media and Frank carried a boyish enthusiasm about him. Eyes were wide as he answered questions and deftly skipped around all controversy with Joe Torre-like poise. knowing exactly what he had to do.

"I'm 33 years old," Frank stated for the record that day. "And I'm going with 5-foot-8, depending on the TV angle."

By the time Frank and I sat together he remained diminutive but was on a growth spurt in stature. I learned that Frank is a huge Yankees fan, a kid from Teaneck, N.J., whose after-school life centered around basketball. Whether it was due to his upbringing or learning the coaching business first-hand under Knight, he refused to allow himself an ounce of credit for the Nets winning the first 10 games of his coaching tenure - 11 straight overall that started with Scott's swan song.

"It's not about me," Frank repeated over and over, but one comment he shared is something I remember to this day and will never forget.

"Success is never final. Failure is never fatal."

Lawrence Frank was fired today from his first head coaching job, the victim of the Nets' 0-16 start and another of the business philosophy of since you can't fire the players, you fire the coach. If Torre knew Frank, he'd place a phone call and share the same words with those in his baseball fraternity who were unceremoniously handed their pink slip: "Welcome to the club."

In other words, every manager and coach, even the absolute best in the game, get fired, resign or just walk away from something not working anymore through no fault of anyone, or what Pat Riley called in his book, "Core Cracking." History will determine whether Frank ends up an all-time great coach, but he goes home to chill out, collect the remaining $4 million on his contract, recharge and look ahead. There was no reason to begin with to believe that the Nets would be serious contenders this season, and the amount of injuries they endured to start the 2009-10 campaign was ridiculous. Yeah, they're winless in 16 games and that's terrible. That's a joke. But before the west coast trip the Nets played harder than their big brothers across the Hudson River.

Of course, Mike D'Antoni isn't going anywhere. It's about 2010-11 at Madison Square Garden and the courting (and begging?) of LeBron James, so the Knicks at 3-13 is OK. The Nets at 0-16, their NBA lows of 85.6 points and 40.3 percent shooting, 10 of their losses coming by double digits and a source telling ESPN.com, "The team hasn't lost interest in each other, which is a good sign, but I don't know how much more interest they have in [Frank's message]," led Nets president Rod Thorn to decide that things could not continue as they were.

“I want to thank Lawrence for his more than a decade of service to the Nets, first as an assistant coach and then as the head coach for the past six and a half seasons,” Thorn said in a statement. “Lawrence always approached every day with a passion for his craft that was infectious, and his dedication to the game as well as his work ethic are to be both admired and appreciated. I wish he and his family only the best of good fortune in the future.”

Assistant Tom Barrise will coach the Nets tonight in Los Angeles and it looks like Nets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe will take over the team for the immediate future, as if Vandeweghe, a good basketball man, or any of Frank's assistants can do any better besides the obvious - earning one mere win. When Frank returns, he'll be better - much better. He the Swamp with two Atlantic Division titles on his updated resume and is the Nets' NBA leader in wins (225) and losses (241).

That's a pretty good a beginning. "Success is never final. Failure is never fatal" are excellent words to live by. They will guide Frank towards the next chapter.