Clippers Scratch the Itch of Fitch : Pro basketball: It’s a perfect fit--he wanted to coach again and the team didn’t have one.

Bill Fitch thought he would never coach again after being fired by the New Jersey Nets in 1992.

“I’ve always said to guys who told me they want to coach to lay down until the urge passed,” Fitch joked.

Fitch, 60, retired to his home in Montgomery, Tex., and his biggest choice each morning was whether to play golf or fish at a nearby lake.

“I didn’t think that I’d even want to coach again,” Fitch said Thursday after being named coach of the Clippers.

“It was fun. Every morning, you get up and there’s 14 yellow cabs waiting to take you to the golf course and some guy waiting to take your money.”

But Fitch, who has coached more games than any NBA coach--1,722--in his 21-year career, led a team of college players in an NBA pre-draft tournament at Phoenix in April and realized he missed being courtside.

So, when the Clippers offered him the chance to return to coaching, he jumped at the opportunity, signing what is believed to be a four-year contract.

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to be here,” Fitch said at a news conference at a downtown hotel. “Nobody forced me into doing something.”

Although he’s the Clippers’ ninth coach since they moved here in 1984, Fitch said he wasn’t scared away by the club’s troubled past. He said he has been in tougher situations during a career that has included stops in Cleveland, Boston, Houston and New Jersey.

“You know what’s scary?” Fitch asked. “I was the first outsider in Boston (to coach the Celtics). That’s scary. . . . It really doesn’t bother me. I think I have just as good a chance of winning here as anyplace I’ve been.”

Fitch was the NBA’s youngest head coach when he was hired by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1970, but he’s now the league’s second-oldest coach behind Dick Motta, 62, who was recently rehired by the Dallas Mavericks.

Although Fitch is the fifth-winningest coach in NBA history, some have criticized the Clippers for hiring a retread.

“Well, number one, a retread--I don’t know what that means,” Fitch said. “I don’t understand what a retread is, but I guess, obviously, it’s negative.

“You’re either not good enough, you don’t know enough about the game or you’re too old. When I came in, I was the youngest coach in the league. The only thing you’re really gauged on is the number of games you win and lose.”

Fitch doesn’t think he’ll have difficulty bridging the generation gap with his players.

“I’ve had more young players than I’ve had old players,” Fitch said. “The biggest change has not been young players or old players, it’s been the amount of greed that’s come into the game because of the amount of money that’s paid. . . . I’ve had words with every player I’ve ever coached, including (former Boston Celtic star Larry) Bird.”

Bird, who played for Fitch during his first three seasons in the NBA, thinks Fitch will do a good job for the Clippers.

“Bill Fitch always gave his best and gave every player the benefit of his experience and knowledge of the game,” Bird said.

Resurrecting the Clippers will not be easy, but Fitch thinks it can be done.

“I’ve been in situations where we started at the bottom and were very fortunate to get all the way to the top,” Fitch said. “I’ve been in tougher situations.”