Philadelphia, PA (My Sportsbook) - The Philadelphia 76ers have fired first- year head coach Randy Ayers.

During an afternoon press conference, team president and general manager Billy King named assistant coach Chris Ford as interim head coach. Ford has been a head coach in the past with the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Clippers.

Philadelphia was a disappointing 21-31 under Ayers this season, 4 1/2 games out of a playoff spot. In addition, Ayers struggled all season to get along with the team's No. 2 scorer, Glenn Robinson.

Ford brings to the table 26 years of NBA experience -- 10 as a player, nine as a head coach and seven as an assistant coach.

Ayers became the 18th head coach in 76ers' history this past off-season, having been an assistant with Philadelphia for the previous six seasons. He joined the Sixers' organization after eight seasons as head coach at Ohio State University, where he compiled a 124-108 record. He guided the Buckeyes to four postseason appearances and earned national coach of the year honors in 1991. He was twice named Big Ten coach of the year.

Ayers first came to the Sixers in 1997 as the strength and conditioning coach and was promoted to assistant coach the following year. He took over the top spot for Larry Brown, who stepped down on May 26 and later took the head coaching job in Detroit.