McHale stepped down as Timberwolves vice president of basketball operations on Monday, a position he has held since 1995, to become the coach after owner Glen Taylor fired Wittman.

The job is not an interim one. McHale said he "plans on being here" for the long term and general manager Jim Stack and assistant GMs Fred Hoiberg and Rob Babcock will take over his executive duties for the remainder of the season.

Now it's up to McHale to breathe some life into a team that wasn't responding to the hard-nosed Wittman.

"It just looks like the guys are very beaten down," McHale said. "They've only played 19 games this season. They have 63 games left. It's no time to be beaten down. There's still time to rally and get going."

The Timberwolves (4-15) have lost five consecutive games, including the last two by a combined 52 points.

The final straw came on Saturday night when the Wolves were blown out at home by the Los Angeles Clippers (4-16) in front of Taylor.

"Certainly we are way behind where I hoped we would be at this time," Taylor said.

This was the fourth NBA coaching firing this season following P.J. Carlesimo (Oklahoma City), Eddie Jordan (Washington) and Sam Mitchell (Toronto).