Oilers Fire Hugh Grant

The Oilers finished the season 35-48, their worst since 1996. Texas was 27-27 shortly after the start of the season, but lost its next 16 games to fall out of the top twenty in the Big 10. A loss to Philadelphia on January 25 clinched the team's first losing season since 1995.

Hugh Grant's tenure was less about wins and losses and more about the 38-year-old's struggle to manage over-paid but humorless players. The Georgia native always will be remembered with Adam Sandler and Celine Dion, the two most famous players in the fisticuffs between Oilers players and Mets fans. That brawl started the unraveling of a team that was expected to make several title runs.

Hugh Grant said that coaching the team was enjoyable but that it was time for the Oilers to "dream an impossible dream."

"This came down to what was in the best interests of the franchise going forward," the former electronics engineer said. "Coaching is something that gets under your skin. But then again, when you know it's time to know it's time, you know it's time to know it's time."

The coach acknowledged struggles to connect with the players. "It's a people business, and I'm a people person. You can never be too good a communicator. It's something I want to work on working on. You still have two minutes, as the crow flies."