DENVER -- The starless Denver Nuggets just lost their biggest name on the bench. George Karl was ousted Thursday less than a month after winning the NBAs Coach of the Year award. His tenure with the Nuggets is over after 8 1/2 seasons. The longtime coach is following general manager Masai Ujiri out the door in Denver after Ujiri, the leagues executive of the year, recently left to become GM of the Toronto Raptors. "So, we lost a GM now and a coach, whats next?" tweeted Nuggets big man Kenneth Faried. Karl had just a year left on his contract, which may have played a role in this decision. Calls and emails to Karls representatives were not returned Thursday. But Karl did take to Twitter, posting on his certified account: "I want to thank Nuggets fans for their support over the past 8 yrs. The karma on the street was incredible. Denver will always be home." There are quite a few teams currently on the lookout for a new coach. The Los Angeles Clippers, Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers also have head coaching vacancies and the Memphis Grizzlies have given coach Lionel Hollins permission to speak with other teams. "George has been an instrumental part of our success over the past decade, and we appreciate everything he did to keep us among the top teams in the Western Conference," team President Josh Kroenke said in a statement. "He is a Hall of Fame coach whose legacy in Denver will last for years to come. George is a legend in the game of basketball and I could not have more respect for him as a person and coach." His players shared that feeling. "I had a great relationship with him and I was honoured to be coached by him," forward Danilo Gallinari told The Associated Press in an email. "Hopefully the management now will do smart choices." Karl guided the third-youngest team in the NBA to the third-best record in the Western Conference with a franchise-record 57 wins, but the Nuggets were bounced from the first round of the playoffs for the fourth straight season. The news of Karl parting ways was first reported by Yahoo! Sports. Recently, reports have surfaced that the Clippers might be interested in talking to Karl about their vacancy. All this week, Karl was evasive when he showed up at the teams facilities to watch potential draft picks work out for the Nuggets. Karl declined interview request after interview request as he made his way from the gym to his car. Karl is the latest to pack up and leave the team. Last week, the Raptors lured away Ujiri, a rising star among the leagues front office ranks. Ujiri earned respect for his handling of the Carmelo Anthony trade to New York and his ability to assemble a relatively starless roster that still managed to be a formidable foe in the West. Ujiri helped assemble Karls kind of team this season, one featuring a deep roster full of up-tempo and unselfish players. Only, the year ended in an all too familiar fashion for the Nuggets -- another early exit. The only time Denver advanced past the first round under Karl was when the team reached the Western Conference finals in 2009. Karl did a masterful job this season with a lineup that had nary an All-Star, was riddled by injuries to several starters and wound its way through a grueling early-season schedule in which 22 of the teams first 32 games were on the road. His teams simply wore out opponents, especially in the thin air of the Mile High City, where they went an NBA-best 38-3 at home. The Nuggets won their last 23 games at the Pepsi Center in the regular season and went 24-4 overall after the All-Star break. Thats why the Nuggets were a big favourite heading into the Golden State series to open the playoffs. But Denver sorely missed Gallinari (knee) and fell in six games to a Warriors squad that was led by the sharp-shooting Stephen Curry. Still, his work in the regular season was recognized by the league as he received 62 first-place votes, followed by Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat with 24 votes, for Coach of the Year. It was the first time Karl had won the award in his career and he joined Doug Moe as the only Denver coaches to earn the honour. The 62-year-old Karl kidded down the stretch that hed rather not be Coach of the Year, only because of the track record of those coaches eventually being let go. He led the Nuggets to nine straight playoff appearances and a 423-257 mark in the regular season. Those 423 wins rank second in team history behind Moe (432). A two-time cancer survivor, Karl changed his coaching style after returning from throat cancer in 2010. He delegated more duties at practice, relying on his assistant coaches to do much of the teaching. In addition to Denver, hes also had coaching stops in Cleveland, Golden State, Seattle and Milwaukee during his 25-year career. His 1,131 regular season wins are among the most in NBA history for a coach. Hugo Lloris Hotspur Jersey . Houston won 3-0 to advance to face New York in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Last in the game, Di Vaio and Romero got into a shoving match with several Houston players. Romero appeared to elbow and kick Houston defender Kofi Sarkodie. Erik Lamela Jersey . Following a lopsided 5-2 loss against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night, Paul MacLean told reporters that "theres a lack of focus, theres a lack of leadership and theres a lack of preparation" with his struggling team. 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On Saturday, it was fitting that Manchester Uniteds most recent dagger into the chest was delivered by Frenchman Yohan Cabaye, a wonderfully gifted central midfielder who put on an outstanding effort for Newcastle at Old Trafford. HARRISBURG, Pa. -- The judge who has presided over Jerry Sanduskys criminal case for five years issued a sternly worded order on Friday removing himself from the former Penn State assistant coachs appeal.Judge John Cleland said he was taking himself off the case because Sanduskys lawyers have raised objections to Clelands role in a December 2011 meeting in a hotel the night before Sandusky waived a preliminary hearing.The defendants attorneys have impugned the competence and integrity of essentially everyone associated with the grand jurys investigation into the defendants conduct, the defendants trial and conviction, and these post-conviction proceedings, Cleland wrote. Now they have chosen to impugn the integrity of the court itself.Cleland said the accusations against attorneys, judges, jurors, investigators and victims were outside the bounds of the legal profession and should be reviewed by the state board that handles matters of lawyer discipline. Sanduskys appeals lawyer, Al Lindsay, declined to comment, as did a spokesman for the state attorney generals office.Sandusky, 72, was convicted in 2012 of 45 counts of child sexual abuse and is serving up to 60 years in prison. He has previously lost a round of appeals to the state Superior and Supreme courts and is currently seeking a new trial under the states Post-Conviction Relief Act, which is limited to claims of constitutional violations, newly discovered evidence or ineffective counsel. His appeal involves all three types of claims.At issue is a meeting held at the Hilton Garden Inn in State College the night of Dec. 12, 2011. In attendance were Cleland, Sandusky lawyer Joe Amendola, state prosecutors Joe McGettigan and Jonelle Eshbach, and District Judge Robert Scott, who had been appointed to preside at the preliminary hearing scheduuled for the next day.ddddddddddddIn an account he issued in May, Cleland wrote that his appointment to handle the matter as a common pleas court judge, made after all the Centre County jurists had recused themselves, included administrative oversight for the site of the preliminary hearing. He said he was having dinner in the hotel when Amendola and prosecutors asked to meet with him and Scott.It surprised him, Cleland wrote, to find out the topic was an agreement to waive the hearing as long as prosecutors would not seek higher bail if more charges were filed. Sandusky did waive the hearing, which he now argues was a mistake because his lawyers lost a chance to pin down witnesses and learn details about their version of events.Cleland said neither he nor Scott had any role in negotiating the agreement made between Amendola and the prosecutors. Amendola has recently testified that he proposed the deal to McGettigan to keep his client out of jail and that it was explained to Cleland and Scott rather than submitted to them.Cleland pointedly objected to a characterization by Sanduskys lawyers in a recent filing that it was an off-the-record night time meeting and that Sanduskys absence from the hotel conference violated his due process rights.Counsel has argued not only that the meeting between the lawyers and Judge Scott and me was unethical, but has also cast it in tones that would lead one to believe it was somehow sinister, Cleland wrote.He also said, in a footnote, that hes studied the 34 issues Sandusky has raised and concluded that no grounds raised in the petition merit relief.His order asks court officials to request another judge be appointed to replace him. ' ' '