The New Jersey Storm today fired head coach Jim Hinkson, replacing him on an interim basis by director of player personnel Jim Brady.

Hinkson takes the fall for the expansion franchise's 1-3 start, which took Storm owner Jayson Williams by surprise after being told all summer by team executives, most notably Brady, that the team would be a contender from day one.

After a surprising second-half rally in the season opener at Albany (ultimately, a 20-16 loss, but one which started off with a 7-1 deficit in the first quarter), the Storm declined game after game. First, a lead in the home opener against New York vanished in the face of a one-goal second half, leading to a 14-9 loss. Then, a furious Landshark comeback wasn't halted until the closing seconds of the Storm's game in Columbus, turning what should have been a four- or five-goal victory into a narrow, one-goal escape.

The last straw, apparently, was the Storm offense needing more than thirty-eight minutes to record a single goal at home against Albany on Saturday, leading to an embarassing 13-5 loss.

That loss, combined with Philadelphia's win at Vancouver, pushed the Storm into last place in the Eastern Division, two games behind the first-place New York Saints.

With the next three Storm games at Washington, Calgary, and Vancouver, plus a home game against the Roughnecks just after Christmas, Brady will have his work cut out for him.

A member of both the Canadian and Ontario Lacrosse Halls of Fame, Brady also serves as commissioner of the Ontario Lacrosse Association Major league, and coached for many years at the Junior A level. He will continue as the Storm's player personnel director while serving as head coach.

But for all of OLA distinctions, there's one thing Brady had been failing at for years: getting a position as a head coach in the NLL.

What has Brady said that has Jayson Williams so impressed? What was his pitch to not only save his job but expanded his authority?

Whatever it is, Brady better deliver on it quickly, because even though he survived the first axe, Williams showed today that his patience is thin and his tolerance for first halves without goals even thinner.

Hinkson's firing is the first midseason coaching switch for on-field reasons since Bob "Buff" McCready was relieved of his duties with the 1992 Buffalo Bandits, after the team lost the first three games in franchise history.

Perhaps that's a good sign for Brady -- McCready was replaced by Les Bartley, who immediately launched the Bandits on a twenty-two game winning streak, the longest active string of victories in professional sports at the time.