FRISCO, Texas -- Glen Gulutzan couldnt end the longest playoff drought in franchise history for the Dallas Stars and the second-year coach didnt hold the option on the remaining season in his contract. When the general manager who hired him was dumped two weeks ago, Gulutzans firing looked like the inevitable next step in an overhaul of the staff and it came Tuesday in an announcement from new general manager Jim Nill. He nevertheless said the move wasnt a foregone conclusion in his mind. "Thats why this process took so long," Nill said. "I needed to do my homework. I needed to get to know everybody. Its tough when you come into a new situation. I wanted to be fair to everyone." The Stars missed the playoffs in both of Gulutzans seasons, making it five straight years without a post-season trip for a franchise that crammed 73 playoff games into a four-year stretch a little more than a decade ago. Joe Nieuwendyk was a prominent member of those Stars teams, winning the Conn Smythe trophy as playoff MVP when Dallas won the Stanley Cup in 1999. He didnt come close to replicating that success as general manager, finally getting replaced by Nill after four years of missing the playoffs. Gulutzan was the second of two failed coaching hires for Nieuwendyk, who fired Dave Tippett when he arrived and hired Marc Crawford, a Stanley Cup winner with Colorado in 1995. Crawford brought a tougher style than the player-friendly Tippett, but he missed the playoffs in both his seasons while Tippett took Phoenix to the post-season the first three years after the Stars let him go. The hiring of Gulutzan when he was 39 was seen as a move back to the players side. He was plucked from the Stars top affiliate, the Texas Stars of the AHL, after eight seasons as a head coach in the minor leagues. Dallas was in contention late in both his seasons, but faltered down the stretch. He was 64-57-9, including 22-22-4 in the lockout-shortened 2013 season. The Stars controlled their playoff fate with five games remaining each year under Gulutzan, but went 0-9-1 in those 10 games. Assistant coach Paul Jerrard also was fired, while assistant coach Curt Fraser and goaltending coach Mike Valley will stay with the club. The new head coach will inherit a playoff drought thats now two seasons longer than the previous record of three straight from 1973-76, when the franchise was in Minnesota. "Things have to change here," Nill said. "It hasnt been right. Were in the business to win here. Were going to put something in place to start that process." Nill said he met with Gulutzan about five times before delivering his decision Tuesday. "We had some good discussions," Nill said. "Its part of the business. Sometimes you have to go through peaks and valleys. In the end, this is going to make him a better coach." Nieuwendyk tried to get Dallas back to the playoffs this year by adding veterans Jaromir Jagr, Derek Roy and Ray Whitney, but ended up trading Jagr, Roy and longtime captain Brenden Morrow with the team languishing at the trading deadline. The Stars made an improbable surge to stay alive with a much younger roster, and many of those players -- led by forward Jamie Benn -- are likely to be part of the rebuilding under Nill, who spent 15 years as an assistant GM with Detroit. The Red Wings have the longest playoff streak in North American pro sports at 22 years. "The nice thing is the slate is clean," Nill said. "We dont have a lot of contracts that tie our hands. We know the positions weve got to get better in. Were fortunate in that we have a good young foundation. Were just going to continue to make that foundation stronger." Nill said he isnt in a hurry to hire a coach and wont necessarily swing back to a coach with NHL experience after Gulutzan couldnt translate his AHL success to the higher level. "Its going to be wide open," Nill said. "There have been some great young coaches that have come in and done some great things with teams. I need to be wide open to that aspect." Jalen Hurd Super Bowl Jersey . Jon Montgomerys gold medal in skeleton at the Whistler Sliding Centre and his subsequent auctioning off of a pitcher of beer in the village square elevated him to folk-hero status. Kentavius Street Super Bowl Jersey . -- Jimmy Walkers first PGA Tour trophy came with a special gift tucked inside. http://www.49ersofficialfanshop.com/kwon-alexander-jersey.html . "I dont know that were close," said general manager Alex Anthopoulos. "I just think, right now, the acquisition cost just doesnt work for us right now. I dont know if I can quantify how far off or things like that that they might be but I would say we continue to have dialogue. Adrian Colbert Super Bowl Jersey . U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield in Manhattan agreed that lawyers on both sides could make their formal requests by Nov. 8. A hearing is scheduled for a day earlier. Jordan Siev, a lawyer for Rodriguez, wrote in a joint letter to the judge from lawyers on both sides that MLB lawyers planned to ask that the lawsuit be dismissed. Richie James Super Bowl Jersey . Those lessons were more than enough to overwhelm the Utah Jazz. Lou Williams scored 25 points and the Hawks continued their offensive upswing as they rolled to an easy 118-85 victory over the Jazz on Friday night, winning their third straight and for the fourth time in five games. Cricket South Africa has confirmed a decision to introduce targets for all national teams for selection of players of colour. The specifics of the new policy, which will stipulate how many players of colour need to be included in starting XIs, have yet to be revealed, but are likely to fall in line with the requirements of the South African sports ministry, with whom CSA have signed a memorandum of understanding.In the past, we had never set targets in our national teams, but with changing circumstances, we feel it is essential to move with the times, Chris Nenzani, the CSA president, said. The precise targets will depend on work to be undertaken by relevant committees to determine what is realistic and sustainable. This will be announced in due course. We will aim to achieve our targets over the course of the year and not on a match-by-match basis.In April this year, CSA, along with three other national federations, was banned by the ministry from bidding for or hosting international tournaments after failing to meet transformation requirements. The ministry used 60% as the barometer for their measurements, which equates to seven players of colour in a team. Cricket fell short by 5%. The ministry also had a separate measurement for the number of black African players in a team, but did not provide a percentage.CSA has previously worked with what it termed a guideline, on transformation, which required the consideration of at least four players of colour when picking the national mens team. Although CSA insisted the target did not have to be strictly applied, the board rarely transgressed it and reaffirmed that policy after the 2015 World Cup semi-final. In that match, Vernon Philander, who had spent a significant part of the tournament injured, was selected ahead of an in-form Kyle Abbott, after the coach, captain and convener of selectors met with the CEO to consult on matters of transformation. An internal investigation was conducted to review the semi-final selection which confirmed the guidelines.In the immediate aftermath of that tournament, CSA increased domestic targets for the 2016-17 season. Franchise and provinccial teams were required to field six players of colour, including at least three black Africans, up from five players of colour with at least two black Africans the season before.dddddddddddd The players union was not consulted about the change and mulled taking legal action before reaching an agreement.The following month, CSA chief executive Haroon Lorgat advocated aggressive transformation , and since then, team selection has pointed in that direction. South Africa have fielded at least one black African player in the XI more often than ever before, with Kagiso Rabada most commonly in that position, although Temba Bavuma, Aaron Phangiso and Eddie Leie have also featured. On their most recent outing, the ODI triangular series in West Indies, South Africas 15-man squad contained a majority (eight) players of colour, and in their victory over Australia in that tournament on June 7, South Africa fielded a record eight players of colour.Still, their overall numbers were not enough to meet the ministrys requirements of seven players of colour per match. South Africas stats in the tri-series read: 6, 8, 7, 7, 6, 6, which may have promoted this new commitment to achieving targets in the next year. Although South Africa are not due to host any major tournaments until the 2023 Under-19 World Cup, there is talk of a World T20 being held in 2018, and they are being seen as frontrunners to host it. In order to have the ban lifted before that, CSA would need to have the right numbers by the time the ministry conducts its next audit in April 2017, which effectively gives the board the 2016-17 season to work with.In that time, the team will play 11 Tests, including home series against New Zealand and Sri Lanka, and away games in Australia and New Zealand, but they do not have any major limited-overs tournament. They will play ODIs against Australia, Sri Lanka and New Zealand in preparation for the 2017 Champions Trophy, and a smattering of T20s. Player reaction to the targets has yet to be ascertained. ' ' '