CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- After a miserable start to the season in which he took shots at his players and himself, Larry Brown is out as coach of the Charlotte Bobcats in another messy exit in his well-traveled career.

The team announced later Wednesday that former Charlotte Hornets coach Paul Silas, who lives in the Charlotte area, will take over on an interim basis.

"This has been a dream for me for a while," Silas told ESPN.com's Brian Windhorst. "... I've been through a lot over the last couple of years. But I'm healthy now, my weight is down and I'm ready to go."

Owner Michael Jordan announced Brown's departure in a news release a day after the Bobcats were outscored 31-12 in the fourth quarter in their fourth straight loss.

The 70-year-old Brown had been upset with the makeup and effort of his team for weeks. The Bobcats (9-19) had lost three games by 31 or more points in 10 days before Tuesday's fourth-quarter meltdown against Oklahoma City.

"I met with Coach Brown two weeks ago about the team's performance and what we could do to improve it," Jordan said. "We met again this morning after practice. The team has clearly not lived up to either of our expectations and we both agreed that a change was necessary."

News of Brown's departure hit close to home with many other coaches around the NBA, including Philadelphia's Doug Collins and Boston's Doc Rivers.

"Larry's one of the all-time great coaches. The guy has won an NBA championship, an NCAA championship, he was a great point guard at [North] Carolina, he won an Olympic championship and was an Olympic coach. I mean, he's done it all," Collins said to ESPNBoston's Chris Forsberg. "He opened a lot of doors for coaches like myself, because any time former players stepped in and did well, it gave other former players the chance to do the same thing. It sounds, from what I'm hearing, that Michael [Jordan will] keep him on in advisory capacity. It will be interesting to see what happens."

"It's disturbing," said Rivers, a close confidante of Brown. "I have a great relationship with Larry. It's just tough. He's a great coach, you know -- it's tough. It's our business, as we've learned way too much."

The 70-year-old Brown, a Hall of Fame coach who was in the third season of his 13th professional and college head coaching job, had been upset with the makeup and effort of his team for weeks.

Brown, whose contract runs through the end of the 2011-12 season, didn't immediately return a message on his cell phone seeking comment. But his agent, Joe Glass, said Brown will be back on the bench soon.

"Larry is going to coach again," Glass said. "He's got plenty of strength and energy."

Glass declined to discuss details of any buyout or if Brown will be paid through the end of his original four-year contract.

Brown leaves with an 88-108 mark with the Bobcats. His 1,327 victories in the ABA and NBA are nine shy of supplanting Don Nelson for the most all-time.