Dunleavy Will Replace Riley as Coach : Lakers: It will be announced today that assistant coach for Bucks, 36, who has not been a head coach in the NBA before, will take over.

Pat Riley, who guided the Lakers to four NBA championships in nine seasons as coach, will resign today and be replaced by Mike Dunleavy, an assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks the last three seasons, according to two Laker sources.

One source said Riley decided two weeks ago to leave but was asked by Jerry Buss, the Lakers’ owner, not to announce his plans until a replacement could be found.

Dunleavy agreed to terms during the weekend, enabling the Lakers to call a Forum news conference this afternoon at 12:30 to announce the changes.

Both Dunleavy, 36, and Riley, 45, are expected to attend.

“They wanted to make the announcements all at once, not string it out, because that’s the way the Lakers do business,” the source said Sunday. “But it made (Riley) look bad. (Riley) just wanted to end this thing on good terms.”

Riley would not comment on the subject of the news conference, and neither Dunleavy nor Laker General Manager Jerry West could be reached Sunday.

Since deciding to leave, Riley has talked with NBC about the possibility of becoming an analyst for the network next season. An NBC spokesman reiterated Sunday that no decision regarding NBA commentators will be made until the playoffs have concluded.

Riley also is part of a group that has developed a movie script that reportedly has been sold to a company owned by actor Michael Douglas.

Dunleavy had met several times with West last week in Chicago during a predraft camp for college prospects and reportedly agreed to terms during that time. He and West were scheduled to have dinner in Los Angeles Sunday night.

A source at the camp in Chicago said West talked to Doug Collins, former coach of the Chicago Bulls, and Dave Wohl, former New Jersey Net coach and a former Laker assistant, about the Laker job.

Dunleavy has no NBA head-coaching experience. He was Buck Coach Del Harris’ second assistant, behind Frank Hamblen, for three seasons.

A veteran NBA guard who last played regularly during the 1984-85 season, Dunleavy was activated under 10-day contracts by the Bucks three times in the last two seasons. His playing career was believed over early in the 1984-85 season when he suffered an injured lower back when an airplane he was on stopped quickly after landing at Baltimore-Washington airport.

West previously has said he is impressed with Dunleavy’s basketball knowledge and rapport with players. The Lakers apparently wanted a “fresh face” with no previous head-coaching experience.

Riley reportedly had pushed for assistant Randy Pfund to become the new coach. But sources said Pfund was too close to Riley and that the management felt a change of philosophy was needed. West has suggested to Dunleavy that he retain Bill Bertka, Riley’s longtime assistant.

When Riley replaced Paul Westhead as Laker coach on Nov. 19, 1981, he had less NBA coaching experience than Dunleavy. Riley had been Westhead’s assistant for 18 months and, before that, was Chick Hearn’s broadcast partner for two seasons.

But Riley proved a fast learner and led the Lakers to the NBA championship in 1982, his first season. Championships followed in 1985, 1987 and 1988. He also guided three other Laker teams to the championship series.

Riley leaves with a 533-194 regular-season record. His 73.3 winning percentage is the best in NBA history, and his 102 playoff victories also are an NBA record.

This season, the Lakers finished with a 63-19 record--the club’s third best ever--before being eliminated in the Western Conference semifinals in five games by the Phoenix Suns.

Riley was rumored to be considering leaving as early as February because he was tired of the NBA’s lifestyle and the increasing friction in his relationship with West and several players.

Buss, sources said, offered to renegotiate and extend Riley’s contract in February. Owner and coach had dinner after the All-Star break, during which time Buss reportedly offered to increase Riley’s salary to $1 million per season. Riley, who leaves with two seasons remaining on his contract, earned $650,000, not including incentives, this past season.

Buss and Riley have met three times since the Lakers were eliminated on May 15. Sources said Buss has kept his contract offer “on the table” but that Riley had decided to leave.

It has long been known that Riley and West had differing opinions on many aspects regading the running of the team. A source said Riley and West had an acrimonious meeting after the final game of the Phoenix series.

“When you’ve got two high-profile personalities like Pat and Jerry, there’s going to be disagreements,” a source said. “It’s not news to those in the organization that they weren’t exactly chummy to each other. But I don’t think it got in the way of what we were trying to achieve.

“The fact that they had different opinions about talent may have helped the team in the long run. So many times, you have a coach and GM that think alike, so they automatically agree on everything.”

Riley also has had disagreements with Laker players, though nothing on the scale of the 1981 Westhead-Magic Johnson scenario that led to Riley’s ascension.

On Jan. 16, three days before the team was scheduled to leave for a four-game Eastern trip, Laker players went to West and complained that Riley was working the team too hard and criticizing them.

That led to a summit meeting to air grievances, with West serving as moderator.

Johnson later told The Times, “We asked (Riley) why he was doing some of the things he was doing. It was about players’ roles. I mean, everybody on the team. Why he did what he did. Before, he’d explain why. Maybe he just forgot about that part.”

At the time the meeting was made public, Riley said, “Maybe I was driving them a little too hard, but it wasn’t anything that created a real problem. It was about the spirit of attitude and the spirit of understanding roles.”

The Lakers were 24-6 at the time of the meeting. Their 63-19 finish was the league’s best record.

“If the grumbling was that bad,” a source said Sunday, “if we were that disjointed as a team, how did we win 63 games? I don’t buy into that. The team was, basically, together. Pat did a great job.”

But during the Lakers’ second-round playoff ousting by the Phoenix Suns, Laker players and Riley feuded again. Riley reportedly loudly berated his players in meetings the night before, as well as the morning of their Game 4 playoff loss in Phoenix.

Several Laker players criticized Riley--anonymously--for his outbursts. The National reported that Johnson wanted Riley to apologize to the team for the screaming sessions, but that Riley never did.

On May 17, when Riley first told reporters he might not return as coach, he said neither the early playoff ousting nor player disgruntlement would be a factor in his decision.

“There always will be player grumbling,” Riley said then. “The thing that’s interesting about my years as coach is, when I used to raise my voice, it was applauded. Now, when I raise it, there’s player grumblings. The whole evolution of the level of my voice has created a real problem.

“But as soon as I ever felt that notion (of being unwanted), nobody would have to tell me to leave, I promise you that.”

PAT RILEY’S LAKER COACHING RECORD

YEARS REGULAR SEASON PLAYOFFS 1981-82 50-21 (1st in division)* Defeated 76ers, 4-2, to win championship 1982-83 58-24 (1st in division) Lost to 76ers, 4-0, in finals 1983-84 54-28 (1st in division) Lost to Celtics, 4-3, in finals 1984-85 62-20 (1st in division) Defeated Celtics, 4-2, to win championship 1985-86 62-20 (1st in division) Lost to Rockets, 4-1, in conference finals 1986-87 65-17 (1st in division) Defeated Celtics, 4-2, to win championship 1987-88 62-20 (1st in division) Defeated Pistons, 4-3, to win championship 1988-89 57-25 (1st in division) Lost to Pistons, 4-0, in finals 1989-90 63-19 (1st in division) Lost to Suns, 4-1, in conference semifinals Totals 533-194 (.733) 102-47** (.685, 4 NBA championships)

* Riley named coach when Paul Westhead was fired after 11 games.

** Totals include all playoff games.