PORTLAND, Ore. — It's official. Alex Sarama will be the Portland Fire's first head coach, the team announced Friday morning.

The Fire had prematurely teased the hiring of Sarama earlier this week with a LinkedIn post that was quickly deleted . At the time, however, it was unclear if Sarama was the pick, with conflicting details from different sources, including some reports saying talks had hit a snag.

On Friday morning, though, the Fire officially confirmed that Sarama, an assistant with the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers, will be the franchise's first head coach.

“Alex represents the next generation of coaching,” said Fire general manager Vanja Černivec. “He’s not just teaching the game, he’s transforming it. His approach to player development, grounded in evidence-based science, researc

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