WASHINGTON — Tree Rollins will remain the coach of the Washington Mystics.

The Mystics on Tuesday removed the interim tag from Rollins, who led theteam into playoff contention after Richie Adubato resigned in June following an0-4 start.

“We felt that Tree took over our team during a tough situation, and ourplayers responded to his coaching style,” general manager Linda Hargrove said.”We think that he has earned the opportunity to coach our team and lead us to achampionship.”

The Mystics lost their first four games under Rollins to fall to 0-8, butthey rallied to finish 16-18 and were eliminated from the playoff race on thefinal day of the regular season. Rollins went 15-14 as head coach, missing onegame for personal reasons.

Rollins played 18 seasons in the NBA and later was an assistant coach withfour NBA teams, but his only head coaching experience before this year came withthe Greenville Groove of the National Basketball Developmental League. He joinedthe Mystics as an assistant coach under Adubato in 2006.