When Mack Tuck was hired this summer to coach the Rizing Fukuoka, he took over a team that had reached the bj-league championship game in May but fell one victory short of its ultimate goal. The Rizing, then coached by Atsushi Kanazawa, lost to the Yokohama B-Corsairs in the title match.

Now, Tuck¡¯s tenure as head coach is apparently over before it every really began. He was in Japan during the preseason but departed before the team¡¯s opener on Oct. 5, a 91-76 road win over the Takamatsu Five Arrows. But, according to a team source, he left Fukuoka due to a family matter.

He hasn¡¯t returned.

On Tuesday, Kimitoshi Sano, who began the preseason as Tuck¡¯s assistant, was promoted to head coach. The 31-year-old Sano was the Miyazaki Shining Suns¡¯ second head coach in 2012-13, taking over for bench boss Junichiro Hongo, who stepped down after the team¡¯s 4-26 start. Sano, originally Hongo¡¯s assistant, remained at the helm until the end of the season, finishing with a 5-17 record as coach. (Miyazaki left the bj-league after the season; the franchise now plans to enter the NBDL, the rebranded JBL2, for the 2014-15 campaign.)

It appeared, however ¡ª at least until Tuesday ¡ª the door was open for Tuck¡¯s return to the Rizing bench, according to a source familiar with the situation.

¡°I guess they were waiting to see if (Tuck) was coming back,¡± a team insider told The Japan Times on Tuesday.

That¡¯s no longer the case.

Sano¡¯s promotion is the first official coaching change in the 21-team league this season.

Sano has remained in charge of the team in Tuck¡¯s absence. Through Sunday, the Rizing (5-7), who have lost six of their last eight games, sit in seventh place in the 10-team Western Conference. (The top six teams in each conference advance to postseason play.)

Tuck, who resides in Texas, was an assistant coach for the Chinese Basketball Association¡¯s Shandong Lions under former NBA bench boss Bob Weiss (2009-11). He then served as the Shandong junior team¡¯s head coach in 2011-12.

Tuck, a former star player in China, did not respond to multiple email messages left by this newspaper.