Editor's note: For the most up-to-date coverage on the firing of Davey Lopes, click here.
Jerry Royster, bench coach under Davey Lopes, became interim manager of the Brewers Thursday.
Former Brewers star Cecil Cooper joins the club's coaching staff as bench coach.
GM Dean Taylor and Assistant GM David Wilder addressed the media first. "Personally this was a very, very difficult decision," Taylor said.
"Nobody wanted to see Davey succeed and win more than I did. I don't think anybody would have predicted this club would get off to a 3-12 start. For whatever reason, the club was not responding to Davey as manager."
Taylor said the Brewers will immediately start the process of hiring a fulltime manager. He said he expects Royster and others to be candidates, as well as candidates from outside the organization.
Lopes, 56, posted a 144-196-1 (.425) record in his two-plus seasons as the Brewers manager. He was originally named to the staff on Nov. 4, 1999.
Royster, 49, is in his third season on the Brewers staff. He has been the bench coach each of the three seasons and also serves as the Brewers spring camp coordinator. He has previous managerial experience with the San Diego Padres organization from 1996-98 leading the Las Vegas Stars to the Pacific Coast League playoffs in 1996 when he earned the Padres Manager of the Year award.
Royster also managed in the minor league system of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1989-92.
Royster played 16 seasons in the Major Leagues for five clubs. He appeared in 1,428 games for the Dodgers, Padres, Atlanta Braves, Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees.
Cooper, 52, is a five-time All-Star that played 17 seasons in the Major Leagues including 11 for the Brewers from 1977-87. He ranks at or near the top of all of the Brewers offensive top ten lists and earned the Harvey Kuenn Award for Hitting Excellence five times and batted over .300 in seven consecutive seasons.
Cooper has been a Special Assistant to the General Manager and a roving minor league hitting instructor for the Brewers. He will be enshrined onto the Miller Park Walk of Fame later this summer.
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