The Shimane Susanoo Magic ended their season-long losing streak on Sunday. But that wasn't enough for head coach Reggie Hanson to retain his job.

Hanson's departure was announced after the game, and he became the first head coach in the 22-team bj-league to be fired this season.

Tomohiro Moriyama, Hanson's 30-year-old assistant with no prior head coaching experience in the pro ranks, was promoted to sideline supervisor, according to a news release posted on the Shimane website. Moriyama worked on the Osaka Evessa coaching staff from 2012-14.

Shimane lost its first 11 games before beating the host Fukushima Firebonds 83-63 on Sunday in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture.

Moriyama now prepares his team to face the Eastern Conference-leading Iwate Big Bulls (11-1) this weekend at home.

When contacted by The Japan Times late Sunday evening, the 46-year-old Hanson declined to comment.

"I'm not really certain at this point what was behind the decision. We as a team just found out a few hours ago," one Shimane player told this newspaper after the game.

In an Oct. 23 interview, Hanson, a former Japan Basketball League star forward who also had a short stint with the Boston Celtics at the end of the 1997-98 season, summed up the daunting challenge he faced while guiding a team with an almost entirely new cast of players this season.

“The reality of our situation is we are in rebuilding mode,” Hanson told The Japan Times. “I don’t sleep much at night. But I have to have patience.

“The Shimane team fell to the bottom of the bj-league last season. No matter what league you are in, whether it’s the NBA, NFL, MLB or in the college conferences, if a team drops from the middle of their league to the bottom in one year, the climb back up is not a quick one because you are starting all over again.

“We have nine new players,” noted the former University of Kentucky and University of South Florida assistant coach. “I have a totally new staff that does not have much experience, so I have to develop them at the same time that I am developing the team.”

Before winning Sunday's contest, the Susanoo Magic had lost six games by 10 or less points, including Saturday's six-point setback to Fukushima, and other contests by one, three and four points.

When Hanson was appointed Shimane coach in January 2013, the squad had gone 5-21 under Vlasios Vlaikidis, who replaced Zelkjo Pavlicevic after the 2012-13 campaign (33-19), the franchise's third season, third with an increased win total and third playoff appearance under its original bench boss. The Magic plummeted to the bottom of the Western Conference standings with an 11-41 record.

Daisuke Akaike, the team's president for its first four seasons, stepped down after the 2013-14 campaign. His replacement, Toshiya Osaki, has presided over a club that had only two key contributors — guards Edward Yamamoto (11.6 points per game) and Tatsuhiro Yokoo (8.3) — back from last season's roster. The most consistently dominant shot blocker in league history, center Jeral Davis, who had starred for Shimane since 2010, was not brought back this season.

In essence, the team started from scratch again in the preseason, and then with the late September departure of two offseason newcomers, forward Edward Morris and post player Brandon Hassell, there were more adjustments to be made over the season's first several weeks.

Among the team's four foreign players, only guard Joe Chapman, the team's leading scorer (16.3 ppg), had competed in the league in prior seasons.