Tom Hicks was juggling phone calls like tennis balls, meetings like bowling pins and people like beanbags Wednesday morning when he slowed down enough to answer a few questions.

Like: Are you amazed at how much you have changed the leadership of your sports empire in the span of 24 hours?

"I'm the owner; it's what I do," Hicks said matter-of-factly. "Honestly, I feel very good today. I think I'm getting a lot accomplished."

Hicks fired Stars general manager Doug Armstrong on Tuesday, met with the principals in his hockey organization and came up with a plan that will place Les Jackson and Brett Hull as interim co-GMs for the remainder of the season.

He did that without consulting with his team president, Jim Lites, so he and Lites decided Wednesday that Lites would step down as president of the Stars and dedicate more time to the ever-expanding reach of the Hicks Sports Marketing group. Replacing Lites will be Jeff Cogen, a longtime hockey guy who got his start in Dallas with the Stars. But because Cogen was serving as president of the Rangers, Hicks now has an opening he still has to fill.

"I have a lot of time to fill that one," he said confidently.

Hicks is on a roll. While some might see his empire crumbling, the man who owns the Stars, the Rangers, half of the Liverpool Football Club and is trying to build a $55 million arena in the Austin area to house a new minor league hockey team feels good about where he stands.

"This is about opportunity," he said. "We have a lot of opportunities right now, and we're trying to take advantage of them."

Lites, who will expand his role as the point man for a new stadium in Liverpool and the arena in Austin, also is expected to do more with Hicks' portion of the Glorypark development around Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. He said Hicks is in his glory right now as an investor.

"This is how he makes his money," Lites said. "He buys things, he builds them up, he makes them more valuable. And he is really in his element right now."

There are some who might disagree. The Stars have seen a drop in attendance and have seen their franchise valuation, according to Forbes, drop by $16 million in the past four years. Now, that attendance dropped from a history of sellouts to 17,193 this season (15th in the NHL) and the franchise value of $254 million still ranks fifth in the NHL.

The Rangers ranked 17th in Major League Baseball in attendance at 2.35 million fans last season. Their payroll ranks 21st of 30 teams, according to USA Today.

Hicks said he believes the Rangers are on the right track. The changes that brought in GM Jon Daniels and coach Ron Washington, in his opinion, are working. And though he is losing Cogen, he said the Rangers' marketing staff "is very solid throughout."

In essence, the team is in rebuilding mode, and Hicks understands he has to have patience.

The Stars, on the other hand, are in a new place. They have won seven division championships and made the playoffs in eight of the last nine seasons. However, they also have gone out in the first round for three consecutive years and haven't been past the second round since a 2000 trip to the Stanley Cup Finals.

They are 11-18 in the playoffs in an era that includes Armstrong as GM, Dave Tippett as coach and Marty Turco as No. 1 goalie. That playoff record played a significant role in Armstrong being fired Tuesday.

"Today is all about returning the Dallas Stars to their days of glory," Hicks said at the news conference to name his new management group.

Hicks said the reason for the changes was that he felt the group needed some new ideas and new life.

"Sometimes when you are in the same place for so long, things get a little stale," Hicks said. "In any organization, anybody who has been there for a long time and had great success for a long time, you're going to tend to do things the same way. You don't re-examine what you're doing."

So Hicks said this whole process is about re-examining. Hicks said he felt Lites was showing more energy about the development projects than he was the Stars, so this move puts him in those areas that are exciting. He said Cogen's history is in hockey, and that this move returns him to his roots. He said Hull has great ideas, and Jackson has the experience to help make those ideas come true.

Spin control? Possibly.

But to Hicks, it all seems simple. To Hicks, it is indeed juggling, but juggling with a purpose.

Last season, he opened a Rangers ticket office in Dallas to serve the heart of his ticket base.

This year, the Stars will move all sales operations from Frisco to Dallas to again get in touch with the ticket-buying public. Just a few more tennis balls flying through the air? Hicks doesn't think so. He believes there is purpose in the juggling.

"I feel good about the direction of the baseball team now. It's taken a while," Hicks said. "Now, I want to get the hockey team back to where it was at – I want it to be at an elite level."

•50 years old

•Native of Virginia

•Attended University of Virginia and Old Dominion

•Got start in 1980 as marketing director for Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey Circus

•Became director of marketing for Olympia Arena, Inc. in 1986 (job included marketing and publicity for the Detroit Red Wings, Joe Louis Arena and the Fox Theater)

•Appointed vice president of marketing and for Dallas Stars in 1993. Promoted to executive vice president of marketing and communications of Southwest Sports Group in 1998.

•Hired as chief operating officer of Florida Panthers in 2001

•Hired as chief operating officer and president of Texas Rangers in 2003

•Moved to president of the Stars on Wednesday

In two days, Tom Hicks has revamped 75 percent of the collective upper management teams of the Rangers and Stars. A look at the men and their missions:

Mission: To end an 8-year playoff drought and produce the team's first postseason series win ever

Team president (TBA)

GM (Jon Daniels): On the job since Oct. 4, 2005

Mission: To advance beyond the first round of the playoffs, return to glory days of 1999 and 2000

Team president (Jeff Cogen): On the job one day, back in the sport where his management career began

GMs (Les Jackson, Brett Hull): On the job two days, will be reassessed at season's end