A popular tale in the sport of college basketball is that coaches ‘always’ are jumping around from job to job, ready to leave their current place for the next in a second if it pays a few bucks more.
There’s some truth to it-with assistant coaches, who can have long lists of stops around the country, looking to move up the proverbial ladder. Most invoke it in reference to head coaches, though, where it is far more myth than fact, sensationalized-somewhat understandably-by the few coaches every year who do leave one program for a higher-paying position.
Far, far more likely do NCAA Division I coach openings come about because a coach was fired or resigned under pressure. Mississippi Valley State’s Andre Payne was the latest to be let go on Monday, with his departure coming after five tough years at the Southwestern Athletic Conference school.
Per the coaching changes tracker at Hoopdirt.com, Payne’s firing marked the 32nd NCAA Division I head coaching position to come open since UCLA fired Steve Alford in season, and 29 of the 32 have come open because a coach was fired or resigned under pressure. Exactly three have been from a coach moving to a new position-Jeff Boals from Stony Brook to alma mater Ohio; Ron Hunter going from Georgia State to Tulane after his previous school mysteriously did not offer him an extension, and Jamion Christian moving from Siena to George Washington, undoubtedly the most frustrating one as Christian was just at Mount St. Mary’s last year.
No one is going to cue the violins for coaches making six- and seven-figure salaries, of course, but it deserves to be pointed out much more than it is just what nonsensical pressure and work conditions many of them have to work under. It is on that note that the coaching saga at Nebraska continued Monday.
It’s been widely reported that Cornhuskers brass have been wooing former Iowa State and NBA coach Fred Hoiberg, with some even reporting that a deal was imminent. The one tiny problem with this has been that Nebraska still has a head coach-Tim Miles, who has been there seven years and was still coaching the team in the NIT until the Huskers were knocked out by TCU in the second round on Sunday.
Assuming the interest in Hoiberg has been true-and there have been no denials that it isn’t-then Nebraska continued to work behind the back of Miles, a great personality and regarded as one of the best guys out there among coaches. It did so while the team was still in season, a complete lack of respect for both Miles and his team. It was classless, bush league, you name it. It also displayed yet one more time that the schools involved in College Sports Inc. haven’t learned one blasted thing from the FBI investigation into the sport or all the inquiries about student-athlete well-being, and apparently know nothing else but business as usual.
Miles still had not been informed of his job status as of Monday night at 6:30, when he told reporters he hadn’t heard anything. He and his team deserve far better, though with some of the firings this March (see: Tony Shaver from William & Mary, Phil Martelli at Saint Joseph’s) very little is a surprise anymore.
Side Dishes:
- The NIT quarterfinals are now all set after Colorado became the last team in the final eight, defeating upstart Norfolk State 76-60. The Buffaloes made good use of the home court and shot 50% while holding the Spartans to 32.8% shooting.
- The College Basketball Invitational moved on with all four of it quarterfinals Monday night. The most surprising winner was Coastal Carolina, which went on the road to West Virginia and hung 109 points on the Mountaineers-most ever by an opponent at WVU Coliseum-in a stunningly dominant 109-91 win. The Chanticleers shot 58.1% and are in the CBI semifinals for the second time in three years. Also victorious: South Florida, which ground out a 66-57 win over Utah Valley; DePaul, which needed 38 points from Max Strus and had to hit one big shot after another down the stretch to hold off Longwood, and Loyola Marymount, which handled Brown 81-63. That’s 22 wins this season for the Lions, doubling their total from a year ago and the most since their 26 victories in their famous Elite Eight season in 1990.
- Texas Southern won on the road again in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, coming back to top Texas-Rio Grande Valley 94-85. Jeremy Combs piled up a huge double-double (27 points, 17 rebounds) and the Tigers have been a neat story in the CIT. Also winning on the road was Cal State Bakersfield, which kept up the WAC’s postseason success with a 70-67 win at Southern Utah. Some wild stats here: Southern Utah attempted 42 field goals…and 48 free throws, as Bakersfield was whistled for 30 fouls. Try finding an NCAA Tournament game this past weekend where a team was called for close to 30 fouls. The Thunderbirds were just 35.7% from the field, though, and 33 of 48 from the line (68.8%), not enough to pull through against the defense-minded Roadrunners.
Tonight’s Menu:
- The NIT is on to the quarterfinals, with a pair of old Missouri Valley Conference rivals both on the road. Wichita State is at Indiana in the first game (7 p.m. Eastern, ESPN). The Shockers along with perhaps Lipscomb have been the most impressive team in the tourney so far, with a pair of road wins, and the way they finished the season it’s little surprise. Wichita also has a seven-game win streak in the NIT on the line as it won the title in its last trip in 2011. The second game has Creighton on the road at TCU (9 p.m., ESPN). The Horned Frogs keep plugging away and now try the state of Nebraska double, having just eliminated Nebraska on Sunday. TCU also is a recent champion of this tourney in 2017, while the Bluejays are looking for their first NIT semis appearance since 1942.
- The CollegeInsider.com Tournament keeps rolling with its funky schedule. The night includes two second round games plus a quarterfinal contest between Presbyterian and Marshall. The Blue Hose have made a nice run with two wins in their first D-I postseason tourney. Others tonight include Charleston Southern against Hampton in a Big South Conference pairing, plus Florida International taking the long trip north to face Wisconsin-Green Bay.
Have a terrific Tuesday.
Twitter: @HoopvilleAdam
