Memphis Coach Finch Rejected University’s Offer
Basketball coach Larry Finch rejected an offer to stay with the University of Memphis when he agreed to take $413,660 to resign at the end of the current season, the school said Friday.
That payoff, the majority of which will come in monthly payments of $9,350, covers the three years that would remain on Finch’s contract.
For the rest of this season, he will continue to draw his regular annual salary of $110,000, plus $64,000 for local radio and TV shows.
Athletic Director R.C. Johnson said a search for Finch’s successor will begin immediately. He declined to name any potential successors.
“This will be a wide open search and I have had no restrictions placed on me,” Johnson said.
Finch, Johnson and university President V. Lane Rawlins announced the pending resignation Thursday night after the Tigers’ 68-54 defeat of Southern Mississippi.
Johnson said Finch rejected an offer to remain with the university.
“We offered Larry a position as special assistant to me, and he was not interested in that,” Johnson told WMC-TV of Memphis. “We told him we would like him to be involved in helping me on special projects whether it be community relations, fund raising, golf outings, whatever.”
Finch was on the road with his team Friday for a game with Arkansas.
Rawlins declined to give specifics on why Finch was pressured to resign, but the university has struggled in recent years with declining fan support and low attendance at Tiger home games.
The Southern Mississippi game drew 7,057 spectators to The Memphis Pyramid, a stadium that seats 20,142.
Even though Finch has averaged 20 victories a year in his 11 years as head coach, fans often complain about his failure to recruit top high school players from the Memphis region and for the Tigers’ sometimes spotty play.
The Tigers are 11-9 so far this season, 5-3 in Conference USA.
Overall, Finch is 215-124 as head coach.
As a star player in the 1970s, an assistant coach and head coach, Finch has 22 years with the university.