As the NCAA head coaching carousel turns
While John Chaney will be back on the bench in the NIT, Pete Gillen, Steve Lappas and Buzz Peterson are out for failing to get their teams into the postseason.
The coaching carousel was in full swing Monday, one day after college basketball’s regular season ended.
Chaney, the 73-year-old Temple coach, was suspended for the final five games of the season after ordering rough play from one of his players, who subsequently broke the arm of St. Joseph’s senior John Bryant.
But Chaney will lead the Owls today when they play at Virginia Tech in the first round of the NIT.
Gillen stepped down at Virginia after seven years and only one NCAA Tournament appearance; Lappas was fired by Massachusetts following four disappointing seasons; and Peterson lost his job because he didn’t get Tennessee into the tournament during his four years in Knoxville.
Gillen had six years remaining on a $9 million, 10-year contract he signed after getting the Cavaliers into the 2001 tournament, and will receive a buyout of approximately $2 million.
Lappas was hired at UMass in 2001 to turn around a faltering program, but he leaves with a 50-65 record.
The Minutemen improved to 16-12 this year after three straight losing seasons, but they were eliminated by LaSalle in the first round of the Atlantic 10 tournament and didn’t receive an NIT bid.
Sunday, Shawn Finney was fired after five seasons as men’s basketball coach at Tulane.
Finney was 60-86 with the Green Wave, including 10-18 this season. He had one winning season and failed to take Tulane to postseason play.
On the women’s side, Oklahoma State coach Julie Goodenough resigned after a 7-20 season. Goodenough went 23-61 in three years, including 9-43 in the Big 12. She owns the worst winning percentage of the five coaches in the 33-year history of the program.
Also, Judy Spoelstra of Oregon State, a Washington State graduate, was fired after a season in which the Beavers lost 17 of 18 Pacific-10 Conference games.
The Beavers had an overall record of 6-23, their worst mark since 1989-90.
Tough seasons led to play-in games
As an NCAA moderator introduced Oakland, Mich., coach Greg Kampe, he mentioned the Grizzlies’ 12-18 record.
“You really had to bring that up, didn’t you?” Kampe scolded in mock disgust. “Couldn’t you have said 18-12?”
The Grizzlies and Alabama A&M (18-13) meet tonight in the NCAA Tournament play-in game at the University of Dayton after weathering seasons filled with adversity.
Oakland opened its eighth season in Division I 0-7, losing by an average of 13 points a game. The opponents: Illinois, Marquette, Xavier, Missouri, Texas A&M, Kansas State and Saint Louis.
The Grizzlies regrouped to win their last five games, winning the Mid-Continent Conference tournament by pulling off three upsets on consecutive days by a total of seven points to grab their first NCAA Tournament bid. It took Pierre Dukes’ 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds left for Oakland to upset top-seeded Oral Roberts 61-60 in the final.
A&M’s problems weren’t on the court. They won the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s regular-season title and then rolled to the conference’s tournament championship to also make their first trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Before the season started, coach Vann Pettaway called his team together to tell the players he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. His doctors suggested he leave the team to receive treatment but he returned for what has become a magical ride.
Kellogg suspended by UConn
Connecticut suspended backup point guard Antonio Kellogg indefinitely for a “violation of team policy.”
Kellogg will not practice with the Huskies or travel with the team during the NCAA Tournament, the school said.
On the court in the NIT
Levi Rost had 18 points and Brian Snyder added 11 to lead Western Michigan (20-12) to a 54-40 victory over Marquette (19-12) in a first-round National Invitation Tournament game in Milwaukee.