Hire power explored
Given the timing and the murky reasons for the firing of Eastern Washington University men’s basketball coach Mike Burns, it’s hard to gauge how much interest there will be in the job.
But there might not be widespread interest from coaches in the Northwest.
“Never in a thousand years,” former Eagles coach and current Gonzaga assistant Ray Giacoletti said Thursday about his interest in the job. “The way they just dealt with this thing, I’m trying to pick my words. No! Never!”
Giacoletti, popular with Eagles fans, hired Burns to be an assistant at Eastern and was replaced by Burns after leading Eastern to its only appearance in the NCAA tournament in 2004 and being hired away by the University of Utah. Burns signed a four-year contract and was given a one-year extension last spring with an annual salary of just more than $95,000.
But EWU interim athletic director Michael Westfall invoked a convenience clause, just added to Eastern coaching contracts last fall, to terminate Burns with severance pay of three months’ salary rather than the two years remaining on the contract.
“The way they handled this thing is distasteful,” Giacoletti said. “I just went through it. Fire him, but own up to what you owe him.”
Despite that, Westfall said he was confident Eastern could get a good coach.
“I anticipate a good number of applications and phone calls to happen in the next week or so,” he said Wednesday. “There will be a search committee, (and) we will try to get people on campus as soon as possible to get this filled, keeping in mind the July recruiting period.”
One coach who said he would consider the position is another former Eagles coach, Steve Aggers.
“I’m in a position where I would listen to anyone regarding a coaching position at the collegiate level,” said Aggers, who had a record of 51-82 in five seasons at EWU through 2000. “I’m a lifelong coach. I’d listen to anyone about a collegiate coaching job.”
Aggers left Eastern for Loyola Marymount and was 55-90 in five seasons before being fired in 2005. Last season he coached the Great Falls Explorers in the Continental Basketball Association.
“I have a lot of myself invested in the Eastern program,” Aggers said. “When I took it over, it was 327th out of 328 on the RPI. We were able to build it into Big Sky (regular-season) champions my last year with a lot of blood, sweat and tears.”
Giacoletti replaced Aggers and “made him proud” by making the Big Sky Conference tournament championship game three straight years before breaking through in 2004.
“It’s something I have a vested interest in,” said Aggers, who still lives in Los Angeles. “A part of me will always be an Eagle, for sure.”
Another coach with an interest, although the timing may work against him, is Washington State assistant Matt Woodley.
“Obviously, I’d be interested, sure,” said Woodley, a highly regarded recruiter. “It kind of came with a little bit of a surprise. I haven’t put a lot of thought into it. I’m leaving for two weeks, so don’t know if I fit in the plans or not.”
The Cougars leave Saturday for a playing tour in Australia and New Zealand and Woodley said he would not be able to contact Eastern officials.
“They have a pretty good idea what they want to do,” he said. “If (I’m) on that list, I’m sure they’ll try to make contact. I’ve always been under the impression schools have a direction they want to go. I think it’s a good job, I really do. They have had some good teams in the past and I think you can win there.”
But Burns’ dismissal generally brought a negative reaction from area coaches.
Leon Rice, another Gonzaga assistant, answered a question about his interest with a question: “Why?”
The godfather of Mike and Mary Burns’ 8-month-old twins added he had no interest.
“I’m like Ray, I don’t want to comment on this,” Rice said. “We’re best buddies with Burnsey. I don’t want to get into an emotional thing.”
Jim Hayford, who has won more than 100 games in six seasons at Whitworth, said, “I’d love for you to put in the paper I’m not interested. When you look at the stability of leadership at Whitworth College, that’s what every coach wants in a job and I have that. And the leadership at Eastern has really wavered ever since (athletic director) Scott Barnes left.
“Secondly, I don’t think they’d be that interested in me.”
He believes getting a coach could be more difficult than Westfall anticipates.
“Right now, I just feel awful for Mike,” Hayford said. “You don’t fire somebody on May 30. How does somebody go get a job on May 30? He goes and recruits guys all spring … I just think their school has lost a lot of credibility in how they handled this whole thing.
“All my feeling now is for Mike and Mary. It’s a really tight-knit basketball community in the Northwest. These are people, when my daughter was in the hospital, surrounded us with love and support.”
Eric Hughes, twice the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges Coach of the Year in five seasons at Community Colleges of Spokane, does not expect to be considered.
“I don’t think I would be a candidate, to be honest with you,” said the former University of Washington assistant. “I don’t know what they’re looking for.
“I would have serious reservations because of my relationship with Mike Burns. I feel bad for Mike and Mary and the kids. The timing of it is just terrible. For that to happen, the way it happened, not to give him a reason, to do it in June with no time to get another job, it stinks.”
Carl Howell, who replaced Burns on Giacoletti’s staff and stayed on staff with Burns before resigning after the season, said, “I’m the athletic director at Tacoma Community College and I’m happy with that.”