You have heard of March Madness, that early spring holiday when American production drops to the level of 1965 Romania as we spend every working hour monitoring our tournament brackets.
Guess what? March Madness has another connotation. March Madness means the mental state of fans, alumni and administrations after their teams careen off the NCAA Tournament path into obscurity.
Well, it’s not totally obscure. Some do make news, such as when it was announced Thursday that New Mexico’s Ritchie McKay would get whacked at season’s end. Yes, it’s that time of year again, when coaches’ seats are being turned up to charbroil.
Below are five coaches from the six traditional power conferences plus our local Mountain West who are in trouble. McKay is merely beating the rush to the door in the MWC. Texas Christian’s Neil Dougherty, Colorado State’s Dale Layer and Wyoming’s Steve McClain could be on their way out.
Missing are three names commonly placed on endangered lists. Speculation about Kentucky’s Tubby Smith mounts every year he doesn’t go a Final Four. The Wildcats have not returned since his national title in 1998, one year short of the longest drought in school history.
But even a collapse in the NCAA Tournament won’t cost him his job. Why? It would cost the school $9 million. A more likely solution is Smith shakes up his staff.
South Carolina could get rid of Dave Odom a lot cheaper at $50,000. This will be the third straight year the Gamecocks have missed the NCAA Tournament, and at 13-12 they will be lucky to make the NIT. However, his Gamecocks have won the past two NITs and he is awaiting dynamite transfers in Zam Fredrick (Georgia Tech) and Mike Jones (Syracuse), both a former Mr. Basketball in South Carolina.
Also, scratch Iowa’s Steve Alford. Hated by many in Iowa for his arrogance and one NCAA Tournament win in seven years, he did win the Big Ten last year (followed by a, um, loss to Northwestern State), and new athletic director Gary Barta, from Wyoming, will give him more time.
The names below, in alphabetical order, don’t have much time:
Athletic director Bill Martin, one of his biggest supporters, has been surprisingly quiet.
The talent level is woeful. Only two players average in double figures, and they’ve lost 11 in a row by nearly 15 points a game. Attendance is 3,705 a game.
Also, athletic director Danny Morrison and chancellor Victor Boschini didn’t hire him. And Boschini knows basketball. He spent eight years at Indiana.
Heath’s lone NCAA Tournament appearance last year ended with an upset loss to Bucknell. Unlike Dougherty, Heath has good talent, but Arkansas is 10th in the SEC in scoring.
Considering Oregon hadn’t danced in March for three years, they were referring to Kent as “No Tourney Ernie.”
Making matters iffy, freshly minted athletic director Pat Kilkenny is a well-heeled booster who helped buy out the contract of previous AD Bill Moos. One of Kilkenny’s main projects is to build a new arena. He and another well-heeled booster, guy name of Phil Knight, want this program going in the right direction before drawing up blueprints. Oh, yes, Kilkenny is close with Gonzaga’s Mark Few.
John Henderson can be reached at 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
