Less than five months ago, Mountain West Conference men’s basketball coaches had giddy expectations of joining the Missouri Valley as a nonpower conference getting several NCAA Tournament bids.
Veteran-laden rosters, experienced coaches and strengthened nonleague schedules created the right mix for a national breakthrough. Instead, the MWC landed just two teams in the NCAA Tournament, and four of the five coaches who didn’t get their teams into the postseason were fired.
Utah’s Ray Giacoletti and New Mexico’s Ritchie McKay were let go before the league tournament. Wyoming’s Steve McClain and Colorado State’s Dale Layer were sent packing Monday, the first business day after the conference tournament.
Said Layer: “Unfortunately the profession is very volatile, especially in this league.”
The threads behind the dismissals were not making postseason play, fan apathy and first-year athletic directors looking to make a change in an increasingly competitive MWC.
“It’s not just winning,” MWC commissioner Craig Thompson said. “You have to win at the right time and in the conference tournament and the big games. So much focus now is on the business side of coaching.”
New Mexico (18,018 seats), Utah (15,000) and Wyoming (15,000) have big arenas that were half filled much of the season. Colorado State’s average attendance of 4,620 was ahead of only Texas Christian.
“When you look at your ticket sales today, compared to where they were a few years ago, there is probably some middle ground there between the $1.1 million and the $600,000 we are currently generating,” said Wyoming AD Tom Burman, one of three new leaders who bounced their coaches.
A lack of academic progress also might have played a role in some of the firings. Of the four coaches, all but Layer had a program in the bottom four of the league’s APR, an NCAA statistical measurement judging whether a student-athlete is eligible to return for a subsequent semester.
“Our (presidents) will tell you graduating student-athletes is their priority,” Thompson said. “The ADs say graduating and winning.”
This year’s firings came after only three coaches were dismissed in the MWC’s first seven years.
From the national perspective, former Air Force coach Reggie Minton said: “There is not enough room in the NCAA Tournament for everybody. Salaries have gone up, expectations go up. Now you have the radio-talk shows, the Internet sites and a lot of people seem to be evaluating coaches on how well they are doing other than the people who hired them.”
Minton is vice president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. He said coaches have told him it’s no longer a matter of making the NCAA field, but how deep a team advances.
“Last year when George Mason had the success they had,” Minton said, “I think a lot of people looked around and said, ‘If George Mason can go to the Final Four, why can’t my school do that?’ Some things are unrealistic.”
The pressure to win corresponds with the money to be made by winning. Between 2001 and 2006 the MWC earned $3.1 million in NCAA Tournament “credits,” a formula to reward a league for how many games its teams win in tournament play. The Atlantic 10 took in $4.7 million during that span and the Missouri Valley $4.2 million.
The MWC’s TV contract money has improved to just more than $1 million per school. Thompson said gross ticket sales at the MWC Tournament this season in Las Vegas nearly doubled to $1.7 million over last year’s total in Denver.
Finding the right coach to reverse erosion in a program is no easy task.
“The first key is finding the right coach, someone who will break through the deficiencies like (former coach) Bruce Weber did at Southern Illinois,” CSU athletic director Paul Kowalczyk said.
With four coaches on first-year honeymoons next season and four coming off postseason appearances this spring, the hot seat is already warming up for TCU’s Neil Dougherty. He saved his job only with a late-season surge.
Mountain West now hiring
Four men’s basketball coaches in the Mountain West Conference were fired recently. The four combined for a 60-64 record this season, including a 23-41 mark in conference play. Below is each coach and his record for the 2006-07 season.
Dale Layer, Colorado State
2006-07: 17-13, 6-10 MWC
Seven seasons: 103-106, 31-71
Ritchie McKay, New Mexico
2006-07: 15-17, 4-12
Five seasons: 82-69, 31-43
Ray Giacoletti, Utah
2006-07: 11-19, 6-10
Three seasons: 54-40, 25-21
Steve McClain, Wyoming
2006-07: 17-15, 7-9
Nine seasons: 157-115, 67-64
Natalie Meisler can be reached at 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com.
