Two years after a Final Four appearance, John Brady didn’t last past Valentine’s Day at LSU. Oregon State axed Jay John on his way to the Pac-10’s first winless season. San Francisco’s Jessie Evans was told to, ahem, take “a leave of absence.”
It’s not even March yet, and already nine coaches have left. In college basketball, administrators and fans have short memories and shorter patience.
Below is a list of coaches in the traditional BCS conferences who are fidgeting over burners like stir-fried vegetables, which is among the names their critics have called them.
Keep in mind this is not death row. They are listed in order of temperature:
Norm Roberts, St. John’s, (10-17, 4-11 Big East; 47-65, fourth year). The Queens native never did lure a top-notch New York City player and will likely miss the Big East Tournament for the second time in three years.
In the school’s 100th year of hoops, the freshmen-laden Red Storm lost 74-42 to Georgetown in their worst loss ever at Madison Square Garden. With second-year coaches, Seton Hall and Cincinnati have already passed them.
Next on the hot seat is Father Donald Harrington, the college president. Before Roberts, he had fired Brian Maloney, Fran Fraschilla and Mike Jarvis.
Tim Welsh, Providence (13-14, 4-11 Big East; 158-141, 10th year). The Friars were expected to contend for the NCAA Tournament; now they’ll struggle to make the Big East Tourney. They’ve lost nine of 10, are 1-8 on the road, and West Virginia players were quoted as saying the Friars were arguing with each other in Saturday’s 80-53 loss.
In 10 years, Welsh has never won an NCAA Tournament game, including an upset loss to Pacific in 2004. He’s getting booed in pregame introductions. Not a good sign.
Bill Carmody, Northwestern (8-18, 1-14 Big Ten; 103-131, eighth year). The former Princeton coach is 39-94 in the Big Ten and has one winning record overall. He hasn’t recruited well out of the Chicago area, and this year’s debacle includes a home loss to Brown.
However, $2 million was put into badly needed new locker rooms, and AD Mark Murphy left to become president of the Green Bay Packers. No AD has been hired, and Northwestern is notoriously patient.
Jeff Lebo, Auburn (14-12, 4-9 SEC; 57-60, fourth year). He’s down to five scholarship players due to defections, grades and injuries and has two years left on his contract. But he’s 19-42 in the SEC. Ground has broken on a new arena ready for the 2009-10 season, and a coach without a postseason appearance will not usher it in.
Three things are in his favor: One, he lost his two junior forwards, Korvotney Barber and Josh Dollard, early to injury; two, Alabama’s Mike Gottfried is doing equally badly (15-13, 4-9) with more talent but has a $3 million buyout; three, no one at Auburn really cares about basketball.
Ernie Kent, Oregon (15-12, 6-9 Pac-10; 208-132, 11th). Huh? Fired one year after an Elite Eight appearance, his second in six years? Probably not this year, but new AD Pat Kil- kenny was hired to raise funds for a new, $200 million arena set for the 2010-11.
Many believe Kilkenny would like someone else to open it. So would many boosters. Kilkenny is good friends with Gonzaga’s Mark Few, a Creswell, Ore., native. Kent has four starters back from that Elite Eight team but likely will free-fall into NIT.
Still, Kent has a dynamite recruiting class coming in, and he got a five-year extension a year ago. However, the buyout drops next year from $2.3 million to $1 million.
John Henderson covers college sports. Reach him at 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
