Last night's 6 men on the court snafu loss was apparently the straw that broke the back for McDonald with the Hilltoppers.

http://eye-on-collegebasketball.blogs.cb...6/34217314

(01-06-2012 11:58 AM)PTJR Wrote:  Last night's 6 men on the court snafu loss was apparently the straw that broke the back for McDonald with the Hilltoppers.

http://eye-on-collegebasketball.blogs.cb...6/34217314

That's insane. Must be more to the story. He's not the one who had too many men on the court. Firing the refs would have made some sense.

(01-06-2012 12:45 PM)mjs Wrote:  

(01-06-2012 11:58 AM)PTJR Wrote:  Last night's 6 men on the court snafu loss was apparently the straw that broke the back for McDonald with the Hilltoppers.

http://eye-on-collegebasketball.blogs.cb...6/34217314

That's insane. Must be more to the story. He's not the one who had too many men on the court. Firing the refs would have made some sense.

There has been a lot of grumbling and dissatisfaction with McDonald in Bowling Green, and it just didn't start this season. Last night was just the trigger.

There were grumblings last season. Surprised they did it midseason. He brought in a very talented freshman class. They just have not come together for some reason. Where there is smoke, there is fire.

Only the straw that broke the coach's back.

I've never agreed to firing a coach during the season, unless of course he broke the law or something of that nature, but why not wait until the season is over to do it. Never made sense to me.

(01-06-2012 02:41 PM)outsideualr Wrote:  I've never agreed to firing a coach during the season, unless of course he broke the law or something of that nature, but why not wait until the season is over to do it. Never made sense to me.

It seems to be more and more common. This is at least the third that I know of so far this year.

(01-06-2012 04:01 PM)PTJR Wrote:  It seems to be more and more common. This is at least the third that I know of so far this year.

Chicken way of doing it. AD is afraid the team might win their tournament and then he wouldn't be able to fire him without taking heat.

Then you wait until the regular season is over, announce the coach won't be coming back, and let the assistants coach the tournament.
That's the best of both worlds. You give the coach a chance to have a successful regular season. Of course if you're definitely going to fire him anyway, maybe it is best to do it early before he has the chance to have a successful season.

(01-06-2012 04:47 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  

(01-06-2012 04:01 PM)PTJR Wrote:  It seems to be more and more common. This is at least the third that I know of so far this year.

Chicken way of doing it. AD is afraid the team might win their tournament and then he wouldn't be able to fire him without taking heat.

In this case I believe it was all about attendance and fan support. Attendance at Hilltopper games has dropped way off, and the AD didn't want it to slip any further. It was clear that McDonald was not going to be supported by the fans. So, let another guys run it for the rest of the year and try to salvage something this season of your fan support.

Isn't it refreshing to see an AD who actually cares about fan support and whether people attend games. If only it were so here.

I think firing mid season generally has to do with recruiting for the next season.

Also I think that in this case there is a desire to let Harper "audition" for the job.

For those of you that don't know, Harper has won a couple of national championships at the D2 level and a couple more at the NAIA level. He was the D2 national coach of the year seven times. The knock against him is that he has little divison 1 experience.

I am curious to see what he does with the rest of the season.

Harper is a run and press style coach and this just might be fun to watch.

(01-06-2012 07:36 PM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  I think firing mid season generally has to do with recruiting for the next season.

Also I think that in this case there is a desire to let Harper "audition" for the job.

For those of you that don't know, Harper has won a couple of national championships at the D2 level and a couple more at the NAIA level. He was the D2 national coach of the year seven times. The knock against him is that he has little divison 1 experience.

I am curious to see what he does with the rest of the season.

Harper is a run and press style coach and this just might be fun to watch.

That makes some pretty good sense. Firing McDonald at the end of the year and then hiring his assistant would have been near impossible. But if Harper does well, for the rest of the season, it will be a pretty easy decision for the AD to make if he wants to.

Wku did the right thing, that coach was not going to get it done.

At least they did it basically at the halfway point, and not right before the tournament.

(01-06-2012 06:45 PM)PTJR Wrote:  

(01-06-2012 04:47 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  

(01-06-2012 04:01 PM)PTJR Wrote:  It seems to be more and more common. This is at least the third that I know of so far this year.

Chicken way of doing it. AD is afraid the team might win their tournament and then he wouldn't be able to fire him without taking heat.

In this case I believe it was all about attendance and fan support. Attendance at Hilltopper games has dropped way off, and the AD didn't want it to slip any further. It was clear that McDonald was not going to be supported by the fans. So, let another guys run it for the rest of the year and try to salvage something this season of your fan support.

Isn't it refreshing to see an AD who actually cares about fan support and whether people attend games. If only it were so here.

Hiring and firing of coaches does not need to be at the whim of fans.