Time to Fire Billy Wright and Rebuild the Basketball Program

Wed Dec 18, 2019 11:19 pm

I know it's just wishful thinking, but I wonder what it'd take to get Matt Margenthaler to come back home (probably more than we can afford, but it's nice to dream).
https://msumavericks.com/sports/mens-ba ... haler/1037

Bball Fan · Wed Jan 01, 2020 11:35 am

If we decide to move on, Matt would be a great candidate as would the Coach of Moberly Jr. College.

vatusay · Wed Jan 08, 2020 9:55 pm

When is enough, enough?

Barring a conference tournament run that leads to the first ever program appearance in the big dance, it HAS to be this year, right?

Thu Jan 09, 2020 8:37 am

vatusay wrote: Wed Jan 08, 2020 9:55 pm When is enough, enough?

Barring a conference tournament run that leads to the first ever program appearance in the big dance, it HAS to be this year, right?

I would have to imagine so, yes. As near as I've been able to tell, this is the last year of his contract. He'll finish out the year and then be gone.

vatusay · Thu Jan 09, 2020 10:17 pm

Good to know, I thought he was on a year to year contract they just kept re-signing. I truly want him to do well. I want the program to do well. I don’t like to see people have to uproot their families or get fired, it’s never a good thing, for anyone, but I guess it should be expected when you work in the coaching universe.

You just can’t ignore the absolute lack of any improvement. A change must be made.

meganeck · Mon Jan 27, 2020 5:19 pm

vatusay wrote: Thu Jan 09, 2020 10:17 pm Good to know, I thought he was on a year to year contract they just kept re-signing. I truly want him to do well. I want the program to do well. I don’t like to see people have to uproot their families or get fired, it’s never a good thing, for anyone, but I guess it should be expected when you work in the coaching universe.

You just can’t ignore the absolute lack of any improvement. A change must be made.

I agree, i want Billy and the men's program to succeed, but I've given up on the season and I will just assume they are going to lose any road game and might win at home if they play a lower level conference team. The frustrating thing is they have talent - Kobe, Ben & Zion are all pretty good players. Plus 3 or 4 of the other guys have potential to have break out games. As I've said before Billy seems like a good guy and the players he recruits are good guys and graduate, so I'm really rooting for him to succeed but it just doesn't seem to be in the cards.

Wed Feb 05, 2020 9:16 pm

Update to the numbers for anyone curious.

With the loss tonight, we are now 5-16.

Coach Wright's year-by-year totals can be found here: https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/co ... ght-1.html (it's not updated with tonight's game, as of when I'm posting this)
In his nearly 5 seasons here, he has a record of 53-110 (.325). It's not as bad as Coach Thomas' .278 over 5 years, but it's getting close.
His worst season(s) in his time here were 8-20 (his 1st and 3rd years). We have 5 regular season games left, then possibly a conference tournament game, depending on where we finish in the standings.
That means, he needs to win 3 of the remaining games to tie the worst record in his tenure. We're not currently favored in any of those games.

vatusay · Sat Feb 15, 2020 11:46 am

I’d like to see what Ceola Clark could bring to the program. One of the best to ever come through Western Hall’s doors. He has worked coaching kids and on the AAU circuit. He’s VERY VERY (if you don’t know how well, just look at social media) connected in the Chicago area and I believe he loves the program and school. Has experience and connections overseas. It would be a No-brainer in my opinion.

leatherneckcountry · Sat Feb 15, 2020 1:11 pm

A name that I read earlier was Rob Jeter he was pretty successful as head coach at Milwaukee it just seems like him and there AD just didn’t get along which is why he was ultimately let go. He is currently an assistant at Minnesota.

Wed Feb 26, 2020 8:33 am

Numbers update for the masochists in the crowd:
We are now 5-19 overall this season. Barring some miraculous run to end the season, we'll finish with fewer than 8 wins, which will be Coach Wright's worst season and the school's worst since 2010/11 (7-23 under Molinari). If we don't pick up any more wins this season (we're not favored in any of the remaining two games), then we'll be 5-21, which will be our worst record since finishing 3-25 in the first year under Coach Thomas (03/04).

Coach Wright has an overall record of 53-133 (.319) in nearly 6 years.