The long-awaited decision has been made by Athletic Director Doug Woolard regarding the men’s basketball team, and the result shouldn’t come as too big of a surprise: Robert McCullum is out as the Bulls’ coach.
A fourth consecutive losing season under McCullum wasn’t going to cut it for Woolard, who wanted to see “significant improvement” this season, so McCullum was fired Friday with two years left on his six-year contract.
USF(12-18, 3-16) improved from its miserable 7-22, 1-16 season in Big East play a year ago, but it wasn’t significant enough, and for the second straight year, it wasn’t good enough for the Bulls to make it to the Big East Tournament.
I tried asking Woolard on Friday night a few different ways what it would’ve taken for McCullum to be retained, but he was firm with his answer that it wasn’t about this season only.
“When I stepped back and really reviewed the entire past four seasons, and I realized that our overall record was 40-76, our conference record was 10-54 and we only had one conference regular-season road win in four years, so it became apparent that we needed to be further along than that over a four-year stretch,” Woolard said over the phone. “There really wasn’t any single factor. It was just looking at the whole body of work over four years.”
Woolard spent part of last week at the Big East Tournament in New York City, and now he’s likely to head to some of the NCAA Tournament to try in fill a coaching opening in the toughest basketball conference in the nation.
The only player I could get a hold of Friday night who was willing to go on the record was senior Chris Capko, who appeared in 65 games at guard under McCullum. Capko already has his degree, and his college playing days are over.
But if he was returning to USF next season, he said he would’ve wanted McCullum back as his coach. Capko also said he wasn’t surprised with Woolard’s decision because McCullum told the team earlier in the week “the situation and how it was happening.”
“I’m biased toward coach because he was my coach for four years, but I can’t really say I’m surprised,” Capko said. “I would wish for him to be back, just because he was the guy who brought me here, and I’m all for him — the kind of program he runs, the way he manages us.”
Assistant coach Greg Gary also said he wasn’t surprised at Woolard’s decision, but obviously he was in favor of McCullum returning next season. Just like he said last week, Gary said Friday that if he had a son he would send him to McCullum because of the way he handles players in situations in basketball and in life.
“I feel very, very bad for coach McCullum,” Gary said. “He’s an unbelievable person, and I’m very disappointed for him.”
Go to The Oracle for the full story and to read Assistant Sports Editor Brendan Galella’s column about McCullum’s firing.
-- Kevin Smetana
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5 comments:
College basketball program success is based on the recruiting ability of the Head Coach (not so much the X's and O's which can be handled by a competent assistant coach, e.g. a McCullum type). USF needs a national name that will attract big name recruits.
How about local resident Dick Vitale? Who wouldn't want to come to USF and play for a program that would get the instant national attention that Dickie V would bring to USF?
Coach Mccullum seemed to be a good guy and his athletes generally represented the University well. Unfortunately, he did not win enough and that is a large part of the bottom line. USF should not accept being the doormat in any of the Conference's sports and there weren't enough signs that the basketball program was on the upswing.
It's really uncertain who is out there to take charge of the program and lead it to respectability. USF does not need a coach who is on the hot seat in his job at another university. If a coach is having problems being competitive somewhere else, he needn't be here. The Big East Conference is about as tough as any, and USF needs a guy who can recruit, motivate, and get the community behind the program.
None of the coaching prospects mentioned in either the Tampa Tribune or the St. Pete Times jump right out as being ideal candidates. A top notch, number one assistant coach with great recruiting credentials at a successful program in a tough conference is what is needed. Not sure who that might be, but the Atheletic Director needs to find him.
Now that Mr. Wollard has admitted failure to the main addition since his tenure. We need to look at him to see what "he" has brought and improved since he has been here. I think it is time to bring in a big time A.D to attract a big time basketball coach. I don't think this will EVER happen if Mr. Wollard is here at USF. He has yet to prove anything but failure to his own expectations that he expects from his coaches like McCullum. FIRE WOLLARD TOO!!!!!
Who is USF really pursuing? It looks bad that New Mexico was able to pry Steve Alford away from Iowa because USF should be able to attract someone more effectively than New Mexico. But Steve Alford is a great coach.
That means USF really needs to step it up and make a big hire. They need to spend the money it takes to get wins in the Big East.
Dickie V.? You, my friend, are a bonafide idiot!
USF needs to get a young stud that can recruit, coach, advertise his program to the locals, sell popcorn, anything and everything (except cheat) to put a winner on the floor.
He'll have to want the challenge to be great. Obviously with Mccullum's latest comments he was content with being third rate. We are in the Big East. Big boy basketball. If you're scared, get a dog. If not, we have a challenge that only a winner can prepare for.
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