The Coaching Carousel

Wake Forest head coach Dino Gaudio is the latest casualty of the college basketball world-- the Deacons head man was fired today after three seasons in Winston Salem. March Madness doesn't just refer to the tournament action, but the month is a time where coaches come and go and the next Brad Steven's are given their big shot.

Here are some of the schools that let coaches go and made new hires.

Seton Hall- Fired Bobby Gonzalez-- Hired Iona's Kevin Willard

The Pirates bowed out in the first round of the NIT at home to Texas Tech, but it wasn't the loss alone that did in Gonzo. Gonzalez conduct on and off the court was an issue ever since he came to South Orange from Manhattan. Kevin Willard will be the new replacement at Seton Hall, and the Pirates have to be happy with the hire. Willard took the Gaels from a two-win season to a 21-10 record just two year's later. Willard is a Big Easy guy-- he played his college ball at Pittsburgh and was on Rick Patino's Louisville staff before going to Iona.

Final ruling: Upgrade!

Boston College- Fired Al Skinner-- Hired Cornell's Steve Donahue

In 1997, Skinner was hired at BC to salvage a program devastated by a gambling scandal. Skinner did a terrific job bringing the program back to life-- taking the Eagles to the NCAA tournament seven times since 2001. Reports are conflicting, but it appears the university decided to part ways with the long time coach after he was rumored to interview for the St. John's position.

Boston College now turns to long time Cornell coach Steve Donahue-- who led the big Red to a 29-5 record this season before losing to Kentucky in the Sweet 16. Donahue is a local guy who preaches discipline and hard work. Donahue was emotional while speaking with his players before leaving for Chesnut Hill, but Donahue will have a lot to prove at a big time school. He'll have to bring in local talent to compete in one of the toughest conferences in the country. The debate is still out on whether this hire will help or hurt the Eagles.

Final Ruling: Downgrade!

Depaul- Fired Jerry Wainwright-- Hired Clemson's Oliver Purnell

Wainwright was fired midway through this season as the Blue Demons fell to the bottom of the Big East for a second straight season. Depaul went winless in the Big East in 2008-09. Wainwright had two years left on his contract when he was let go.

The decision to fire Wainwright wasn't a shocker to most, but Oliver Purnell's decision to leave Clemson was. Purnell took the Tigers to a 21-11 record this season and another appearance in the NCAA tournament. Purnell had struggles winning a tournament game once his teams got to the dance, but now Purnell will have the job of rebuilding a struggling program. Purnell calls this job a great opportunity and believes the Depaul is Chicago's team. One thing is certain, Purnell is a good coach with great experience, and Depaul maybe made the best hire of the off season so far.

Final ruling: Upgrade!

Wagner College- Fired Mike Deane-- Hired St. Benedict's Prep HS Danny Hurley

Deane coached the Seahawks since 2003 without much success. Wagner finished this year with a 5-26 record-- not much to say for the firing.

The hiring of Danny Hurley says a lot for the son of Hall of Famer Bob Hurley Sr-- legendary coach at St. Anthony's High School. Hurley has some college experience, he was an assistant coach at Rutgers under Kevin Bannon from 1997 to 2001. Hurley compiled a 223-21 record at St. Benedict's and had four teams ranked in the top five in the country. One advantage Hurley will have is his family connections. It's already rumored he will hire his brother, Bobby Jr.- formed Duke star-- as an assistant coach. If Hurley can bring in some players from St. Ben's and St. Anthony's, Wagner may be a dangerous team in the NEC.

Final Ruling: Upgrade!

Hill May Cause His Own Departure

Three weeks ago, Rutgers basketball head coach Fred Hill Jr. met with athletic director Tim Pernetti about his future at the University-- and Pernetti decided to give his vote of confidence in Hill to return for a fifth season after another sub par year. Now the exit door has reopened a bit after a series of transfer, recruit, and behavioral problems surfaced over the weekend.

Fred Hill's father, Fred Hill Sr., has coached the baseball program at Rutgers for 27 years. This past weekend the baseball team was home against Pittsburgh. In the first game of the series on Thursday, the ballgame ended in a controversial safe-out call. After Pitt coach Joe Jordano went to argue the call to the umpire, the Rutgers coaching staff starting jawing at the Panther dugout.

According to eye witnesses at the game, both set of coaches emptied out onto the field where a yelling match ensued. Apparently, Fred Hill Jr. took offense to Pitt screaming at his father and decided it was OK to shout obscenities towards Pitt. Hill's outburst according to the eye witnesses was embarrassing and unnecessary.

The next day, Pitt's athletic director called Pernetti about the scuffle and was alarmed that the basketball coach had anything to do with the altercation. According to Jerry Carino and Keith Sargeant on their blog Scarlet Scuttlebutt-- Pernetti took action after the call by telling Hill Jr. to stay away from the Bainton Field complex for the remainder of the weekend series.

Hill did not oblige to his boss's recommendation. On Saturday Pernetti took a trip to the baseball field where he usually sits out in the left field hill with the players parents. There, Pernetti saw Hill in his car behind some trees, scrunched down watching the game.

There are no reports that Pernetti confronted Hill at the game but it was reported that the Rutgers AD did see his basketball coach at the baseball game.

And if that alone wasn't enough to stir up trouble, it was reported yesterday by Tom Lucci of the Star-Ledger that Rutgers guard Mike Rosario is seriously considering transferring because Hill is coming back for another season.

Hill already lost two players in the past three months to transfer, and 11 overall in his short tenure at Rutgers. This does not bold well for a coach that has a Big East record of 13-57-- the worst record by any coach in the past few seasons in the conference.

Aside from the transfer issues the program has had, it is now in even more trouble with future talent coming to the state university of New Jersey. Gilvydas Biruta, a 6-7 forward out of St. Benedict's who signed with Rutgers last November, has reportedly asked out of his letter of intent according to Zagsblog.com. The site also reported that Biruta went to Pernetti directly, instead of Hill. If Biruta does not come to Rutgers, the program will have only one incoming recruit for next season.

This leaves Pernetti with an enormous decision on the horizon. Hill has a behavioral clause in his contract-- and with the baseball outburst it is possible that Pernetti can terminate Hill for violating his contract. If Rutgers fired Hill without cause, the school would owe him $1.8 million.

The debate now becomes will Pernetti fire Hill? And if he does, who does the school go after to be its next coach? Those questions need to be answered within the week no matter what. The longer Rutgers waits, the more the damage already done could get worse.

One thing is certain, you would think a coach on the hot seat would be on his best behavior after getting a free pass on a joke of a coaching career-- but then again we've seen odder things in New Jersey before.

A Championship for the Ages

The Hollywood script would have had a different ending-- a last second buzzer beater to have the small town school knock off the big boys-- but last night's NCAA championship game wasn't meant to end that way. Instead, Duke won it's fourth national title defeating Butler 61-59 in front of 70,930 fans in Indianapolis.

The game wasn't decided until Butler's Gordan Hayward's last second half-court heave hit off the backboard then rim and rattled to the floor, setting off a Blue Devil celebration all the way to Cameron Indoor Stadium on Tobacco Road. It was a game for the ages-- it was David vs. Goliath-- and this time Goliath came out on top.

The game never got out of hand last night, as neither team led by more than six points. Duke was led by their big three as Singler, Scheyer, and Zoubek all played key parts down the stretch.

It was Zoubek who had the monstrous rebound off Hayward's miss with 3.6 seconds left as the Bulldogs had an opportunity down one in their half court to take the lead. Zoubek made his first free throw, and intentionally missed the second when Hayward got the rebound and got a pick at half court from Matt Howard-- almost making what would have been the greatest shot in college basketball history.

And even though Butler lost, they still proved their point. Butler played on behalf of all the other "mid-major" teams out there who don't have a budget like the Duke's of the world, and they showed they belonged in the title game.

It was the typical Butler game-- play tough defense, contest shots, come up with steals, and take advantage of half court opportunities. As head coach Brad Stevens said, Butler was one possession away from winning in a game with 145 possessions.

Butler was America's team last night, and most fans wanted the Cinderella story for Hooisers part II. But people will soon realize the amazing stories that will come from the Duke side as well, that would be just as a good for a Hollywood movie.

Nolan Smith-- son of Louisville great Derek Smith who passed away when his son was only eight-- won a championship in the same town where his father won one back in 1980. In 1991, Christian Laettner led the Blue Devils to their first title in Indy, the same place Duke won last night. And coach Mike Krzyzewski passed his mentor, Bob Knight and tied Adolph Rupp for coaches with at least four national titles.

Last night's game was an instant classic. A game that's final margin was the closet since 1989 when Michigan defeated Seton Hall 80-79 in overtime. And though the scenes were different last night at Cameron Indoor and historic Hinkle Fieldhouse, both schools have much to be proud of.

For Duke, they're back on top of the college basketball scene. And will have bragging rights for a year over their arch enemies of North Carolina-- a team that won two national titles since Duke's last trip to the final four in 2004. This year's Duke team was unlike the ones of '91, '92, and '01. These Blue Devils weren't made up of lottery picks and top NBA talent-- this year's team had gritty players who lived up to and passed their potential to take the crown.

For Butler there is much to be optimistic about. Unlike many of the "mid-majors", Butler returns most of their keys players from this year's squad. Shelvin Mack and Gordon Hayward are just sophomores, while Matt Howard and Zach Hahn will return next year as seniors. The Bulldogs will be a top five team next year, and they deserve to be. They have a great coach, great talent, and even more determination.

This is what March Madness is supposed to be about. And even though it will be hard to explain to a young fan why the little team didn't upset the big bullies-- there is still honor in how both teams performed, and everyone who watched last night's game should feel lucky they had a chance to see it.

Spring Break Death A Lesson to All

Matt James, a 17-year-old Notre Dame football recruit, was "drunk and belligerent" according to authorities when he fell from a fifth-floor balcony on his high school spring break in Florida. James fell from the balcony at the Days Inn Motel in Panama City Beach over a week ago.

According to officials, James was on the trip with 40 fellow classmates and about a half-dozen parents from St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati. The hotel's balconies were up to the normal height standard, but two questions must be asked from this tragedy.

Why were the kids allowed on the balconies on spring break and what parents allowed James to get drunk while in Florida?

I recently went on my college spring break to Daytona Beach a few weeks ago and stayed in a hotel similar to the one James was in. But unlike the Days Inn Motel, my hotel locked their balconies during spring break. It is no secret that young students go on spring break to escape from school and enjoy the ability to live care free and drink themselves into oblivion. It makes no sense to me why hotels in all the spring break hot spots would not have the policies to lock their balconies. Keeping balconies open only creates a huge liability issue for these hotels.

Although some blame must be put on the motel, much of it must go on James himself as well as the parents who were supervising the trip. For starters, James is underage, and as a future collegiate athlete he should have known better than to get drunk and put his future at risk. Many young people feel invincible, but these stories are not uncommon and prove that kids make mistakes and sometimes pay the ultimate price, especially on spring break.

But James could have had help. James somehow found a way to get alcohol in his system, and because he was "drunk and belligerent", there were most likely plenty of classmates around that noticed his disturbing behavior. There were most likely a few parents who noticed his demeanor as well. As soon as James opened the balcony door, someone should have grabbed him and made him realize what harm he was in.

This story isn't about sports. James was a talented athlete and had a bright future ahead of him. He was not just a football player but a varsity basketball athlete as well, but being an athlete alone does not make you invincible.

I feel bad for his parents and for his friends. Cause at the end of the day, James was the one who chose to drink and chose to go on the balcony. And unfortunately, his decisions cost him his life. And many friends and family probably feel like they're solely to blame, but they're not.

Too many times we see athletes in society think they are free from the rules that everyone else adheres to. Just look at athletes like former Net Jayson Williams and NFL player Donte Stallworth. Both men killed innocent civilians while under the influence of alcohol.

The death of Matt James can be a lesson to many people. It should open the eyes to students who go away on break and think they won't get hurt, it should open the eyes of high school coaches around the country to teach their players that there are consequences for drinking, and it should open up the eyes of parents to teach their kids how valuable life is.

My heart goes out to the James family and the St. Xavier school.

The New "SAINT" John

Former UCLA coach and ESPN analyst Steve Lavin was hired yesterday as the newest head coach of St. John's. Lavin replaces Norm Roberts, who could not bring the Red Storm to the dance in six seasons as head coach.

Lavin coached six seasons at UCLA after replacing Jim Harrick in November of 1996. Lavin compiled a 145-78 record with the Bruins, and took his teams to the sweet 16 five times, and the elite eight once.

Florida coach Billy Donovan, former Boston College coach Al Skinner and Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt were all in consideration for the job after Roberts was fired, but after Donovan and Hewitt said no, St. John's turned to Lavin.

Lavin may not be the number one choice for St. John's fans, but the Red Storm got what they wanted, a semi-big name coach with a high-profile personality. Lavin should easily challenge MTV's The Situation and Pauly D for who uses the most hair gel at one time.

Lavin has one thing going for him that every Big east coach needs, experience. Lavin started out as an assistant at Purdue under legendary coach Gene Keady, and then moved back out west to coach with Jim Harrick in 1991 at UCLA. It's one to thing to say you want to win, but Lavin knows what it takes to win.

Lavin has been to a total of 13 NCAA tournaments as a coach, and guided the Bruins to six years of 20 plus win seasons. Lavin is also 10-1 in the first two rounds of the tournament as a head coach.

Most importantly, Lavin can recruit, and being in New York will certainly help his job. At UCLA, Lavin compiled seven McDonald's all-Americans on his rosters including NBA players Trevor Ariza and Baron Davis. If Lavin can higher a few New York assistants, maybe someone like former Duke star Jay Williams, then the newest head coach of St. John's should have Madison Square Garden rocking next year.

There is no doubt St. John's is in the best shape of any college team in the New York/New Jersey area. Rutgers decided to keep Fred Hill Jr. as its head coach, even though Hill is 44-77 overall in four seasons with the Scarlet Knights. If the state University of New Jersey is in trouble, Seton Hall may be in even worse shape. The Pirates recently fired Bobby Gonzalez after four seasons and hired Iona's Kevin Willard as its new coach. Three players have already declared for the NBA draft, leaving Seton Hall with few scholarship players.

St. John's returns 94 percent of its offense from last season, a team that went 17-16 overall with a first round loss in the NIT. It is not a given that Lavin will be the next Lou Carnesecca, but the Red Storm now have an experienced coach, with an experienced team, playing in the world's most famous area, the future looks bright for St. John's.

Women's Basketball in Need of "Miracle in March"

The Conneticut women's basketball team is on a 69-game winning streak and one win away from tying a record for most consecutive victories, set by the Huskies from 2001-2003. But what women's college basketball needs most is their version of the 1980 U.S. Hockey team. For as unbelievable as the streak is, this year's UConn team winning the NCAA title will not help the sport of women's basketball.

On Monday, UConn capped off their regular season with a 76-51 win over No. 8 Notre Dame, finishing this year 30-0. Tina Charles surpassed Nykesha Sales as the school's all-time leading scorer and Rebecca Lobo as the Huskies all-time leading rebounder in the game against the Irish.

If the record of 69 wins in a row isn't enough, how about winning each game by double figures? UConn has established their dominance in the women's game and it doesn't seem like anyone will contest them for their year's crown.

What should the NCAA want? Do they want the streak to continue and want the Huskies to continue to blowout team after team? Do they want the tournament to become an event to see who will finish behind the Huskies? The NCAA needs a women's basketball Cinderella this year, now more than ever.

There is almost no doubt UConn will get to the final four, and most likely play for another national title. The NCAA can hype up the streak as much as they want, and ESPN can play all the highlights from the UCLA dynasty, but UConn losing in the title game is just what women's basketball needs.

This sport needs their own miracle on ice. People will watch the championship game if (when) UConn gets there. But people will be turned off if Geno Auriemma's squad blows out another Top Ten team. People will start to call the sport a joke, and start to blame Auriemma for the lack of parity.

Yes, players like Charles only come once in a lifetime. But if UConn continues to dominate, expect more once in a lifetime players to appear on the Huskies roster. Not that players like Lobo, Diana Taurasi, and Sue Bird aren't once in a lifetime players also.

It is unclear which team can challenge the Huskies. Teams like Stanford, Notre Dame, Texas, and Duke have all been thrashed by UConn this season. It will take a miracle for this year's Huskies team to lose, but it's something women's basketball needs.

If a team can knock off UConn in the title game, it will not just be one of the greatest upsets of all-time, but it may spawn some high school players to look elsewhere other than Hartford, CT.

It's time for March Madness

Even the weather today in New Jersey was pointing to signs of better times. With February here and gone it's time for the best month of the year in sports, March Madness. Cue up the CBS music, the bands, the cheerleaders and of course the Cinderellas. Get your brackets ready and enjoy the best month in sports.

The regular season is winding down and one thing is for sure, there is no favorite to take home the title this year. This past weekend alone showed the crazy carousel that is college basketball.

Former No. 1 Kansas lost to Oklahoma State 85-77 and showed the country the Jayhawks may not be top dog in the Big 12. Kentucky was at No. 2 last week before losing to Tennessee 74-65. There is no doubt John Wall is the best player in the country, but DeMarcus Cousins and Patrick Paterson are going to need to step up for the SEC tournament.

Purdue may have had the worst week of any team in college basketball after losing star player Robbie Hummel to an ACL injury as well as falling to Michigan State 53-44. It will be up to E'Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson to pick up the slack for the Boilermakers.

Syracuse is the new No. 1 this week and may be the favorite to be the top seed in the tournament if they can survive the Big East tournament. The Orange were able to crush No. 8 Villanova 95-77 in front of a record crowd of 34,616 at the Carrier Dome. Jim Boeheim has him team on track at the right time as March Madness nears.

Many "bracket experts" love to focus on the potential Cinderellas but who knows who the next George Mason or Valpo will be? So here are a few more top 25 teams to look out for in March.

No. 7- Ohio State (23-7)

This Big Ten team may have been overlooked by many in the beginning of the season, but Evan Turner has certainly opened the eyes of many college basketball fans. With a core set of guards the Buckeyes are poised to make a run deep into the tourney. Thad Matta's team stumbled early against North Carolina and Butler, but his team has stepped up recently with wins on the road over Illinois and Michigan State.

No. 10- New Mexico (27-3)

Too bad the Lobos huge win over No. 11 BYU will be over shadowed by Steve Alford's potty mouth. Darington Hobson and Roman Martinez can score at will and should help push the Lobos past the first two rounds. This should be one "mid-major" team that can take care of business and represent the Mountain West well.

No. 16- Temple (24-5)

With signature wins over Villanova, Seton Hall, and Xavier, the Owls may be the best Atlantic-10 team in the field of 65. If Lavoy Allen can start scoring more, it will help out the likes of guards Ryan Brooks and Juan Fernandez. The Atlantic-10 is getting loads of respect this year but the Owls will have to be the team to carry the conference in March.

No. 23- Maryland (21-7)

Gary Williams was on the hot seat early after losses to Cincinnati, Villanova, and William & Mary, but the late surge by the Terrapins has put them right behind Duke in the ACC. Greivis Vasquez is averaging 19.5 ppg, but the senior will need help from a depleted bench in order to score more points. Maryland has key wins over Virgina Tech and Florida State, but the Terrapins will be tested if they are matched up in the tourney against a team with size down low.

There is no doubt March Madness is my favorite time for sports. On any given day a team can salvage their season or have it come crumbling down. As the next weeks move on, more teams will creep into the top 25 and over and over again we will hear the term bracket buster and Cinderella. The best part about March Madness is that it is unpredictable, it is the ultimate Craps shoot and I can't get enough of it. As Gus Johnson says, it time to "RISE AND FIRE".