Bama fires Gottfried

Gottfried fired as head basketball coach

By Cecil Hurt, Sports Editor
Published: Monday, January 26, 2009 at 2:04 p.m.
Last Modified: Monday, January 26, 2009 at 2:04 p.m.

TUSCALOOSA | University of Alabama basketball coach Mark Gottfried will be relieved of his duties this week, ending a run of nearly 11 years as the Crimson Tide’s head basketball coach, sources have told The Tuscaloosa News.

Gottfried, 45, is not expected to coach the team in its remaining games. Although no announcement has been made concerning an interim coach, assistant coach Phillip Pearson is expected to take over the team until the end of the season.

Gottfried has two years remaining on a contract that is worth some $900,000 annually in terms of the University’s liability for buyout. In his 11 seasons, he is 210-131 overall and one game above the .500 mark, 83-82, in Southeastern Conference play. Including three years as the head coach at Murray State, Gottfried’s overall coaching record is 278-155.

He replaced David Hobbs as Alabama’s head coach in April of 1998. After a three-year rebuilding process, Gottfried took Alabama to the NCAA Tournament in 2002, beginning a streak of five consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. The Crimson Tide’s best finish came in 2004 when UA advanced to the Elite Eight.

http://www.tidesports.com/article/20090126/NEWS/901260295/1011?Title=Gottfried_fired_as_head_basketball_coach

 

Re: Bama fires Gotfried

Rick Stansbury just started giggling and he doesn't know why.

 

Re: Bama fires Gotfried

I thought Bama was shorthand for Obama and thought it was kinda early to fire one of his secretaries

 

Re: Bama fires Gotfried

How...

They really are going to let Saban coach basketball after January 3rd each winter.

Idiots.

 

Re: Bama fires Gotfried

Rick Stansbury, c'mon down!

After John Brady was whacked last winter, Gottfried took his position as the worst coach in the SEC.

Now, it moves to Slick Rick.

And the only question for the Bammers is, what took you so long?

 

Re: Bama fires Gotfried

Gottfried was an abject disaster. The numbers don't lie. He had a losing record in the conference, a mortal sin. He had a losing road record overall, another mortal sin. His teams tended to play lethargically and get rolled by double-digit margins in other people's buildings.

His only great season, which was Bama's only Elite Eight run, was proof a blind squirrel can find an acorn occasionally. One could crow about his ability to get them to the NCAA's for five years in a row, starting in 2002, but most of those were one and done or two and a BBQ. Not stellar stuff.

He could recruit, with guys like Gerald Wallace, Mo Williams, Ronald Steele, Richard Hendrix playing in crimson. That's what made his record and the lackadasical way his teams played more maddening. He should have been fired two or three years ago.

Maybe they are aiming to make a big splash as they did with Saban. Ohio State and Florida are living proof that even if you're a football school, that doesn't mean your basketball program has to be a doormat. Kevin Scarbinsky threw Tubby Smith's name out there and I think he'd be a great fit. And did I add his Minnesota team is doing pretty well? It'll cost them, but if you can give $4 million to Saban......

 

Re: Bama fires Gotfried

Bama's first call has to be Tubby, right?

 

Re: Bama fires Gotfried

I think Tubby to Bama would be a long shot. Big 10 ball is a perfect fit for his style of play, and he's at the perfect program for his personality.

If he takes a $3 million deal to come to Bama, he's going to get Kentucky-sized expectations with it, and he's too smart to jump into that kind of situation again. Tubby succeeds best when the microscope isn't turned on bright; when he can recruit his guys and play his style without hearing incessant bitching from an overzealous fan base. The money it'd take to get him to Bama wouldn't yield that situation.

Granted, I'm guessing at that, because Bama basketball isn't ever going to be as good as football, and he won't get the full onslaught like he did at Kentucky. But I think he's content up at Minnesota, so I think he'd ultimately turn it down.

As for Gottfried, he's an absolute joke as a coach. Your losing record in the league comment is spot on, especially since his tenure at Bama came during a very weak period for the SEC, the West division in particular.

The fact that he couldn't do anything with Hendrix, Steele and Davidson two years ago should have sealed his fate, and one could argue that signing Steele was perhaps the only thing that kept him around the past three or four years.

He's a joke, period. But he'll make a nice living on his buyout and as a mid-major coach or a major conference assistant.

Meanwhile, the SEC West is only one or two coaches away from turning itself from a complete coaching cesspool to a division with a decent group of coaches.

 

Wimp Sanderson? Too late for him?

 

I may be wrong, but I don't see Stansbury leaving Starkville. Or Tubby leaving what is a damn good situation in Minnesota.

Maybe Bama can do Kentucky fans a huge favor and hire away Billy Clyde...

 

I didn't even realize 'Bama played basketball, so this news at least generates some press for the Tide.
This might be the most down the SEC has been since Arkansas joined the league in '92.
Arkansas hasn't won a conference game yet. 'Bama fired its coach. Auburn, I think, plays hoops before spring football starts. LSU is awful. State isn't very good and Ole Miss's coach is a drunk, who beats up cabdrivers.
Around the East: Kentucky sucks. Georgia is waiting on Spring football. Vandy is oddly bad. South Carolina is hoping Spurrier can take over the point. The only teams playing well are Tennessee and Florida and neither of them are world-beaters.
The SEC will be lucky to get three teams into the NCAA.

 

And yet, it will end up with five for the sole reason of its reputation and the committee's desire to piss on conferences that aren't the SEC, ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-10 or the Big East.