PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Kevin Bannon was fired as Rutgers men's
basketball coach Tuesday after failing to lead the team to the NCAA
Tournament in his four years.
"We have been informed through their attorneys that he has been
terminated," Keith Glass, Bannon's agent, said in a telephone call
with The Associated Press on Tuesday night.
|  | | Rutgers didn't elaborate – and didn't need to: Kevin Bannon is out after four seasons marked by disappointment and controversy. |
Following the advice of their attorneys, Rutgers officials
refused to comment, sports information director John Wooding said.
"I understand this was likely to happen and it did," Bannon told SportsTicker.
Bannon was in his office Tuesday afternoon, packing his things
and waiting to hear word of the dismissal directly from athletic
director Robert E. Mulcahy, Glass said. The two never met, Glass
said.
"We think we're fired," Glass said sarcastically. "This is
Rutgers were dealing with."
Mulcahy, who forced football coach Terry Shea to resign this
past fall, was not immediately available for comment.
Bannon was 59-60, including 11-16 this season. The Scarlet
Knights were one of two teams to miss the Big East tournament.
The firing comes a year after Mulcahy exercised a three-year
rollover clause in Bannon's contract, extending it through 2006.
It will cost Rutgers about $1.2 million to buy out the remaining
five years.
Jay Wright, who led Hofstra to two straight NCAA Tournament
appearances, has been mentioned prominently as a possible
successor.
Bannon had been under fire in recent weeks after Rutgers'
last-place finish in the Big East's West Division, run-ins with
Mulcahy and bad publicity when an embarassing free-throw incident
was resurrected when two former players involved both participated
in the NCAA Tournament.
Two players and a team manager ran wind sprints in the nude
after losing the free-throw shooting contest in December 1997.
Both players, center Josh Sankes and guard Earl Johnson,
transferred, claiming they were humiliated.
Sankes went to Holy Cross, which lost to Kentucky in the first
round of the NCAA Tournament last week, and Johnson to Iona, which
lost to Mississippi in the first round.
Bannon contended that no one was forced to remove clothes or
run. A lawsuit stemming from the incident was dismissed last year.
Bannon, 43, led Rutgers to the National Invitation Tournament in
1999 and 2000, just missing an NCAA bid in '99.
Rutgers had losing seasons in eight of the last nine years,
including three of four under Bannon.
Late this season, published reports said Mulcahy was questioning
Bannon's work ethic, and that Bannon's job status might be shaky
despite the contract.
Bannon coached at Rider for eight seasons before coming to
Rutgers in 1997. He had a 131-103 record at Rider and was 145-48 at
Division III Trenton State before that. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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