Bulls Basketball Fans look at this ridiculous BS from Rivals!!

[Vega]

On the Hot Seat: 10 coaches feeling heat

Rivals.com Staff

The season got under way in earnest over the weekend, so it's a bit early to be talking about coaches who might get let go at the end of the season.

Still, some football programs are making coaching changes, so we decided to put together a list of 10 coaches in Big Six leagues who are feeling the heat as this season tips off.

Jeff Bzdelik's NBA experience has not helped in recruiting.

The 10 are listed alphabetically.

Jeff Bzdelik, Colorado

RECORD: 21-42 in two seasons

BUZZ: The Buffs won one Big 12 game last season and appear headed for another finish near the bottom this season. G Cory Higgins is a big-timer and he's one of four returning starters. Again, though, this team won one Big 12 game last season. Bzdelik has NBA experience but that hasn't helped in recruiting. While it would be surprising to see a coach fired after just three seasons, a two- or three-win season in league play may cause that to happen.

Paul Hewitt, Georgia Tech

RECORD: 154-131 in nine seasons

BUZZ: The Yellow Jackets are expected to have a big season, and that obviously would save Hewitt's job. But anything less than an NCAA bid likely means he is gone. Tech was the national runner-up in 2004, but has returned to the NCAA tournament just twice in the ensuing five seasons, bottoming out with two ACC wins last season. Tech has won 27 combined games the past two seasons but should get close to that figure this season.

Stan Heath, USF

RECORD: 21-41 in two seasons

BUZZ: There's one big reason USF is in the Big East: Its football program. The Bulls have made two NCAA tourney appearances (the last one was in 1992), and they had a middling program in Conference USA before moving into the Big East. Heath was hired by USF after he was fired at Arkansas - a rare case of a power-conference school hiring a failed coach at another power-conference school. Heath has a good reputation as a recruiter, but his X's and O's have been questioned. The Big East isn't a good place for a coach weak with his X's and O's. USF has some financial issues in its athletic department, and it's hard to see Heath being let go after just three seasons. But there's no question he should be feeling the heat.

Fred Hill, Rutgers

RECORD: 32-60 in three seasons

BUZZ: The Scarlet Knights won 11 games last season overall and just two in Big East play. But the Big East was loaded last season and Rutgers' best players were youngsters. Those youngsters are more experienced now and the Big East won't be as tough as it was last season. Thus, it's imperative that the Scarlet Knights show some signs of progress. A postseason bid of some kind may be needed for Hill to get a fifth season.

Ernie Kent, Oregon

RECORD: 219-157 in 12 years

BUZZ: Kent seems to almost live on the hot seat, though he is coming off the worst season of his Ducks tenure - a 2-16 finish in the Pac-10. Kent has guided Oregon to two NCAA regional finals; he also has coached six teams that finished with a losing record in Pac-10 play. Oregon played a lot of freshmen last season, and a more experienced group this season could have middle-of-the-pack success in the Pac-10, which is down this season. Thus, with a little luck, Kent could get off the hot seat once again.

Jeff Lebo, Auburn

RECORD: 81-76 in five seasons

BUZZ: Lebo took the Tigers to the NIT last season. But that was his first postseason bid at Auburn and it came in a down season for the SEC. The league should be much deeper this season, but Auburn looks as if it will slide back in the pack in the SEC West. Lebo is a good X's and O's guy, but hasn't had a lot of talent to work with at Auburn. He originally signed Toney Douglas, but Douglas ended up transferring to Florida State, where he was a star last season. The school recently has invested millions of dollars in upgrading its basketball facilities, and if Auburn doesn't reach the postseason in some manner this season, school officials may decide it's time to go in a different direction.

The season got off to a rough start for Todd Lickliter and Iowa.

Todd Lickliter, Iowa

RECORD: 28-36 in two seasons

BUZZ: Only two Big Ten teams failed to reach the postseason in 2008-09. One was Indiana, the other was Iowa. Indiana was expected to be dreadful last season. That's not the case for the Hawkeyes, who won just five conference games, then had two double-digit scorers transfer in the offseason. Iowa, which has won 11 league games in Lickliter's two seasons, appears destined for a last-place league finish this season. And it doesn't help that Iowa lost it season-opener to UT San Antonio at home.

Sidney Lowe, N.C. State

RECORD: 52-46 in three seasons

BUZZ: Lowe was a starting guard on N.C. State's 1983 NCAA championship team, but the Wolfpack's mediocre play over the past three seasons has erased most of Lowe's goodwill among the fans. Predecessor Herb Sendek took the Wolfpack to five consecutive NCAA tournaments, but his style of play didn't endear him to everyone. But Lowe's teams at NCSU haven't sniffed the NCAAs. Losing out on mega-recruit John Wall, a Raleigh native, didn't help. Expectations are rather low this season; do the Wolfpack overachieve and help Lowe keep his job, or do they play to their billing and finish near the bottom of the ACC? In the latter scenario, it seems unlikely Lowe would keep his job.

Norm Roberts, St. John's

RECORD: 64-85 in five years

BUZZ: The Red Storm haven't won more than 16 games in any season during Roberts' tenure, though this season's team looks like it could be the best one since he arrived at the school off the Kansas staff. Roberts' New York connections were supposed to help in recruiting, but it hasn't paid off yet. You would think an upper-division finish in the Big East would be required for him to keep his job this season.

Jerry Wainwright, DePaul

RECORD: 52-72 in four seasons

BUZZ: Wainwright is a Chicago guy, and he looked like a great selection when he was hired away from Richmond in April 2005. The Blue Demons won 20 games in his second season, and it looked as if everything was going to be fine. But an 11-win season followed, and the Blue Demons won just nine games last season and went 0-18 in Big East play. Wainwright has three new assistants this season - one of the assistants he replaced was his son - but the talent is not there to contend in the Big East. A middle-of-the-pack finish likely is the best the Blue Demons can hope for. If that happens, Wainwright will be back. But another last-place finish - or something close to it - would bode ill for Wainwright.

http://collegebasketball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1017062

[Vega]

For those that pay to see Rivals site you should let them know how you feel about this injustice to the USF basketball program and Stan Heath. You have got to be kidding me...what kind of heat can Stan Heath be feelin going into his 3rd season as HC of the hardest college basketball in America where the athletic department doesn't support the program, barely getting fan support, and has no recruiting base to draw talent from.

Notice how Rivals didn't attach a name to their article choosing instead to just say the Rivals staff put the list together. I would be willing to bet that an Arkansas writer had something to do with Heath's name being place on that list. For some reason those folks can't seem to leave Stan alone.

Thanks to Rivals an already hard recruiting job just got harder. It's a good thing that we already have 2 key pieces signed or who knows.

[Held_AccountaBull]

whoever wrote the article is a complete idiot.

[SouthFLBully]

Sure 21-41 is a piss poor record over three years, but did these guys decide to not do their homework at all???? Look at the circumstances surrounding that record. He walked into: a program still trying to make a transition into the nations deepest BB conference; a team with two or three players that actually belonged in the big east; terrible facilities; in a football state; little fan support; i mean the list goes on and on. I for one think Heath has done an amazing job given the circumstances.

Heath, USF has your back. Keep up the fine work.

[CousinRicky]

For those that pay to see Rivals site you should let them know how you feel about this injustice to the USF basketball program and Stan Heath. You have got to be kidding me...what kind of heat can Stan Heath be feelin going into his 3rd season as HC of the hardest college basketball in America where the athletic department doesn't support the program, barely getting fan support, and has no recruiting base to draw talent from.

Notice how Rivals didn't attach a name to their article choosing instead to just say the Rivals staff put the list together. I would be willing to bet that an Arkansas writer had something to do with Heath's name being place on that list. For some reason those folks can't seem to leave Stan alone.

Thanks to Rivals an already hard recruiting job just got harder. It's a good thing that we already have 2 key pieces signed or who knows.

Isn't Doug's background in basketball?  I think the BB program is pretty important to him.

[BigEastBeasts]

There's one big reason USF is in the Big East: Its football program

The writers opening statement says it all. Everyone knows that we're in the Big East because of our football program. That being said, how can you put a coach on the hot seat when he inherited a program that was already in shambles before having this mountain placed in front of it?

Granted its only been 3 games but you can already see the improvement in this team and the strides that Coach Heath is making in recruiting. To set a precident that any HC will have 3 years to turn this program around or get the boot is ridiculous and will do nothing other than keep us a Big East bottom-feeder unable to get a compitent coach because no one in their right mind would come here if thats how we would operate.

In Heath We Trust!!!

[Mama_Bull]

For those that pay to see Rivals site you should let them know how you feel about this injustice to the USF basketball program and Stan Heath. You have got to be kidding me...what kind of heat can Stan Heath be feelin going into his 3rd season as HC of the hardest college basketball in America where the athletic department doesn't support the program, barely getting fan support, and has no recruiting base to draw talent from.

Notice how Rivals didn't attach a name to their article choosing instead to just say the Rivals staff put the list together. I would be willing to bet that an Arkansas writer had something to do with Heath's name being place on that list. For some reason those folks can't seem to leave Stan alone.

Thanks to Rivals an already hard recruiting job just got harder. It's a good thing that we already have 2 key pieces signed or who knows.

Vega, there was a Rivals article in the last two weeks saying that USF fans were calling for the head of Stan Heath. I don't remember the writer's name. I wrote to him at the time and told him he didn't know what he was talking about and gave him reasons. I didn't save the e-mail. I presume the same writer penned this article. You could probably still find the old article somewhere on Rivals, if you are interested in the name of the writer.

[BigShoop]

It takes time to dig yourself out of a hole. I believe that the 1st two years of Stan Heath's tenure were used just to get his head above water. People underestimate just how far behind the 8-ball this team was when he inherited it.

Year 1:

D. Jones(Fr) and K. Gransberry(Sr) were the only players worth a **** on the roster.

Behind them were players not Big East caliber Howard(So), Verdejo(Jr), Saaka, Bozeman, Ajayi. 6 players either graduated, transferred, or left the program after that year.

Year 2:

Jones (So), Gilchrist(Fr), Mercer(Jr)...

Followed by Howard(Jr), Verdejo(Sr), Leemow(Fr), Rivas, Espinosa, Ajayi, A. Williams. Another 5 players graduated, transferred, or left the program. 

Starting this year, I think it's fair to judge him and his coaching staff. I think they finally have close to a full roster of players, and more importantly, players that can compete in this conference.

Year 3:

Jones(Jr), Gilchrist(So), Mercer(Sr), Famous(Jr), Crater(So), Fitzpatrick(Fr)...

Behind them are Howard(Sr), Leemow(So), Dumars(Fr)...

I see progress. Progress is good. Progress is something that this program hasn't seen in.......what, 10 years?

[IncrediBULL]

The Rivals article is wayyy off base.  They obviously do not know anything about USF basketball.

Stan has done a good job with what greenberg left us, then mccullum had to sort out, and left us in a real mess after that.  The progress is evident, and we are in the TOUGHEST bb conference.

Furthermore, he is not what I would call a failed BB coach.  He took them to the SEC champ game and they lost to UF (who won the NC that year).  Not exactly what I would call a failure.

Crazy, really.  I have not heard a single fan, except maybe a few in jest, call for his head.  He gets at least two more years.

If he can get us into NIT and above .500, within two years, he is doing great.

[Guest BasketBull.]

That's just another fool writing garbage.

I just hate it when anyone takes a shot at USF, mustache or no mustache.