Bobby Lutz, head coach of UNC Charlotte Men’s basketball team, was fired from his alma-mater school after 10 seasons and twelve years, this Monday.
Lutz said he had “no hard feelings” in a post press-conference interview, and in his statement, said that he would “always bleed green”.
The UNC Charlotte athletic director, Judy Rose, and chancellor, Philip Dubois, held a press conference at this emotional time at 4 PM that Monday. They had made the final decision together, after dissecting Lutz’s past 5 years with the Niners.
The two claim it was not only due to his 34-33 win-loss record that led him to be below 500, but instead that it was due to the unsuccessful triumph of attending the NCAA tournament (a huge money maker for the school).
For each NCAA tournament that a school attends, they are funded $22,000 for the next six years. They admit that this would be prominent in pulling them out of the declining financial standing (because of their losing record), but claim that it has nothing to do with football. Rose is quick to say that the funding for football and basketball are indeed, separate.
Charlotte has made it to the NIT for the past two years; a tournament below the NCAA, that 95 other teams who do not make other tournaments are a part of.
The declining success rate has been noticed since 2005, when Charlotte joined the A-10 conference. Rose believes that this is not because the team is not capable of success, but that the team does not have the right fit or formula yet.
She believes that Charlotte has “the best facilities” and that it is a great area to recruit and think that a younger coach will have the energy that good recruiting requires.
Rose and Dubois began searching for a coach this Monday, but admit that they have been keeping a list of other options. That being said, they want to take however long it takes to find the right person and right fit for the program. They agree that the position is not strictly open to coaches with D-1 coaching experience, but would prefer it.
Taking their time is convenient under the contract that supplies them a year before the players are capable of transferring to another school (if they are not pleased with the new coach). This will alleviate the stress of having to deal with players transferring, and could have been a huge factor in the decision-making process.
The players, tied and contracted to stay, will have to wait until Rose and Dubois announce the coach. Rose states that she will not speak about it until a new coach is chosen, and the final decision has been made.
Rob Perron, of UNC Charlotte basketball operations, will be overseeing the team until that decision is made.
Lutz will walk away with four years of base salary pay, and a $948,000 by-out. The school will pay for whatever difference of pay there is if Lutz finds a new head coaching position. With UNC Wilmington and East Carolina University positions close in location and available, time will only tell what decision Lutz will make.
According to a post press-conference interview (which was held outside of the SAC gym), Lutz had a lot of other offers while he was coaching at Charlotte.
Keep in-tuned and updated as we follow Lutz’s path on NinerOnline.com, and on Radio Free Charlotte with Scott Lieberman (who conducted Lutz’s last interview before he was fired).
Bobby Lutz, head coach of UNC Charlotte Men’s basketball team, was fired from his alma-mater school after 10 seasons and twelve years, this Monday...
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49ers Head Coach Bobby Lutz fired
Published: Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Updated: Tuesday, March 16, 2010
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