SLU fires coach Soderberg

This I don't understand. Saint Louis, which has had success in the A-10, fired coach Brad Soderberg. I guess they didn't like 20 win seasons or the semifinals of the A-10 tourney, which is what happened this year. The university's statement says
"Because the success of the new Chaifetz Arena is largely contingent on the success of the men's basketball team, it is imperative that the team be led by a coach who we believe can establish a program that consistently vies for conference championships and engages in postseason play. The new head coach also must be committed to the University's history of following NCAA regulations and graduating its student-athletes."

It seems strange, and the last sentence makes me wonder if something else is going on. In five seasons at SLU, he was 80-74 and 42-38 in conference. Four of the five were winning seasons, with the 04-05 season being 9-21. I think he's been a pretty successful coach and he's brought in good recruits to SLU, like Tommie Liddell and Ian Vouyoukas.

UPDATE:
ESPN has an article on it, with Phil Martelli saying he's "flabbergasted."

Soderberg's SLU bio

Comments

Anonymous said…
Yeah, clearly this isn't the whole story. There is something rotten in SLU...

Maybe they have someone else lined up?

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