Blaine Taylor Out At ODU
ODU fired Blaine Taylor today. Taylor was the winningest coach in ODU’s history. He leaves with eight games left in the season, and a record of 239-144 in his 12 years as head coach. In 2007 his Monarch team earned the first at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament for any CAA team in over 20 years. Under his leadership, the Monarchs made 4 trips to the NCAAs in the past 8 seasons. This year of course, the Monarchs have spiraled downward and are currently a dismal 2-20. ODU’s athletic director Wood Selig however, stated that the decision to let Taylor go mid-season was not about wins and losses. In today’s press conference, Selig explained that “At this point, in regard to our head men’s basketball coach, our student athletes need mentorship, leadership, and guidance. Our fans and alumni need encouragement. Our administration needs confidence in our leadership.”
If you are a CAA hoops geek (guilty), then you’re probably well aware of Taylor’s radio appearance from a few weeks ago. In it, he struggled to communicate and sounded pretty out of it. Of course that sent message boards into overdrive speculating that Taylor’s past struggles with alcohol had returned. Keep in mind that this was nothing more than internet rumor mongering. But the abrupt firing today and the ODU administration’s insistence that it was not due to his struggles on the court, have the rumor mill going full force again.
We’ve chosen to ignore all of these rumors since we learned of them. First of all, the story wasn’t directly related to JMU. Second of all, it was pure speculation. Now it’s official. One of the CAA’s most successful coaches has been fired with 8 games left in a season in which his team was already not eligible for the conference tournament. And with only 2 wins on the season, there’s no hope of any post season tournaments. Which means there is no turning it around this season and no apparent rush to switch coaches. But ODU fired him today anyway. And that’s both weird and kind of sad quite frankly. If the man has a problem, then we wish him well and hope he gets some help. If he doesn’t, and he’s simply a casualty of the harsh business he chose to enter, then he deserves to move on.
“In 2010 his Monarch team earned the first at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament for any CAA team. ”
I’m not sure what you are saying here, but as it is written, it isn’t correct at all. First off, ODU won the CAA that year and was the only team to make the tournament. Also, at-large bids for the CAA go all the way back to 1986 when both Navy and Richmond made the tournament.
This doesn’t really change the point of the post, so I’m not sure it matters. Just not sure what you meant by that statement.
It was just a mistake. I updated it to correct it. Thanks for catching it.
Bryan, pretty sure these guys are just using someone elses facts and adding their thoughts. They both have lives and do this on the free/side. Take it easy on the nerd fact checking.