Towson will face a new coach on Saturday

By David Driver
Posted: January 29, 2010

The University of North Carolina-Wilmington announced Friday that men’s basketball coach Benny Moss has been reassigned within the athletic department. That is a kind way to say he has been fired, after the Seahawks began this year 7-14 overall. Moss was 41-74 overall and 23-34 in the Colonial Athletic Association in three-plus seasons. Assistant  Brooks Lee has been named interim coach.

UNC-Wilmington was crushed on Wednesday night by Hofstra, 93-54. Oh, the irony. UNC-W’s next game is home Saturday at 6 p.m. against Towson, which also got blasted in its game on Wednesday. The Tigers lost, 112-53, at VCU in Richmond in one of the most lopsided games in league history.

And there is more irony. It was Towson coach Pat Kennedy, and not Moss or any other CAA coach, who was listed on the “hot seat” before the season by the Athlon college basketball magazine. And that appears to still be the case because Towson is 4-16 overall and 1-9 in the CAA after  the drubbing in Richmond. Kennedy has one more year on his contract after the current season, and even in a down economy, Towson may be willing to make a change.

UNC-Wilmington, meanwhile, joins a list of schools that have fired head coaches during the season in men’s basketball, including Penn, Fordham and DePaul. Jerry Wainwright was let go earlier this season by DePaul. And it was Wainwright who helped build UNC-Wilmington into a mid-major force the last decade, and he was the CAA Coach of the Year in 1997 and 2001. UNC-W fans are among the best in the CAA, and you can bet some of them would love to see Wainwright back at the school.

In the past, Division I schools have been hesitant to make coaching changes during the season, and the recent trend is a disturbing one. But guess what? College sports, especially big-time basketball and football, is becoming closer every day to what pro teams expect. And coaches are fired during the season all the time in pro sports. So what was announced Friday in North Carolina should not be a surprise. But it should be a concern, especially in leagues such as the CAA, where the NBA is a long shot for most players.

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