Charlotte Fires Lutz

[Aggie One]

Like I said before, extensions aren't worth the paper they are written on if you don't produce. Don't believe me? Ask Bobby Lutz.

Longtime Charlotte 49ers coach Bobby Lutz is fired
By Jim Utter
[e-mail]

Posted: Monday, Mar. 15, 2010

Charlotte 49ers men's basketball coach Bobby Lutz, the winningest coach in school history, was fired today after his team failed to make postseason play in the NCAA or National Invitation tournaments for the second consecutive season.

Lutz met with athletics director Judy Rose and informed his assistants of her decision this morning.

Lutz still had four years remaining on his current contract, which went through the 2013-14 season with a base salary of at least $237,000 per year. He received an extension prior to last season.

For the rest of the story:
www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/03/15/1315683/long-time-49ers-coach-lutz-is.html

[aahhbigboy]

The lost like 7 of their last 8 games.........with no football program. They can't have that.

MEAC contracts ARE worth the paper their written on. lol

[bluehaze]

gotta agree with aahhbigboy, no way a MEAC coach is getting fired with over $900k owed to him

[Aggie One]

Eaves versus Lutz money is not even in the same class - like comparing apples to oranges. I wouldn't dismiss anything if he has another season like this last one. No one thought Fobbs would be fired in the middle of the season either with a year left on his contract.

Never say never.

[AggieGroove]

Last trip home, I met Lutz, Mel and the UNCC BB team on a plane to play Temple.....I think I spooked them and put them on the same losing streak as A&T at the time.

[Bornthrilla]

The thing that ultimately did Lutz in was when he sent in six players after a timeout in the closing seconds of the A-10 tournament.

Charlotte was only down by 3 points and they had the ball. Instead, he gets called for a tech for having 6 players on the court at one time and they go on to lose the ballgame.

[bluehaze]

Mar 15, 2010 17:26:38 GMT -5 Aggie One said:

Eaves versus Lutz money is not even in the same class - like comparing apples to oranges. I wouldn't dismiss anything if he has another season like this last one. No one thought Fobbs would be fired in the middle of the season either with a year left on his contract.

Never say never.

That wasn't my point of contention. The money owed to Lutz wasn't an issue to UNCC. It would be an issue to an HBCU. Just signing a three year extension and getting fired, even if it's only $400k is not happening.

What did Fobbs have, one more year left? No more than two and that was his original contract not an extension...

[faithfulaggie]

Thrilla you're exactly right, that coupled with a late season let down sealed his fate. UNCC was once "on the bubble" according to ESPN.

[aahhbigboy]

Dig deeper people. Lutz had people transferring out of his program like hot cakes, including his second leading scorer. When the AD has to sign that many releases, it raises a red flag. One play (and in some cases, one season) doesn't get your all time leader in wins fired.

[faithfulaggie]

Mar 16, 2010 10:41:24 GMT -5 aahhbigboy said:

Dig deeper people. Lutz had people transferring out of his program like hot cakes, including his second leading scorer. When the AD has to sign that many releases, it raises a red flag. One play (and in some cases, one season) doesn't get your all time leader in wins fired.

In this case it did. We don't know why those people transferred, coulda been because of playing time, coulda been because they wanted to be closer to home so to think people transferring out had to do with his firing is outrageous.

[aahhbigboy]

Ok........Check. Another clueless one.

So, one play can get Bibbs fired? One play could've gotten Hayes fired? One play could've gotten Corbett fired? Can one race get Space fired?

He's the all time freakin leader in wins. He guided the 49ers to eight post-season trips in his 12-year career. Those eight bids included a school-record five NCAA Tournament appearances, the last of which came in 2005. Since 2005, Charlotte has advanced to two National Invitation Tournaments (2006, 2008) in the last five years.

It might've been the transfers (which reflect poorly on a program, especially when one is your 2nd leading scorer) and/or the fact that they haven't made the tourney in 5 years (with no football progarm). Or at least say it was because they finished 11-20 last year and finished poorly this year. But only an clueless person would suggest that a coach that meant so much to a school would get fired over a busted timeout.

You're a current aggie, which probably means you're a youngin who probably hasn't been around college bball enough, so you get a pass man. lol

[faithfulaggie]

Mar 16, 2010 18:44:17 GMT -5 aahhbigboy said:

Ok........Check. Another clueless one.

So, one play can get Bibbs fired? One play could've gotten Hayes fired? One play could've gotten Corbett fired? Can one race get Space fired?

He's the all time freakin leader in wins. He guided the 49ers to eight post-season trips in his 12-year career. Those eight bids included a school-record five NCAA Tournament appearances, the last of which came in 2005. Since 2005, Charlotte has advanced to two National Invitation Tournaments (2006, 2008) in the last five years.

It might've been the transfers (which reflect poorly on a program, especially when one is your 2nd leading scorer) and/or the fact that they haven't made the tourney in 5 years (with no football progarm). Or at least say it was because they finished 11-20 last year and finished poorly this year. But only an clueless person would suggest that a coach that meant so much to a school would get fired over a busted timeout.

You're a current aggie, which probably means you're a youngin who probably hasn't been around college bball enough, so you get a pass man. lol

And you must clearly can't read because I also said that coupled with a late season let down. So big of a let down that they were considered on the bubble for the NCAA tournament to not even being one of the last 6 out of the tournament. And being the all time winningest coach doesn't mean anything. Ernie Kent just got fired today at Oregon, he was the all-time winningest coach. Yes I am a youngin but I've been around more college bball than what you might think.

[Bornthrilla]

Lutz was already on the hot seat heading into the A-10 tournament. That timeout fiasco killed any chance he had of saving his job.

If they win that game or even lose it without him having egg on his face, the AD could have made a plausible argument to bring him back. Especially since he still has about 3 or 4 years left on his contract, I believe.

However, that player-substitution tech was an instant PR nightmare that the AD couldn't sweep under the rug.

[Bornthrilla]

Charlotte 49ers justified in firing Lutz
Change on the bench could help city embrace Charlotte 49ers basketball, Atlantic 10
By Tom Sorensen
[e-mail]
Posted: Tuesday, Mar. 16, 2010

Things wear out. Bobby Lutz wore out as head basketball coach of the Charlotte 49ers. What worked so well for him in Conference USA, against big names such as Bob Huggins, Rick Pitino and John Calipari, failed in the Atlantic 10.

So UNC Charlotte Chancellor Philip Dubois and athletics director Judy Rose fired him Monday.

Although I like and respect Lutz, Dubois and Rose were justified. He coached five seasons in the A-10. Five seasons is long enough to let a conference know who you are.

The 49ers were an outfit that played as if they were just passing through. They never made an imprint, never established an identity. They never found a rival. They rarely filled their gym. If the A-10 were a party, the 49ers would have left early, and nobody would have known.

Lutz was 41-39 in the regular season and 2-5 in the conference tournament. He made the National Invitation Tournament twice.

Lutz didn't see his dismissal coming. Fans didn't see the demise of the 49ers coming. Little more than a month ago they were in first place and had an overall record of 18-5.

No longer was Charlotte a football school. Fans booked flights to and rooms in Atlantic City, N.J., site of the A-10 tournament.

And then all those off-balance outside shots stopped going in. Opponents were able to skew their defense to stop Charlotte big man Shamari Spears. The 49ers lost seven of their last eight.

In the first round of the conference tournament, in their gym against Massachusetts, a bad team, Charlotte was pathetic. The 49ers lost 59-56 and forfeited their last best chance. After a timeout with 48 seconds remaining, they sent six players onto the court.

Maybe a player was to blame. Maybe an assistant coach was. Maybe the triangle-and-three is a defense whose time has come. The ensuing technical ended the season. Lutz took the hit. Fans stuck with flights to and rooms in a city they no longer wanted to visit delivered thousands of nasty verbal hits of their own.

The A-10 offered quality basketball this season, as anybody who saw Temple and Xavier at Halton Arena could attest.

Although student support was tremendous, the city didn't care. Fans who drove from Myers Park and Matthews to see Cincinnati and Louisville refused to visit campus to watch the A-10 elite.

The mission of the new coach will be to change that. He has to sell the conference to the city. He has to make us understand that major college basketball is regularly played in our town.

He also to win, and that will be difficult.

The next local kid who says: "When I grow up, I'm going to play in the A-10," will be the first.

To win, the 49ers have to convince homegrown talent to stay home. They have to become a destination for players and for fans.

Charlotte is one of the toughest jobs in the Southeast, and fans have no idea how tough it is because they refuse to acknowledge the impact of the ACC and SEC. To borrow an old phrase, they wear rose-colored glasses.

On Monday, Judy Rose finally removed hers.

Read more: www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/03/16/1316696/change-on-the-bench-could-help.html#ixzz0iXtqlALQ