I went looking for P5 coaches that were fired for performance based reasons (not scandals or NCAA violations) that made the dance in their final season. I limited my search to P5 schools and only looked back to 2000. It is possible that I missed someone as it was a manual process, but if I did it was an accident. These situations do not arise very often. I only found 8 cases in the past 16 years.
In most cases it does not look like it worked out very well, this is especially true for the non-bluebloods on the list. Anyway, here is what I found:
2001, Jerry Green, fired from the University of Tennessee after going to the dance for 4 straight years. The jist of the story, as far as I can tell, is that he dared the AD to fire him and they took him up on the offer. They replaced him with Buzz Peterson who never made an NCAA tournament in his four years in Knoxville. My Take: Bad Decision
2006, Mike Davis, fired from the University of Indiana after 6 seasons. It is hard to follow a legend like Bobby Knight. Davis started out good (made a Final Four in Year 2) but didn't make the dance in years 4 & 5. In his final year the team made it to the round of 32, but that was not enough. Davis's replacement, Kelvin Sampson, was forced to resign due to recruiting violations and dishonesty. It has now been 11 years since Davis was fired and Indiana has been to 6 NCAAs with 3 Sweet 16s. My Take: Push
2007, Stan Heath, fired from Arkansas after 5 seasons. He struggled early on but went dancing his final two years. He was replaced with John Pelphrey who went dancing in Year 1 with Heath's players but never followed up on that success. It took the Razorbacks 7 years to get their first NCAA appearance without Heath's players. My Take: Bad Decision
2007, Tubby Smith, fired from Kentucky after 10 seasons. Tubby took the Wildcats to 10 straight NCAA tournaments, won a National Championship, and went to six Sweet 16s. He was ousted because they did not get past the round of 32 for two straight years. The replacement was Billy Gillespie and he went one and done in the dance in Year 1 and then missed it all together in Year 2. That was the first time UK had miss the tournament in 17 years. Gillespie was fired and Calipari was hired. Calipari has brought UK back, but there have still been some ups and downs.
My Take: Bad Decision initially, but turned into a push with the Calipari hire.
2010, Dino Gaudio, fired from Wake Forest after three seasons. Gaudio went dancing in his last two seasons, but never went on a run. The Wake AD fired him because they were concerned his teams did not perform well in the postseason. It was not a problem his successors had to worry about since they have had losing records in 5 of the 7 seasons since he was fired. Wake will likely be making their first tournament appearance since firing Gaudio this season.
My Take: Bad Decision
2013, Tubby Smith, fired from Minnesota after six seasons. The gophers had winning records every year under Smith, they won 20+ games in 5 seasons, and went dancing three times - making the round of 32 in his final season. It has now been 4 years since Tubby's firing and the Gophers are going to be in the dance for the first time under the new regime.
My Take: At this point looks like a bad decision, but there is reason for optimism right now. So I will call it a push.
2013, Ben Howland, fired from UCLA after ten seasons. He had a pretty good run (3 consecutive Final Fours) in the middle of his tenure but trailed off at the end. In his final four seasons he only went to 2 NCAA tournaments (never getting past the round of 32) and had one losing season. He was replaced by Steve Alford who went to back to back Sweet 16s in his first two years and has the Bruins looking good this season. My Take: Good Decision
2015, Rick Barnes, fired from the University of Texas after 17 seasons. He consistently made the Big Dance while in Austin (16 appearances in 17 years) and made some decent tournament runs early in his tenure (5 Sweet 16s, 3 Elite Eights, 1 Final Four) but no Sweet 16s in his final seven seasons. His Successor went one and done in Year 1 and posted a 11-22 record this season (Texas worst win% in 30+ years). My Take: Bad Decision
Good Decisions: 1 - UCLA
Push: 3 - Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota
Bad Decision: 4 - Tennessee, Arkansas, Wake Forest, Texas
In most cases it does not look like it worked out very well, this is especially true for the non-bluebloods on the list. Anyway, here is what I found:
2001, Jerry Green, fired from the University of Tennessee after going to the dance for 4 straight years. The jist of the story, as far as I can tell, is that he dared the AD to fire him and they took him up on the offer. They replaced him with Buzz Peterson who never made an NCAA tournament in his four years in Knoxville. My Take: Bad Decision
2006, Mike Davis, fired from the University of Indiana after 6 seasons. It is hard to follow a legend like Bobby Knight. Davis started out good (made a Final Four in Year 2) but didn't make the dance in years 4 & 5. In his final year the team made it to the round of 32, but that was not enough. Davis's replacement, Kelvin Sampson, was forced to resign due to recruiting violations and dishonesty. It has now been 11 years since Davis was fired and Indiana has been to 6 NCAAs with 3 Sweet 16s. My Take: Push
2007, Stan Heath, fired from Arkansas after 5 seasons. He struggled early on but went dancing his final two years. He was replaced with John Pelphrey who went dancing in Year 1 with Heath's players but never followed up on that success. It took the Razorbacks 7 years to get their first NCAA appearance without Heath's players. My Take: Bad Decision
2007, Tubby Smith, fired from Kentucky after 10 seasons. Tubby took the Wildcats to 10 straight NCAA tournaments, won a National Championship, and went to six Sweet 16s. He was ousted because they did not get past the round of 32 for two straight years. The replacement was Billy Gillespie and he went one and done in the dance in Year 1 and then missed it all together in Year 2. That was the first time UK had miss the tournament in 17 years. Gillespie was fired and Calipari was hired. Calipari has brought UK back, but there have still been some ups and downs.
My Take: Bad Decision initially, but turned into a push with the Calipari hire.
2010, Dino Gaudio, fired from Wake Forest after three seasons. Gaudio went dancing in his last two seasons, but never went on a run. The Wake AD fired him because they were concerned his teams did not perform well in the postseason. It was not a problem his successors had to worry about since they have had losing records in 5 of the 7 seasons since he was fired. Wake will likely be making their first tournament appearance since firing Gaudio this season.
My Take: Bad Decision
2013, Tubby Smith, fired from Minnesota after six seasons. The gophers had winning records every year under Smith, they won 20+ games in 5 seasons, and went dancing three times - making the round of 32 in his final season. It has now been 4 years since Tubby's firing and the Gophers are going to be in the dance for the first time under the new regime.
My Take: At this point looks like a bad decision, but there is reason for optimism right now. So I will call it a push.
2013, Ben Howland, fired from UCLA after ten seasons. He had a pretty good run (3 consecutive Final Fours) in the middle of his tenure but trailed off at the end. In his final four seasons he only went to 2 NCAA tournaments (never getting past the round of 32) and had one losing season. He was replaced by Steve Alford who went to back to back Sweet 16s in his first two years and has the Bruins looking good this season. My Take: Good Decision
2015, Rick Barnes, fired from the University of Texas after 17 seasons. He consistently made the Big Dance while in Austin (16 appearances in 17 years) and made some decent tournament runs early in his tenure (5 Sweet 16s, 3 Elite Eights, 1 Final Four) but no Sweet 16s in his final seven seasons. His Successor went one and done in Year 1 and posted a 11-22 record this season (Texas worst win% in 30+ years). My Take: Bad Decision
Good Decisions: 1 - UCLA
Push: 3 - Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota
Bad Decision: 4 - Tennessee, Arkansas, Wake Forest, Texas
