[A.G.]

That much coaching turnover can't be a good thing for Samuels.

http://www.roanoke.com/sports/college/wb/wb/xp-87942
Radford hoops' staff gets overhaul
Former assistant coach Jeff Maher says he was fired, reinstated and then forced to quit.

By Ray Cox
381-1672

RADFORD -- For the second time in as many seasons, Radford University's men's basketball team is going into the season with an overhauled coaching staff.

The Highlanders began practice a week ago with three assistant coaches who were not there last season.

The two most recent additions to coach Byron Samuels' staff are Bruce Martin and Charles Thomas.

Martin, 35, played at Clemson and was an assistant coach at Clemson, Francis Marion and in Sweden.

Thomas, 37, is a rookie coach. A former Eastern Michigan player, he went on to a professional playing career that included stops in Europe, Australia, the defunct CBA and the NBA.

Michael Blaine joined the staff during the summer.

Former assistants Frankie Allen and Nathan Stewart left over the summer and Jeff Maher in September.

Allen, the former Virginia Tech coach, and Stewart ended up as assistants on the Maryland-Baltimore County staff.

As for Maher, the circumstances of his departure are not as clear. Maher claims to have been fired in May before subsequently being reinstated to his contract. Maher then said he resigned because of unsatisfactory working conditions designed specifically to force him to quit.

"I dispute some of things Mr. Maher has said but will not go into any of that now," Samuels said. "This is neither the time nor the place. My only focus is to prepare my team to play basketball."

According to Maher, he was canned after a dispute with Samuels about the recruiting of a player in May. A copy of a June 14 e-mail from Samuels to Radford athletic director Greig Denny reads "Please accept this note as my decision to not renew the contract of Jeff Maher."

Maher was later reinstated to his contract by Radford president Penelope Kyle, according to a copy of a letter from Kyle to Maher, also dated June 14, that the coach provided The Roanoke Times.

"This letter constitutes notification of the renewal of your employment contract with Radford University for the period June 25, 2006, through June 24, 2007," the letter read.

University officials had little to say.

"This is a personnel matter and we don't comment on personnel matters," Radford University spokesman Rob Tucker said.

Maher was subsequently reassigned basketball duties that he deemed inappropriate for an assistant coach on contract, including filming practices and games, he said.

Maher resigned Oct. 11, saying in the resignation statement he provided the newspaper that the working conditions had been "constructed to force me to resign and not accept the altered position, or accept being belittled everyday (sic) and publicly humiliated in front of our players, fans and the coaching profession."

Maher said he will be taking legal action against the university. He declined further comment.

Neither Denny nor Kyle could be reached.

Allen, Stewart and Maher were hired in 2005 to replace Kevin Martin, Jeff Brookman and Troy Manns. Martin and Brookman had been fired. Manns was resigned.

[WinthropEagleFan]

RU has not been the same since Dr. Ron Bradley left. Under Samuels, they've been floundering in the middle of the standings (when they were at or near the top nearly every year under Bradley), have undergone many staff changes, and have had discipline problems on the team (had to kick guys off or suspend players almost every year for the last few years). Unless they have a very good year (which I don't see), I don't think we'll be seeing Byron Samuels back on the bench next year for the Highlanders.

[A.G.]

I agree. He made it to the championship game either his first or second year--and promptly got tossed from the game. How can a legit leader put himself in a position to abandon his team in that big a game? I was suprised Bradley got run off. It is absurb that a good coach with a good track record gets run off for consistently finishing second or third.

[nickrichard]

Wait a minute???