- March 1st, 2007, 7:58 am
#64749
Coach sounds like a bitter bitter man. How about saying...
..."We just didn't get the job done, but we are pleased that the program is in better shape than when we took over." Is that too much to ask?
..."We just didn't get the job done, but we are pleased that the program is in better shape than when we took over." Is that too much to ask?
Dunton out as LU men's basketball coach
Falwell pushes national search for new coach
By Chris Lang
clang@newsadvance.com
February 28, 2007
When Randy Dunton took over a disaster of a Liberty basketball program before the 2002-03 season, he said he thought it would take five years to bring it back to respectability.
Then he realized what kind of hole he was working from. Former coach Mel Hankinson had left the program in shambles. The recruiting pipeline was dry. Relationships with high school coaches were non-existent.
Make that a 10-year project, one Dunton will never get to see through.
Liberty athletics director Jeff Barber elected to go a different direction with the program Wednesday, dismissing Dunton and his staff a day after the Flames lost 79-78 at home to VMI in the quarterfinals of the Big South Conference tournament to conclude a 14-17 season.
"If you want to ask me, when did I feel (this was the right move), then a couple of weeks ago, I had the information I needed to make this move," Barber said. "(Tuesday) night had nothing to do with it."
Instead, it was the lack of progress on the national scene that doomed Dunton. Liberty has the largest basketball budget in the Big South and only had one overall winning record in Dunton's five seasons. He also was Liberty's interim coach in 1997-98, taking a team with seven scholarship players to an 11-17 mark and a fourth-place Big South finish.
Liberty only cracked the top 200 in the RPI once in Dunton's tenure, finishing at No. 165 in 2003-04 when the Flames won the Big South tournament title and made their only NCAA appearance under Dunton.
The loss to VMI dropped the Flames to No. 282. Liberty was No. 316 last year.
"I just didn't feel like the program was in the shape it should have been after five years," Barber said. "I didn't believe he was the right person to lead us for the next five years either. I feel like Randy has taken us as far as he can take us."
Dunton pointed to Liberty's Big South finishes during his tenure. Liberty only finished worse than third once in the last five years. After finishing eighth during an injury-wracked 2005-06 season, LU rebounded to finish third in the Big South this year.
The Flames have lost in quarterfinals of the last three Big South tournaments.
"It's a disappointing day, obviously," Dunton said. "We still had a big-time vision and a big-time plan for where we were headed.
"If people could have stepped back and really looked at what was accomplished, I think it merits the direction we were headed in. It doesn't merit termination.
"Everything was in place, and I think people know that."
Dunton said he didn't feel Barber had a true appreciation for how difficult turning around Liberty's program was.
In Hankinson's last year, Liberty ranked dead last out of 324 Division I teams in the RPI.
"It takes time to re-establish recruiting," Dunton said. "I've said this inside to administration: We finally got to the place where that stuff was really connected again, where we could walk into a venue and we've got some serious recruiting connections that are going to unlock doors to real talent.
"This was the worst program in America, and we resurrected it. ? We were not given a fair shake to move this program forward at this time. For him to tell me first, second, second, third is not success, then they don't know where we were before."
Dunton addressed the team in its Vines Center team room at 3 p.m., five hours after he initially met with Barber.
"It was pretty surprising that the call was being made after the game we just lost," Liberty guard Dwight Brewington said.
"Of course, it is a sad moment, for him and all of us. It's a sad thing for him and his family."
Added forward Alex McLean: "I don't think anybody saw it coming. I'm surprised, but it's a business. The whole team is probably a little broken down right now. We're just trying to pick everybody up this week and stay together."
Brewington, who transferred from Providence, said he won't make up his mind on coming back to Liberty until he has more information about the new coaching staff.
"If the time is good to leave, then it's good to leave," said Brewington, who averaged 14.7 points per game. "If the time is bad to leave, then I'll stay."
Barber said a national search for a successor would begin immediately and added he has no specific candidates in mind yet. He said the move was made so quickly after the season to get a jump on other schools who may have coaching openings.
Barber said he wants a coach with major Division I experience, either as an assistant or head coach.
He hopes to make the hire within a month.
"We want to move quickly, but we won't rush this," Barber said.
Liberty's outgoing assistant coaches - Alexis Sherard, Zack Jones and Dominic Okon - are unlikely to be considered for the head coach opening. They can apply for a job under the new head coach once he is appointed.
http://www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Sate ... th=!sports
- By Dalegarz1