I interrupt my vacation for this post on the latest FIU news.
Isiah Thomas is out as men's basketball coach. Good or bad for FIU?
For those who harrumphed I didn't provide more spring football coverage, I was assigned to a few other things during that time (Honda, Doral, Heat, Panthers, FIU hoop). By the spring game, I was one day into vacation (insert punch line here). That's likely to be the case as long as spring practice runs through March and any year the spring game runs up against my daughter's spring break.
Good for FIU, the firing was a little unexpected but understandable. The team was not progressing.
Posted by: panther fan | April 06, 2012 at 03:41 PM
Timing is peculiar. May be something to do with the new conference.
Either way, it was a roll of the dice that could have paid huge dividends had it worked out. But IT just couldn't pull out of his post-playing death spiral.
Posted by: FIUer | April 06, 2012 at 04:04 PM
Pete better have someone in mind, bc there will be defections from the team now that IT is gone. Have to bring in someone who can coach and recruit.
Posted by: j | April 06, 2012 at 04:14 PM
LMAO....... "Pete better have someone in mind, bc there will be defections from the team now that IT is gone."
Who the hell cares. The whole team is bad. FIU has a long way to go in Basketball. Im sorry FIU fans, but FIU basketball will never be big at FIU, I can understand the excitment about football, but basketbal? College Basketball? Child please.
If there is another sport that FIU should focus on is baseball, I would put more effort on soccer way before basketball. The funniest thing about this whole Isiah fisco is the details that are coming out. In one of the articles it stated the incentives that he got if he had several milestones; for example if Isiah and FIU won the NCAA Championship he would get $100,000....$100,000???? I dont know what is worse, the idea that Pete Garcia would think that was possible, or the fact that Pete low-balled Isiah and only offered $100,000, cmon we are talking about winning a National Championship, going up against Petino ad Callipari, lol. If Isiah could bring an Championship to FIU I say he would have gotten a statue in front of GC. I also like the fact that FIU is on a National search for the next head coach like if its an urgent issue.
FIU Basketball, just like those columns in arena...just not right.
What a joke.
Posted by: Peter Weinstein | April 06, 2012 at 11:12 PM
26-65 with games against Florida Memorial and other NAIA teams....
Real record against D-1 teams is more like 19-64!
Thank goodness he is gone. I'm buying season tickets just in support of his firing!
Posted by: chiapanther | April 06, 2012 at 11:31 PM
A coach with a 26-65 record gets fired? And that's a story...how? Let's face it, if his name wasn't Isiah Thomas it would have happened before this. The only thing surprising is the "timing". I agree with other posters, FIU basketball is an afterthought and it won't be getting any better soon....
Posted by: keyrat69 | April 07, 2012 at 09:56 AM
Thomas, with no college experience, was the worst possible hire for FIU. While he was an amazingly great player in the NBA and had a great act with kissing Magic Johnson at the start of games, he destroyed two NBA teams and was disgraced from the NBA. FIU was not the place for his redemption.
Posted by: The Dog | April 14, 2012 at 07:17 AM