Fordham job is open
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Rams Men’s Basketball Head Coach Jeff Neubauer Leaving Fordham - Fordham University Athletics
Jeff Neubauer, men's basketball head coach is leaving Fordham, effective immediately, said Ed Kull, Fordham University's interim director of athletics.
fordhamsports.com
When I hear Fordham basketball I think back to Nick Macarchuk, liked that guy. Great school. Sha could be a nice fit there. Not sure how committed the school is to their basketball program at this time though.
No way I leave for that job if I’m Sha.
Grasso recruited well there and that would make a ton of sense if they can convince him to leave.
Location, Location Location. Its just tough to attract good players there and a very antiquated facility. Excellent school and many students seem to opt for the Manhattan buildings.
I agree the job is a career killer. Sha would have to recruit really well. I watched Fordham against URI without Fats Russell and they looked bad. Lost by 10 and it was not that close URI actually had more turnovers than FGs in the 2nd half. Fordham should be in the MAAC.
Tough place for Shah to win. Of course, St. Peter's is no walk in the park.
Although their current coach had done well at Eastern Kentucky or Tennessee, thought hiring a guy from there was odd for a NYC school that had tough times winning.
Fordham should have never left the MAAC.
The Fordham job was open at the same time Rutgers hired Rice after good years at Robert Morris. A Fordham grad and three-year assistant, they wouldn't touch him then. Can imagine any interest now.
Although their current coach had done well at Eastern Kentucky or Tennessee, thought hiring a guy from there was odd for a NYC school that had tough times winning.
Fordham should have never left the MAAC.
The Fordham job was open at the same time Rutgers hired Rice after good years at Robert Morris. A Fordham grad and three-year assistant, they wouldn't touch him then. Can imagine any interest now.
This has to be one of the worst jobs in the country right now. They haven't had a winning record in the A-10 since 2006-07 and a winning record overall since 2015-16. Before that you have to go back to the aforementioned 06-07 season for their previous winning season.
Not just sub .500 years either. Neubauer was 61-104 in six-plus seasons, Tom Pecora 44-106 in five years, Dereck Whittenburg had a few solid years but was 69-112 in six-plus seasons, Bob Hill was 36-78 in four years. Even Macarchuk was 161-192 in 12 years but his last six years he was 51-112.
The downfall was the move from the MAAC to the Patriot League in 1990-91 and thirty years later the program hasn't recovered. They were ill-equipped to move to the A-10 five years later and except for a few years haven't been competitive.
Not just sub .500 years either. Neubauer was 61-104 in six-plus seasons, Tom Pecora 44-106 in five years, Dereck Whittenburg had a few solid years but was 69-112 in six-plus seasons, Bob Hill was 36-78 in four years. Even Macarchuk was 161-192 in 12 years but his last six years he was 51-112.
The downfall was the move from the MAAC to the Patriot League in 1990-91 and thirty years later the program hasn't recovered. They were ill-equipped to move to the A-10 five years later and except for a few years haven't been competitive.
Fordham University pours much needed money into its basketball program to compete with Atlantic 10
PHILADELPHIA – There may be hope for Fordham, after all. The light bulbs finally came on Wednesday at the solid academic school in the Bronx when the Board of Trustees announced a courageous …
www.nydailynews.com
Terrific academic school. I would not take the job unless I had negotiated salaries for staff, recruiting, etc. 5 year no outs contract.
"U fail at St. Peter’s and your head coaching career is over before it got started. "
Very true; on the other hand the bar is so low there, with two-or-three fair seasons, he could be the next Cooley, Willard, or McCaffery.
Wasn't Fordham really overmatched even in the Patriot League? Know it was an attempt to look more cerebral, and football might have been a factor.
Is Sha going to Fordham a bigger gamble than Cooley going to Fairfield? Talk about a coaching graveyard.
Very true; on the other hand the bar is so low there, with two-or-three fair seasons, he could be the next Cooley, Willard, or McCaffery.
Wasn't Fordham really overmatched even in the Patriot League? Know it was an attempt to look more cerebral, and football might have been a factor.
Is Sha going to Fordham a bigger gamble than Cooley going to Fairfield? Talk about a coaching graveyard.
It's not the right move. Sha will likely have better opportunities than this. Almost anything would be given they are 250 games under .500 over 30 years and five coaches.
The one positive is based on their history, they will give whoever they hire five years to try to get things back on track.
Range of pay for new coach will be approx 1mil a season. Jaden Daly says Pecora was getting 750k and Neubauer was getting up to 700k per Zach B.
I have to laugh. Of course they're in very different places now but the way you started to describe their history made me think of Rutgers! 😂 Before last year RU didn't have an overall winning record for 10 years longer than Fordham...2005-2006! 😮
What really makes me laugh is that Fordham was in the tourney more recently than RU! 1992 for Fordham, 1991 for RU!
Bit of a nonsequitor but it's where my brain went while reading...and any chance to take a shot at Rutgers is good. 😈
Would love to see Fordham come back, wish them well in their search.
Seems like a win-win for both sides in that scenario. Fordham wouldn't have to deal with as much media scrutiny as a bigger school that brought on Rice as an assistant or HC. Assuming Rice wants to work his way back into college, it would give him a platform at good pay, close to home. He certainly still has recruiting contacts in the area via his involvement in various programs.
It's a job "stuck in the middle" if you will, which makes it really hard. The best local kids are going to be looking at the high-major locals if they want to stay close, plus you have all the bigger schools in other leagues that routinely recruit and poach NYC and the tri-state area. Under-the-radar kids that are interested in staying home and might be an option for Fordham have a number of local mid-major options to choose from that, frankly, have proved to be much better programs than Fordham for a long time now (Iona, Hofstra, etc). And now you have Ricky P looming in New Rochelle.
If you are a young coach looking to advance, you have a better shot at being successful at a Hofstra, Stony Brook, Iona, Manhattan etc than you do at Fordham because of the A-10 factor. This raises your profile, and if you win at those schools you can vault to a better option, like Wright, Pikell, Willard, and others have done in the past.
I always thought Cluess would have won there to some degree because he won everywhere. And he would have been able to sell kids as Fordham being Iona+ with a better league. Hence why I think Grasso is an interesting candidate. He had the interim job there and had Sean Armand wrapped up, and then proceeded to take Armand to Iona when he didn't get the job. Armand is the exact type of a kid that Fordham should target. Late bloomer, underrecruited, but by year 3 he could play in the Big East. And Grasso proved to be a tremendously effective recruiter at Iona, both getting local kids out of prep or via the transfer route.
Fordham fires men’s college hoop coach Jeff Neubauer
The daunting job that is Fordham men’s basketball has spit out yet another previously successful coach. Jeff Neubauer joined the club on Monday that includes Tom Pecora, Dereck Whittenburg, Bob Hil…
nypost.com
From the article why the hell would any of these guys consider it unless they need a big pay check?Fordham fires men’s college hoop coach Jeff Neubauer
The daunting job that is Fordham men’s basketball has spit out yet another previously successful coach. Jeff Neubauer joined the club on Monday that includes Tom Pecora, Dereck Whittenburg, Bob Hil…
former head coaches with past success in the area in Steve Lavin and Fran Fraschilla, veterans types like Pittsburgh assistant Tim O’Toole, Washington assistant Jerry Hobbie, a Fordham alum, and former Georgia Tech and George Mason head coach Paul Hewitt,
Ego.
This is a program with some history to it although those days are long in the rear view mirror. I think that could appeal to someone established like a Lavin or Fraschilla. Mind you, I don't think either one of them takes the job with a 20-foot pole. My guess is neither has a great desire to get into the coaching game at this point. That doesn't mean Fordham can't ask.
It would greatly help them if they could get a reasonably established name with some local ties. I'm not sure who that guy is offhand. Otherwise they might well chew up and spit up another up and coming coach.
For Sha to consider leaving St.Peters for Fordham or any other school there are really two questions that have to be answered :
1. Is the school in a better and higher rated conference then the MAAC and the Athletic Ten conference is far superior to the MAAC .
2. How committed is the school to success and does it have the financial resources and infrastructure to attract the talent needed to succeed and if it doesn’t will it commit to doing so .
1. Is the school in a better and higher rated conference then the MAAC and the Athletic Ten conference is far superior to the MAAC .
2. How committed is the school to success and does it have the financial resources and infrastructure to attract the talent needed to succeed and if it doesn’t will it commit to doing so .
Fordham is in a far better Conference, the Atlantic 10 then the MAAC is and Fordham most recent report shows it spent $5,075,500 on basketball and $7,594,200 on football while St.Peters spent just $1,041,400 on basketball. The question that remains answered with the Fordham position is what are the reasons behind why it can’t have success and are they fixable . While coaching in the A-10 is a step up in Conferences I don’t see Sha as a viable candidate as he would need more seasoning and a longer head coaching resume at a school where the pressure will be on for them to hire a proven winner.
Yes they do but the 2020 season was cancelled because of the pandemic. They have had three straight losing seasons in 2017, 2018 and 2019 but in 2014 they were 11-3 and in 2015 and 2016 they were 9-3 and 8-3 respectively.
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Hall 87 offers some interesting coaching possibilities, but all are white bread; can't imagine Lavin wanting it. Wonder if it were available last ear, would Pitino have bitten? Would the Jesuits be interested? Remember, confession, Acts of Contrition, and dollars coming in can make the Church forget a lot of things. Save Rick, all remind one of Bob Hill of yesteryear.
Another thing Sha has to consider is in the MAAC and as St. Pete's, more than in other conferences, he could have a 5-25 year. Remember Jeff Ruland at Iona.
But you know who is not a [completely] insane thought? Gonzo. He'd come cheap, knows the territory, would light up the tiny gym, and get a lot of publicity. Of course he could single-handedly drive its well-earned academic reputation into the ground. The issue would be, could he point things in the right direction there before self destructing.
Another thing Sha has to consider is in the MAAC and as St. Pete's, more than in other conferences, he could have a 5-25 year. Remember Jeff Ruland at Iona.
But you know who is not a [completely] insane thought? Gonzo. He'd come cheap, knows the territory, would light up the tiny gym, and get a lot of publicity. Of course he could single-handedly drive its well-earned academic reputation into the ground. The issue would be, could he point things in the right direction there before self destructing.
With no emotional investment in Fordham, I would be absolutely fascinated to see how this played out. The first three reasons you lay out are all compelling, as far as the positives go. But how bad could it get? Hard to say, but the fact is that Gonzalez has been out of the college game for a full decade-plus now. That's a lot of time to reflect on his career up to 2010. Is he capable of analyzing himself critically and being able to diagnose the many things he did wrong? Some will say he is not a bad guy at his essence but rather, is profoundly insecure and I think that caused most of his problems. But he can coach, and (when with the permission of everyone in his home) can certainly recruit. Is his rep still too damaged from a decade ago? I know he wouldn't get a job in the Big East again, but if Fordham wants to ever be competitive in the A-10, it needs to throw up a Hail Mary here. I can't see any quality conventional choice wanting to take on that lift, but Gonzo?
But if a coach were to turn a program that has been bad for so long around there would be a good chance of being offered a head coaching position in an even better conference . Is it any different then the general view about the future of the SH program following the BG meltdown and look at the fact that Kevin’s name has surfaced as a potential candidate in a power five conference because of the success he’s had in turning our program around.
The kid Nick Honor was a very good recruiting win for Fordham 3 years ago, got him out of Florida, all the way to Fordham....after a very good season 1 at Fordham, off he goes to the transfer portal and gets high major offers and lands at Clemson.
Honor rang up 16PPG as a frosh....if he stayed at Fordham, this coach is still there and Fordham probably is in the middle of the A10 if by chance he stayed at Fordham until this year.
www.espn.com
Whomever takes this job, has to figure out how to keep the local, extremely underrated kids that are probably leaking out to Iona, to get to Fordham.
I don't think Fordham has a chance to ever win if they don't hire someone local. My guess is it will take 6 years and around 5M total, to get someone attention. (850K per year might do it).
Don't count out some of the Ivy League coaches who have some recruiting experience and can convince the ego-less kids to stick around and do what Mooney has done down in Richmond.
Honor rang up 16PPG as a frosh....if he stayed at Fordham, this coach is still there and Fordham probably is in the middle of the A10 if by chance he stayed at Fordham until this year.
Nick Honor Career Stats - NCAAM - ESPN
Complete career NCAAM stats for the Missouri Tigers Guard Nick Honor on ESPN. Includes points, rebounds, and assists.
Whomever takes this job, has to figure out how to keep the local, extremely underrated kids that are probably leaking out to Iona, to get to Fordham.
I don't think Fordham has a chance to ever win if they don't hire someone local. My guess is it will take 6 years and around 5M total, to get someone attention. (850K per year might do it).
Don't count out some of the Ivy League coaches who have some recruiting experience and can convince the ego-less kids to stick around and do what Mooney has done down in Richmond.
A reminder that Eric Paschall also spent his freshman year at Fordham and won A-10 Rookie of the Year averaging nearly 16 points and 5.5 rebounds a game. He transferred to Villanova after Tom Pecora was fired and the rest is history.
Bobby Gonzalez and Mike Rice are two guys who fit that established coach with local ties mold but both come as damaged goods and have not coached in any form at the college level in some time. Given the low point of the program, it might be worth the gamble to bring one of them back. Fordham will certainly draw scrutiny if they went in that direction but if that coach stayed out of trouble and got them on the right track that will pass.
I doubt they go that way but as SHU Source notes, it's fascinating to think about.
Bobby Gonzalez and Mike Rice are two guys who fit that established coach with local ties mold but both come as damaged goods and have not coached in any form at the college level in some time. Given the low point of the program, it might be worth the gamble to bring one of them back. Fordham will certainly draw scrutiny if they went in that direction but if that coach stayed out of trouble and got them on the right track that will pass.
I doubt they go that way but as SHU Source notes, it's fascinating to think about.
Not sure former Ivy League coaches' records are all that stellar. Sidney Johnson at Fairfield, JTIII, the guy from Cornell who went to BC and now is back in the Ivies. Dunphy is an exception.
My impression is that Fordham is not wanting for money.
I think this might be the million dollar question: to what extent are academics an issue? I posed on this board several years ago if Seton Hall had higher requirements for incoming scholarship athletes than minimum NCAA standards, and I was almost laughed out of the room. The consensus was that, other than the Ivies, very, very few DI programs hold student/athletes to more than NCAA minimum standards. Is Fordham in this latter cohort as well?
My impression is that Fordham is not wanting for money.
I think this might be the million dollar question: to what extent are academics an issue? I posed on this board several years ago if Seton Hall had higher requirements for incoming scholarship athletes than minimum NCAA standards, and I was almost laughed out of the room. The consensus was that, other than the Ivies, very, very few DI programs hold student/athletes to more than NCAA minimum standards. Is Fordham in this latter cohort as well?
