Saturday, March 31, 2001
[ AT THE FINAL FOUR ] Job security an issue for
NCAA men’s coachesRiley Wallace
Editor's note: University of Hawaii basketball coaches Riley Wallace, Bob Nash and Scott Rigot are at the Final Four in Minneapolis this week. They have agreed to provide the Star-Bulletin with their insights from one of the biggest spectacles in all of sports.Today, Wallace talks about the business end for coaches, including a bit on his own situation, and gives us his picks to win the games:
"Right now I'm up in the Nike suite, and I just came out of the NABC (National Association of Basketball Coaches) meeting. They talked about rules, but the big topic is that about 50 guys lost their jobs this year. The issue of job security has always been big for us, but it's getting worse. (Temple coach John) Chaney is leading an effort to get a list of the (university) presidents' names that have fired coaches, to get them to be accountable and determine what the criteria is for firing a coach.
"As for me, I'm going into the last year of a five-year contract. I don't know what's going to happen yet, but we'll see. In the last five years we went to the NCAA Tournament once and the National Invitation Tournament twice. There was one year with six wins, but that was after AC (Carter) left, and we were rebuilding. So I might have something to go in with.
"With Nike, our three-year deal is over now, but we're going to talk on Sunday. They're cutting back on their investment in college basketball, but I'm hoping we'll get renewed, considering we had a good year.
"Despite all that, yes, there is basketball going on here.
"I'm glad to see Arizona get in there and represent the west, even though I'm a graduate of Illinois. My guess right now would be Michigan State to win it all. They've got the experience.
"So Michigan State over Arizona in one semifinal. In the other, I'm hoping Maryland, but I'd probably lean toward Duke.
"I'm sticking with my pick of Michigan State, but you walk around the packed lobbies here and you hear all kinds of support for all four teams. It seems it's pretty even."