So, you can file this one under ‘weak timing’. After going 69-112 in 6 plus seasons, Fordham University dismisses Coach Dereck Whittenburg after 5 games into the season…and during Jimmy V. Week.
Dereck Whittenburg was most famous for being the N.C. State play who threw that infamous high lob pass to Lorenzo Charles, during the 1983 National Championship game. Charles then slammed the ball in the hoop for a game winning dunk, leading to the famous footage of N.C. State Coach Jim Valvano running around the court with his arms out looking for someone to hug.
Anyone who has gone to a game at Fordham will tell you that Rose Hill Gymnaisum is one of the most fun places to go to a game. It is small and very intimate, located on the center of campus, you are put right along side the action and that can make it very loud and intimidating for any opposing team. Former UMass Coach Travis Ford (now with Oklahoma St) said that the locker rooms are under the student bleachers, so when students get pumped up before a big game, the noise can block out any pregame speech.
Basically Fordham is a small program, always have been and unless changes are made, they always will be. But, it can be a very special place for a young coach to build a program. With NYC darlings St. Johns and Seton Hall in a long rebuild, there is no king of NYC college hoops. So, when Fordham joined the Atlantic 10 in 1995, the Rams looked to be making at run for it. They hired former Knicks coach Bob Hill to build a program. His tenure was an absolute failure and Coach Whittenburg was brought in to replace him. Whittenburg’s task was not to rebuilt a program, but truly to re-image it after the damage Bob Hill did to the athletic program (talking loud and saying nothing.) Whittenburg just needed to get the community and alumni interested in Fordham Basketball again and remove that bitter Bob Hill aftertaste.
Despite the numbers, Coach Whittenburg had a good run at Fordham, building a program that went 2-26 in Hill’s last year. Whittenburg increased the win total each year, eventually going 18-12 in the 2006-2007 campaign. His Fordham program was clearly on the rise and now on the radar of the national media. At the end of the that season, N.C. State Coach Herk Sendick left the Wolfpack job and headed to the desert to rebuild the Arizona State program. N.C. State, who had been in the shadow of fellow Carolina ACC teams Duke, UNC, and Wake Forest, decided to bring in someone from the family and naturally Whittenburg was nominated for this job. The job eventually went to his 1983 teammate Sidney Lowe. However, Whittenburg was doing his job at Fordham, as attendance was up at the games, they were getting national coverage on ESPN and CBS College Sports (then CSTV). With no major roster changes coming, the next season looked to be even brighter. Expectations grew with the national media and going into the 2007-08 season even some national publications picked the Rams to challenge A-10 king Xavier for the conference crown.
Sadly, Whittenburg’s program did not continue to rise. The Rams went only 12-17 (6-10 in the A-10), which was a surprise to all. Last season, it just got worse, going 3-27 (1-15 in the A-10). In this game, your luck can change that fast, and after going 1-4 on this season this year, Whittenburg was dismissed.
I never agree with changing a program at this point into the season, because it is hard to change the direction of a program at this point into the season. This move was to assure fans, alums, boosters and people with the money that Fordham is taking its athletics seriously. As a hoops fan, I loved Coach Whittenberg, I don’t like the timing, but the move was right. It was impossible to not think this was coming. It is time to change direction but Whittenburg should be allowed to finish out the season. Or, at least not fire him during Jimmy V. Week, when everyone in the world of College Basketball tributes the man whom Dereck Whittenburg helped to win his only title. That tells me, the fan, that no matter how serious Fordham’s Athletic Department wants us to believe they are serious about the basketball program, they really do not understand the sport.
