Whipped Cream Difficulties

Tom Fitzgerald out as general manager of the New Jersey Devils.

Although the Devils (40-34-3) entered Monday still mathematically eligible for the playoffs, they were seven points out of the final Eastern Conference playoff spot with five games left.

The way I read the ESPN article, they actually started out okay this season. But they lost a key player (Jack Hughes) to a “freak hand injury in mid-November that kept him out for 18 games”.

Missing Hughes was only the beginning, with the Devils losing five straight to end November and begin December. It was the first of four separate four-game losing streaks that made it difficult for them to attain consistency in a challenging Eastern Conference landscape.

Shortly after my previous post, word came out: the Chicago Bulls have fired general manager Marc Eversley and “executive vice president of basketball operations” Arturas Karnisovas. Tribune. Sun Times. ESPN.

Karnisovas and Eversley were hired to run the Bulls front office at the start of the 2020-21 season and went 224-254 across six seasons. Chicago achieved only one wining season under Karnisovas’ leadership, in 2021-22, which is also the only year the team made the playoffs — a five-game, first-round exit to the Milwaukee Bucks in 2022.

…

At the trade deadline, Chicago flipped over a large portion of its roster, dealing away seven players, including fan favorites such as Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu in an effort, as Karnisovas deemed it, “to get out of the middle.” But Chicago’s deadline moves did not dramatically improve their lottery odds or gain any pieces the team sees as part of its future, sources told ESPN. One of the players the Bulls acquired, Jaden Ivey, was dismissed last week after several social media posts ranging on topics including religion, anti-gay sentiments and depression.

Patrick Roy out as coach of the New York Islanders.

The Islanders have lost four in a row and seven of their past 10 games, going from comfortably in a playoff spot to needing help down the stretch in a competitive Eastern Conference race.

Amaka Agugua-Hamilton out as head coach of the University of Virginia women’s basketball team.

This is mildly interesting: UVA got as far as the women’s sweet 16 this year.

Agugua-Hamilton led the Cavaliers to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2000. She went 70-58, including a 29-42 mark in ACC play.
Virginia became the first double-digit seed to reach the regional semifinals since 2022 and pulled off the upset of the tournament, knocking off No. 2 seed Iowa on the road in double overtime in the second round.
It became the first First Four team to advance this far, before falling to TCU.

But: the backstory seems to be that she “created an environment where her support staff had feared for their jobs due to abusive behavior towards them and threats to fire them”.

Virginia sports reporter Jerry Ratcliffe reported, following the announcement, that the entire women’s basketball team, except for two players, had been preparing to enter the transfer portal.

Hubert Davis out as men’s basketball coach at the University of North Carolina.

He was 125-54 in five seasons, and went to the NCAA Tournament four times. But the consistent theme seems to be: he couldn’t produce results. (Does that sound familiar to anybody? Lawrence?)

Including this season, half of North Carolina’s all-time first-round NCAA Tournament losses have come in the past two years.

UNC lost to VCU in the first round this year, and blew a 19 point lead while doing so.

ESPN.

In a little bit of haste:

Dr. Kevin Granger fired as athletic director of Texas Southern University. Also, they took down his jersey. (He was a former basketball player for the school, and they had retired his number.)

“In June 2025, Texas Southern University was formally notified of serious allegations made in a civil lawsuit against Dr. Kevin Granger, who was then serving as Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics and Athletic Director,” TSU said in Thursday’s statement to Chron. “Based on the seriousness of the allegations and the advice of legal counsel, the University immediately placed Dr. Granger on administrative leave status. Associated with this action, two independent administrative inquiries into this matter, fully external to the University, under Title VII and Title IX were directed…

Wes Miller out as basketball coach of Cincinnati, per “sources”. Five seasons:

After going 18-15 in his first season at Cincinnati, Miller received a two-year contract extension just 20 months into his tenure. He went 23-13 in 2022-23 and 22-15 in 2023-24 but fell short of the NCAA tournament in both seasons.

18-15 this season as well.

Kim English out as head basketball coach of Providence.

English compiled an overall record of 48-52 and 23-37 in Big East play.

15-18 this season.

I think the NCAA men’s basketball tournament bracket is going to be announced this weekend. I don’t really care, except Gonzaga! (Because it is fun to say “Gonzaga!”)

But with the end of the regular season, comes the firings.

Bobby Hurley out as head coach of Arizona State.

Hurley finished 185-167 in 11 seasons at Arizona State, leaving as the second-winningest coach in program history behind Ned Wulk.

But:

Hurley led the Sun Devils to the NCAA tournament three times, including two straight in 2018 and 2019, but he needed to make another March Madness run if his contract was going to be extended.
Arizona State fell well short, finishing 12th out of 16 teams in the Big 12 at 7-11 and 17-16 overall following the 91-42 loss to Iowa State in Kansas City – the most lopsided game in Big 12 history.

…except a good firing.

Joe Scott out as men’s basketball coach.

The Falcons failed to finish better than 10th place in the Mountain West in any of his six seasons at the helm, including last-place finishes in each of the past two seasons. They were 3-14 (0-6 MWC) when Scott was suspended and haven’t won a game since.
In five-plus seasons, Scott went 15-78 in league play.

Mr. Scott was “indefinitely suspended” in January as a result of accusations that he “mistreated” his player. He was previously with Air Force from 1999 to 2004, and actually had a successful run there:

…he guided Air Force to the 2004 NCAA tournament, winning 22 games and the Mountain West regular-season title.

Jerome Tang out as head coach of the Kansas State men’s basketball team.

Even better, the firing is “for cause”, which means they don’t have to pay his $18.7 million buyout.

It seems like the precipitating incident is a rant Tang went on last week:

Fans protested against Tang during the team’s past home game by wearing brown paper bags over their heads in the student section at Bramlage Coliseum. K-State lost that game 91-62 to Cincinnati, and Tang blasted his roster afterward, saying the players didn’t deserve to wear purple uniforms.

“These dudes do not deserve to wear this uniform,” Tang said then. “There will be very few of them in it next year. I’m embarrassed for the university, I’m embarrassed for our fans, our student section. It is ridiculous … I have no answer. No words.”

…

K-State (10-15, 1-11 Big 12) is currently in last place of the conference standings and off to its worst start ever in league play. It has lost six straight games. During that losing streak, the Wildcats lost three consecutive home games by at least 24 points.

Tang was 71-57 in “nearly four seasons” as coach.