Bacari fired

[ptctitan]

Det News article

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/college/2018/03/26/detroit-mercy-fires-bacari-alexander-two-seasons/33301069/

Detroit — Bacari Alexander’s once-celebrated return to his alma mater has come to an abrupt end.

Detroit Mercy moved on from the men’s basketball coach Monday after just two seasons — back-to-back eight-win seasons, the latest one filled with off-court drama, after Alexander served a seven-game suspension following a reported verbal altercation with a player during an early season practice.

The school made the official announcement late Monday afternoon. Jermaine Jackson Sr., once in Alexander’s wedding party, will be the interim head coach.

Earlier Monday afternoon, Alexander changed his official Twitter account to remove all mention of being Detroit Mercy’s head coach. His bio now reads, simply, “Husband, Father, Mentor and Coach.” On Sunday, he tweeted, “How you behave during adversity is very telling. Nothing last forever and that includes challenging times too! #compelled.” Just before that, he tweeted the Detroit Mercy logo accompanied by the tagline, “Forever Titans.”

Alexander and athletic director Robert Vowels didn’t immediately return phone calls and text messages from The News, seeking comment.

Vowels issued a brief statement as part of Detroit Mercy’s two-paragraph announcement.

“Bacari helped inspire a strong work ethic among players and staff during his time and always challenged players to be their best both on and off the court,” Vowels said in the statement. “We thank him for his efforts and wish him the best.”

The news first was reported by ESPN.

Alexander’s stint as head coach is the shortest at Detroit Mercy since John Mulroy lasted just the 1987-88 season, compiling a 7-20 record. Before that, David Gaines spent just two years on the job in 1977-78 and 1978-79, but he left for a better job at San Diego State after he went 47-10 in two years leading the Titans.

Alexander’s .254 winning percentage (16-47) is the worst in the history of the program, which dates to 1905. This past season, Detroit Mercy set a program record for losses, with 24.

He signed a reported five- to seven-year deal worth as much as $450,000 annually in 2016, after taking over for fired Ray McCallum Sr. Since Detroit Mercy is private, Alexander’s contract and personnel file aren’t subject to open-records requests.

Alexander left Michigan after six years on John Beilein’s staff to return to the private school for which he played from 1997-99, making two NCAA Tournaments.

The Titans were 8-23 his first year, but with a seemingly talented roster that included sophomore Corey Allen, freshman Jermaine Jackson Jr., Michigan transfer and redshirt junior Kam Chatman and graduate transfer Roschon Prince from Long Beach State, they were picked to finish fourth in the Horizon League this season. Vowels told The News he expected no worse than a .500 season.

But things started rocky, with a second consecutive exhibition-opening loss to Division II Wayne State. Nine days later, Alexander, 41, was conspicuously absent from a home game against Michigan-Dearborn on Nov. 13, and didn’t return to the bench until a Dec. 6 home loss to Toledo.

Extremely little was explained about his absence by Detroit Mercy officials, who termed it a “personnel” issue, after initially calling it a “personal” issue when he missed his first game. Alexander repeatedly to call it a suspension.

“What I can tell you is that,” Alexander said that day, “there was no doubt that I was gonna continue to be the head coach of Detroit Mercy for now and the foreseeable future.”

Jermaine Jackson Sr. coached the team in Alexander’s absence, and went 4-3. Vowels had high praise for Jackson during Alexander’s absence. Alexander didn’t coach his team to a victory until Jan. 10 against Cleveland State, snapping the team’s 11-game losing streak. Detroit Mercy had a nine-game losing skid in his first season.

The Titans lost both games to rival Oakland this season, flamed out amid a series of injuries and academic-eligibility issues (senior Jaleel Hogan and junior Tariiq Jones, the latter the player reportedly on the receiving end of Alexander’s in-practice tirade), and finished the year with four consecutive losses, including a first-round knockout by Green Bay in the Horizon League tournament. After the Horizon League tournament, Alexander still insisted there was progress being made, especially in the classroom.

Alexander’s coaching career began as an assistant at Detroit Mercy from 2001-07. He also coached at Ohio and Western Michigan before being hired by Beilein at Michigan. He played for the Harlem Globetrotters for a couple years, after a college playing career that began at Robert Morris in Pittsburgh and ended at Detroit Mercy.

Detroit Mercy will be searching for its seventh head coach since 1984, when Greg Kampe began his still-going tenure at rival Oakland.

The announcement comes just days before the Division I Final Four in San Antonio, where hundreds of college-basketball coaches will be gathering.

[udballer]

Tony Paul reporting that JJ is interim HC. So any hope you guys had of an immediate draining of the swamp is gone.

Not unexpected, but hopefully this isn't the first step toward making the wrong decision.

[Tacitus651]

Tony Paul reporting that JJ is interim HC. So any hope you guys had of an immediate draining of the swamp is gone.

Not unexpected, but hopefully this isn't the first step toward making the wrong decision.

I can't help but wonder if they hire JJ if they can get him on the cheap. Firing BA was the right decision, but the fact is the next few years of 990s filed by the university are going to show us paying BA 450K to do nothing. That's bad PR and it's impossible to spin in a good way. Sure, most people on this board agree with firing BA and eating the money, but it's safe to say a number of alumni won't like it when they read about it. And, make no mistake, Tony Paul will love writing about how BA is still on the payroll.

If the school could get JJ on a bargain, say about 275K to be near Kampe's salary and maybe only 2 or 3 years guaranteed, it could be a win win. JJ would get to coach his son and have his first college HC job. And, the university could at least tell alumni and donors that they've re-evaluated the MBB program and pay a lower but still competitive salary.

I'm not saying I want JJ to get the job, I'm just saying I could see it happening.

[ptctitan]

I can't help but wonder if they hire JJ if they can get him on the cheap. Firing BA was the right decision, but the fact is the next few years of 990s filed by the university are going to show us paying BA 450K to do nothing. That's bad PR and it's impossible to spin in a good way. Sure, most people on this board agree with firing BA and eating the money, but it's safe to say a number of alumni won't like it when they read about it. And, make no mistake, Tony Paul will love writing about how BA is still on the payroll.

Our replacement options are certainly much more limited now than if we had fired Bacari 3 weeks ago. Will the AD actually conduct a new search? Time is of the essence since the last search took 5 weeks before we named Bacari as a replacement.

[udballer]

I'm not saying I want JJ to get the job, I'm just saying I could see it happening.

I could see it happening too. In fact, I'm scared to death of it happening.

If the goal is to bring in another coach for $275K, there will be lots of options outside of just JJ.

[udballer]

I don't do Twitter. I'm wondering if anything has been tweeted by our 3 commits for 2018...

[Titans96]

There is plenty of time to find a new head coach. There are hundreds of potential candidates in San Antonio this weekend if someone wants to talk with them. The prior D1 coaching candidates are mostly still available, but they are not cheap and not stupid. There are also a few high level high school coaches who would be available and they are much more cost effective. However, if JJSr is still on the "required to keep list", then all the high potential quality candidates (current D1, D2 and High School coaches) will all be gone because they didn't want JJSr then, and they sure as hell don't want him now.

The top priority for the new head coach should be someone with the mentality and coaching style that DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS. Coaches who live by that mantra WIN, and they are also very good at recruiting strong players who want to win and play that style of ball. You can go down the list of great teams, and they all are "Defense Wins Championships" teams first.

[udballer]

There is plenty of time to find a new head coach. There are hundreds of potential candidates in San Antonio this weekend if someone wants to talk with them. The prior D1 coaching candidates are mostly still available, but they are not cheap and not stupid. There are also a few high level high school coaches who would be available and they are much more cost effective. However, if JJSr is still on the "required to keep list", then all the high potential quality candidates (current D1, D2 and High School coaches) will all be gone because they didn't want JJSr then, and they sure as hell don't want him now.

The top priority for the new head coach should be someone with the mentality and coaching style that DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS. Coaches who live by that mantra WIN, and they are also very good at recruiting strong players who want to win and play that style of ball. You can go down the list of great teams, and they all are "Defense Wins Championships" teams first.

So... you're saying you agree that Michael Thomas should be offered the job. I agree.

[JDetroitTitan]

I heard UDM is trying to get Andy Bronkema as the next UDM coach. Is this true?

[uofdmik2008]

I heard UDM is trying to get Andy Bronkema as the next UDM coach. Is this true?

That would be beyond awesome!

[TitanONeill]

Andy Bronkema. If we got him...that would be awesome. Make that happen! He'd appeal to the younger fan base with the beard. As for JJ sticking around as head coach...not keen on this.

[JDetroitTitan]

Andy Bronkema. If we got him...that would be awesome. Make that happen! He'd appeal to the younger fan base with the beard. As for JJ sticking around as head coach...not keen on this.

He also looks good in a red shirt

https://mobile.twitter.com/ferrisathletics/status/978349943214739456/photo/2

[Rogobob77]

Just received an email from RV, sent to all Titan Club members: “Important information is being shared about Detroit Mercy’s men’s basketball program. Please read and remember decisions like this are difficult.” The press release from the University was attached.

[Rogobob77]

Detroit Free Press story on BA’s firing (puts quite a bit of emphasis on the SMD incident):

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/coll ... 459436002/

[StJoeUofD]

This move only takes care of the outer surface of the problem. The cancer is still in charge of the program. Until the University is ready to get rid of the actual problem, Vowels, there is no righting of this ship. Only a desperate coach would take a HC job under an AD that isn't adroit enough to know that he is destroying a program when he doesn't let his leaders lead and doesn't make his followers follow. We are no better off today than we were yesterday and this problem will not be resolved until Vowels is not in charge. No vendetta, just experience and a quality Jesuit business education speaking.

The program is just a glorified AAU team being run by two overly involved Fathers. They can't have a team vision because they only see their own children and want to live surreptitiously through their children's potential future careers. This team and program is doomed until we only have coaches coaching, players playing and parents cheering. Mixing the roles is a recipe for disaster and we have tasted this for long enough. Neither of these boys is Danny Manning. Putting their Fathers on the bench is not adding to the program, only destroying the motivation of the other players. Wipe the slate clean or continue to eat from the platter of nepotism.

I have been a die hard Titan fan for 52 years. God willing, I will be one for 70. I don't care who the coach is and I don't care who the players are. All I can promise is that when we next go to the NCAA tournament, my bracket will have the Titans winning it all!

[R.B.J1]

I thought Bacari Alexander would get one more season. I dont think keeping Jackson Sr. on the staff was a terrible ideal. The problem occurred when Bacari Alexander decided to hire Canaan Chatman in order to land Kam Chatman. The coaching staff was able to reign JJJr. in somewhat towards the end of the season. Kam Chatman continue to do his thing with no repercussions. The favoritism shown to Kam Chatman and JJJr. costs BA his job. UDM paid an assistant coaching salary to Canaan Chatman for two seasons, and provided Kam Chatman two years of a full scholarship for 16 wins. Not a good return on that investment.

[Titans96]

This move only takes care of the outer surface of the problem. The cancer is still in charge of the program. Until the University is ready to get rid of the actual problem, Vowels, there is no righting of this ship. Only a desperate coach would take a HC job under an AD that isn't adroit enough to know that he is destroying a program when he doesn't let his leaders lead and doesn't make his followers follow. We are no better off today than we were yesterday and this problem will not be resolved until Vowels is not in charge. No vendetta, just experience and a quality Jesuit business education speaking.

The program is just a glorified AAU team being run by two overly involved Fathers. They can't have a team vision because they only see their own children and want to live surreptitiously through their children's potential future careers. This team and program is doomed until we only have coaches coaching, players playing and parents cheering. Mixing the roles is a recipe for disaster and we have tasted this for long enough. Neither of these boys is Danny Manning. Putting their Fathers on the bench is not adding to the program, only destroying the motivation of the other players. Wipe the slate clean or continue to eat from the platter of nepotism.

I have been a die hard Titan fan for 52 years. God willing, I will be one for 70. I don't care who the coach is and I don't care who the players are. All I can promise is that when we next go to the NCAA tournament, my bracket will have the Titans winning it all!

StJoe just nailed it! Well said and let’s hope the entire house gets cleaned soon.

[MooseGuy1]

A good decision, for as far as it goes. If the operative term on JJ is "interim" and we begin seeking a new head coach with true authority over his assistants that would be fine. But it's a dicey proposition. My guess is that Corey will still be gone unless JJ is removed as well as Bacari. That said, we will have a very barren cupboard if JJ Jr. and Kam Chatman leave (which they would if their fathers get canned). Furthermore, that's no guarantee that Allen would rescind his decision and return. But no coach of any high level is going to sign on with the caveat that he is required to keep 2 leftover assistants from the previous regime. This could spell trouble for the next couple of years no matter what we do.

On a personal level, it is indeed sad that Bacari's term was so disappointing. I believe he loves the university and is overall a good person despite some very bad missteps. I always feel sorry when someone loses something that meant so much to them. No hard feelings at all; I hope Bacari has a fine future somewhere else.

[udballer]

A good decision, for as far as it goes. If the operative term on JJ is "interim" and we begin seeking a new head coach with true authority over his assistants that would be fine. But it's a dicey proposition. My guess is that Corey will still be gone unless JJ is removed as well as Bacari. That said, we will have a very barren cupboard if JJ Jr. and Kam Chatman leave (which they would if their fathers get canned). Furthermore, that's no guarantee that Allen would rescind his decision and return. But no coach of any high level is going to sign on with the caveat that he is required to keep 2 leftover assistants from the previous regime. This could spell trouble for the next couple of years no matter what we do.

On a personal level, it is indeed sad that Bacari's term was so disappointing. I believe he loves the university and is overall a good person despite some very bad missteps. I always feel sorry when someone loses something that meant so much to them. No hard feelings at all; I hope Bacari has a fine future somewhere else.

Maybe someone from the Beilein staff will get poached following the loss to Loyola and he can go back to putting chips on the shoulders of Wolverines? I can't picture BA getting another shot at head coaching D1 after this. Hopefully he is able to provide for his family through assistant roles from here on out.

[uofdfan1983]

BA put himself in a tough situation this year; he was going to clean house and start over with a new staff. As much as I like JJ as a winner/competitor/loyal Titan, we need a set of coaches without any sons on the roster. This could mean a bevy of defections (more than half the team are JJ recruits) but I always hope and expect we will rise again. We've hit rock bottom; we need to make sure we cut loose from all the seaweed clogging the prop before next season gets started. It could be another ugly season but something had to give. I'm sad it was BA, but I cannot defend him or complain about the decision. I wish he had been given one more year but if nothing, Vowels can fire an employee.