Huskies Fire Romar

On Wednesday March 15 the University of Washington Huskies fired their men’s basketball coach a week after the season ended. He had been with the Huskies fifteen years however they had not been to the NCAA tournament the last six years.

The firing was a surprise to many however I am glad that it happened though Romar has been a class act and the reason they waited a week to fire him.

The Huskies lost their last thirteen games of the season. They had a good offense but the defense was horrible. They have one of the nation’s top recruiting class that includes Michael Porter Jr who played his senior season at nearby Nathan Hale High School considered the top high school team in the country and went on to when the state championship on the triple A level. Romar brought his father in as an assistant this coming season. Sounds like part of the deal to recruit Porter Jr. Also has another son that has been recruited to Washington as well.

It was reported early Wednesday that Porter Sr. had been hired as an assistant at Missouri where they hired a new head coach. Would not be surprised if Porter Jr.  follows his father there and his brother the next year. Porter Jr is expected to be one of those one and done players. Actually the Huskies had one of those players this year in Markelle Fultz who led the Pac-12 in scoring. It shows that having a one and done player will not necessarily give you success if you look at the Huskies program. In fact I would say that unless you are like Kentucky who fills their roster with one and done players the chances are likely you won’t be success. In fact the rules should change where a player stays two years or goes directly to the NBA. Fultz is a great guy along with being an outstanding player however he showed that the Huskies need more than just him to be successful.

It shows that Romar is a good recruiter however I wonder if his best coaching has been in the past. Without getting into details the Huskies have lost several players to their program the last few years.

Now the key is who the Huskies will look to bring in to take over the program? Since the Pac-12 is one of the top conferences in the country the Huskies should be a program that a coach would like to come into and rebuild. The Huskies have taken a financial hit in letting Romar go however I am sure they will find a way to get a good coach into the university. They could go with an up and coming mid-major coach or a top assistant coach. There is a top assistant in the state of Washington at a successful Gonzaga University that is one of the top seeds in the NCAA tournament and lost only one game all season. His name is Tommy Lloyd and has been at Gonzaga since 2000 and is only forty-two years old. He is apparently the heir apparent to Mark Few at Gonzaga however does he want to wait several years to take over the Gonzaga program or get a head coaching job now. I think that the Huskies program would be a great thing since I am sure he knows some of the recruits that are around the northwest though he primarily has been recruiting internationally for the Bulldogs. In my opinion he should go out now and make a name for himself instead of waiting to take over a successful program when Few decides to retire or move on.

It will be interesting to see what other coaches will want to look at coming into Washington. We thank you Romar for the work that you did at Washington and the best to you in the future. We hope that you land on your feet in a good way. Go Huskies!