With one of Fordham's most anticipated recruiting classes and another year of experience for the remaining young players, many expected improvement over a 3-25 2008-2009 season for the Fordham men's basketball team. However, after a disappointing 1-4 start, those expectations were not being met so Fordham has decided to fire Head Coach Dereck Whittenburg.
Executive Director of Athletics Frank McLaughlin informed Whittenburg of the decision around noon on Thursday, Dec. 3.
"We have great respect for Dereck as a coach and person, and appreciate his contribution to Fordham, his integrity and his dedication to the student athletes," McLaughlin said in a press release.
Whittenburg finishes his Fordham career with a 69-112 record in seven seasons. Prior to coaching at Fordham, Whittenburg coached at Wagner, where he posted a 67-50 record and appeared in the NCAA tournament in 2003.
"I'm extremely disappointed our team is not performing better and I care a lot about the students and alumni and that's why I made the change," McLaughlin said.
Former assistant coach Jared Grasso will replace Whittenburg as interim head coach.
"It's always been my dream to be a Division I head coach," Grasso said. "I made it a goal to be [a head coach] by 31, and my birthday was four days ago – I turned 29 – and it wasn't looking good."
Fordham will immediately begin searching for possible replacements for Whittenburg on a national scale.
"Our main focus is to support the current staff," McLaughlin said. "The secondary focus is to focus on the future."
McLaughlin also indicated that he has already received interest in the position and included Grasso as a finalist for the job.
"This is based on poor performance, not one game," McLaughlin said. "We have a good freshman class, an easy schedule; it was important to win early."
So far this season Fordham has lost to Maine, Fairfield, Hartford, and most recently rival Manhattan 68-44 on Saturday, Nov. 28.
There were reports earlier in the week that sophomore guard Jio Fontan decided to transfer from the school; however, McLaughlin claims that they did not influence the decision.
"Fontan is not a factor, he's a great kid, but he's only one of 16 great kids," McLaughlin said. "He was at the meeting today, so we don't think he's made up his mind."
Fontan is tied for the team lead in scoring, averaging 15 points per game and is leading the team in assists with 4.2 per game.
McLaughlin said that he believes the team is capable of performing much better.
"The goal is to be a competitive team," McLaughlin said. "I don't care about the wins and losses. I care about playing well. If we play well winning and losing will take care of itself. We were not playing well; I think the players feel the same way."
In terms of what needs to change, McLaughlin looked at all aspects of the game.
''It starts with the defense; we have to rebound better," McLaughlin said. "We also need more balance and to work the ball inside more."
Fordham is ranked 287th out of 334 teams in the NCAA in scoring offense, averaging 62 points per game, and 193rdin scoring defense, allowing 68.6 points per game.
Grasso is in his fourth season at Fordham, having served the previous three seasons as an assistant coach. Before Fordham, Grasso was an assistant coach at his alma mater, Quinnipiac, in 2005-2006. He also served as an assistant at Hartford from 2003-2005 and as a graduate assistant in 2002-2003 at Hofstra. At 29, he is the youngest head coach in Division I, a year younger than the previous youngest coach, Dane Fife of IUPUI-Fort Wayne.
"Age won't be an issue, people can be great at something at 25, or not great at something at 50, it doesn't matter," Grasso said.
Grasso will debut Saturday, Dec. 5 at home against Bowling Green. He plans to play at a much different pace.
"We want to play faster, really fast," Grasso said. "We want to play games in the 80s and 90s. We're putting in new stuff in transition but we're just preparing for Bowling Green. Bowling Green is also a zone team, so it will be tough to do what we want."
That said, it will take some time before Grasso can implement everything he wants to.
"We need to move forward," Grasso said. "It's a new start; let's make it a new season."
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