Lamar disenchanted with Mike Deane?

[DeepGreen]

From the Port Arthur News

Bob West's column for Wednesday, March 12

Marlin, Kaspar underscore Deane's failure

Bob Marlin, the Coach of the Year in the Southland Conference, is in his fifth season at Sam Houston State. In the eight years prior to Marlin's hiring, the Bearkats had not once finished above .500 in league play, had averaged 19.2 losses per season and had placed as high as fifth in the standings only in 1991.

SHS, under Marlin, has twice won the regular season conference championship and twice won more than 20 games. The Bearkats sailed through league play this year with a 17-3 mark and are 21-6 overall headed into tonight's SLC semifinal against McNeese State.

Marlin's salary is $72,924.

Danny Kaspar, in his third season at Stephen F. Austin, led the Lumberjacks to a second place finish behind Sam Houston State. It was the only time SFA has finished higher than fourth in 16 SLC seasons. During that period, the Lumberjacks won more games than they lost only in 1996.

Kaspar inherited a program that had bottomed out the previous two seasons, posting 6-21 and 4-22 records, respectively, while going a collective 5-31 in SLC play. His first team went 6-14 in the Southland and finished 10th. Team No. 2 went 10-10 and placed fifth. In year three SFA went 16-4 against SLC foes, climbed to second and is 20-7 entering tonight's semifinal against Southwest Texas State.

Kaspar's salary is in the $102,000 range.

Earlier in the season, the Houston Chronicle spotlighted the program turnarounds Marlin and Kaspar had accomplished. One of Kaspar's comments was most interesting. What he basically said was that if he couldn't effect a reversal of fortune within four years, nobody would have to tell him to leave.

That brings us to fourth-year Lamar University basketball coach Mike Deane, whose time to leave has come. Deane just completed what, considering the expectations and experience level, may have been the most disappointing season ever at Lamar. The Cardinals were 10-10 in league play, 13-14 overall and failed to make the six-team field for the SLC post- season tournament.

Deane's high water mark in four years has been fourth place, with an 11-7 league mark and a 15-14 finish a year ago. It was his only winning season and the only time he finished above .500 in the appallingly weak SLC. His Cardinal team that stumbled home seventh this season did so despite having four seniors who started a combined 309 college basketball games.

Deane, by the way, has a current salary of $125,000 and is due bumps of $5,000 each of the next two years. That actually represents a sizable pay cut from his first three years because Marquette, after firing him, was responsible for the bulk of his contract. Lamar, during that period, was paying $85,000 of a deal believed to me in the vicinity of $180,000.

Whether on the hook for $85,000 or $125,000, Lamar clearly isn't getting much bang for its buck in the won-loss column. Especially when one compares Deane's snail-like progress to that of Marlin and Kaspar. Or when one considers that the Cardinals play in what is by far the league's best basketball facility and enjoy the SLC's only true home-floor advantage.

Away from the court, meanwhile, Deane is as solid as it gets. His players graduate and they are quality people. His positives include a concerted effort to bring back players from the past for an annual reunion. He went out of his way last year to see that Lamar retained the high school Class 4A regional at the Montagne Center.

There are numerous other examples of positive things Mike Deane has done. He's bright, witty and very good to deal with from a media standpoint. His relationship with the Cardinal Club has been exemplary. If you get to know the man, there is a lot to like and admire about him.

Unfortunately, there is little to like about his coaching, his recruiting and his feeble attempt to resurrect Cardinal basketball. Lamar, frankly, is no better off from a competitive standpoint than it was with Grey Giovanine, which, given my outspoken disdain for his coaching, is something I hate to admit.

Deane, as Lamar's basketball coach, is a fish out of water, a square peg trying to fit in a round hole. His style of coaching might be embraced in the Northeast, but it leaves much to be desired in Southeast Texas. Grinding, halfcourt basketball is a tough sell in this state, unless you are winning a very high percentage of games. He isn't.

Lamar, in going 52-62 under Deane, has averaged 62.9, 62.8, 70.1 and 65.6 points per game, respectively. Pass the No-Doz. His lone highlight -- winning the SLC tournament in 2000 -- was done mostly with Giovanine's players. Matter of fact, two of the best three players during the Deane era -- Landon Rowe and Lew Arline -- were Giovanine recruits.

Deane, because of his roots and the type player he wants, has been no factor as a recruiter in Texas. Counting his three early signees for next season from Missouri, North Dakota and Canada, 15 of 21 scholarships he's awarded have gone to out-of-state players. That's okay if you are bringing in difference makers. Up to now, he hasn't, although Jason Grant might be.

Then there's the matter of players who leave. Of the first 18 signees Deane brought to Lamar, five have left. Every program, to be sure, has players leave. Some get homesick, some are forced out by life-altering circumstances, some simply don't like the coach. But a 27-percent departure rate seems too high.

There is also the matter of Deane's in-your-face style with his players. Long after he's gone, Mike's legacy will be that of a coach who burned timeouts after defensive mistakes to deliver profanity-laced admonishments to the player who screwed up. Fans I hear from, fans who vent on my weekly radio show on KLVI, detest the recurring scene.

So the bottom line is that Lamar is caught between the proverbial rock and hard place.

On the one hand, LU president Dr. Jimmy Simmons and athletic director Billy Tubbs have to know Deane needs to be replaced. They understand impressions of a university are often formed, and donations often influenced, by the performance of its most high profile athletic program. It is the public's looking glass, so to speak.

The view through Lamar's athletic window is not good. A basketball program which should dominate at what is the lowest level of Division 1 basketball continues to be an also ran. A boring also ran. And, with four senior starters departing, the outlook for next year is dismal. If Deane stays, widespread apathy is assured. His precence will help sell tickets and sponsorships to a competitor for the entertainment dollar -- ice hockey.

On the other hand, heavy budget cutbacks leave Simmons in a terribly awkward position when it comes to pulling the trigger. There are donors who would probably put up the money to pay off Deane's contract, but it's not that simple. Simmons has to work through a state board of regents and the timing couldn't be worse to try and justify throwing away $265,000.

There is one ideal solution, but it remains a long shot. If Simmons could somehow talk Tubbs into coaching again, he'd have the best of both worlds. Under that scenario, Deane could be reassigned within the athletic department. No buyout, no hat-in-hand plea to the state board of regents would be necessary. And LU basketball would have instant credibility.

Trouble is, Tubbs, at age 68, is reluctant to return to the long hours that coaching would require. Plus, he'd taking taking over a team with few players physically geared to play his style of basketball. And all those long bus rides to off-the-beaten path towns in the Southland can't be very appealing to a guy who put that sort of thing in the rear view mirror years ago.

The dream of every Cardinal fan, then, just might turn out to be Tubbs' worst nightmare. The flip side, if he won't come back, is that Lamar is stuck in mediocrity for at least another year.

Bob West is the Port Arthur News Sports Editor.

[Buford_Julep]

Signing point-guard Isaac Hines of Dallas Molina should have given a huge lift to the program, but Hines never played a game for Lamar and now is at Collin Co. CC.