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NCAA Basketball: 10 Coaches who have overstayed their welcome entering 2019-20

By Bryan Mauro

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - MARCH 14: Head coach Patrick Chambers of the Penn State Nittany Lions yells instructions to his team against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at the United Center on March 14, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - MARCH 14: Head coach Patrick Chambers of the Penn State Nittany Lions yells instructions to his team against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at the United Center on March 14, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /
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TUCSON, AZ – NOVEMBER 10: Head coach Jack Murphy of the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks watches the action during the first half of the college basketball game against the Arizona Wildcats at McKale Center on November 10, 2017 in Tucson, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)
TUCSON, AZ – NOVEMBER 10: Head coach Jack Murphy of the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks watches the action during the first half of the college basketball game against the Arizona Wildcats at McKale Center on November 10, 2017 in Tucson, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images) /

4. Jack Murphy – Northern Arizona

Northern Arizona basketball does not have a rich tradition in basketball. The Lumberjacks have only made the tournament two times in the history of the school. The Big Sky as a conference is a low mid major without a long line of history. The conference has had some successful players come out of the conference. One of them in Damion Lillard is a star in the NBA. Even so, the only way to make the NCAA tournament in this league is to win the conference tournament.

Under head coach Jack Murphy, the Lumberjack program has been one of the worst programs in the country. Outside of a surprise run to the CIT finals, Murphy has struggled to win games. The Lumberjacks have won 5, 9, 5 and 10 games the last four seasons respectively. When Murphy was hired it was his first head coaching job. No matter your tradition, and no matter the support of the program, those win totals are not going to cut it. This is year 8 of the Murphy experiment at Northern Arizona and it has not gone well at all, The Lumberjacks have gotten worse.

The Lumberjack administration hired Murphy away from Josh Pastner and Memphis. The current head coach proved he was a great assistant and will have no trouble getting another job as an assistant, should he be let go of his duties with Northern Arizona. Going into next season the expectations should be low for the Lumberjacks as the school has accepted the bottom feeding.

The Big Sky is a conference that with the right coach and enough talent is winnable. Even if Northern Arizona was able to hire a coach to get them into the top half of the league, that would be a tremendous improvement. With the product they are currently displaying on the floor is terrible and the Lumberjack fans and administration should demand more.

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