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UNC-Willmington Basketball: Is C.B. McGrath in danger of losing his job?

By Hunter Moore

BALTIMORE, MD - MARCH 07: Justin Wright-Foreman #3 of the Hofstra Pride drives to the basket past Devontae Cacok #15 of the North Carolina-Wilmington Seahawks during the Colonial Athletic Conference Championship college basketball game tournament at Royal Farms Arena on March 7, 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE, MD - MARCH 07: Justin Wright-Foreman #3 of the Hofstra Pride drives to the basket past Devontae Cacok #15 of the North Carolina-Wilmington Seahawks during the Colonial Athletic Conference Championship college basketball game tournament at Royal Farms Arena on March 7, 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
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After UNC-Wilmington Basketball’s 16 point loss on the road at William & Mary on Thursday, the Seahawks are now riding a 10 game skid. Should the Seahawks be looking for a new coach in the near future amid C.B. McGrath’s struggles?

When C.B. McGrath was hired back in April of 2017 the UNC-Willmington Basketball program was coming off of back to back NCAA Tournament appearances and 3 Straight CAA Regular Season Championships. McGrath, who was a Roy Williams assistant for 18 seasons took over duties as the Seahawks head coach after Kevin Keatts took the NC State job after his success in Wilmington.

Rough Start

In his first 2 and half seasons as a D1 head coach C.B. McGrath holds a 26-56 record including six wins versus non-D1 opponents. If you remove the games against non-D1 competition his record is a putrid 20-56. This is bad to say the least, especially when you compare his 2 1/2 seasons to Keatts last in which his team had a 29-6 record after losing a close game to Virginia in the NCAA Tournament. So far in McGrath’s tenure, his teams have finished 245, 272, and currently are ranked 323 in kenpom. Defensively this is McGrath’s best team which ranks 299 in adjusted defense, which is horrible considering there are 353 Division 1 schools.

Transfers

So far in McGrath’s head coaching career in Wilmington, he has not been able to keep players within the program. In just 2 and half seasons, he has managed to lose 8 players who have departed the program for various reasons: Ty Taylor, Jaylen Fornes, Jeff Gary, Jacque Brown, JaQuel Richmond, Matt Elmore, Jeantal Cylla, and Carter Skaggs. Two of these players can be forgiven as Jeantal Cylla was a grad transfer who transferred up to Arkansas this past offseason, and JaQuel Richmond was dismissed from the program by McGrath in December of 2017.

C.B. McGrath certainly has time to turn this season around and possibly his UNCW tenure but the more this goes on the more the boat is sinking and passengers (fans and players) are jumping off ship. According to WatchStadium McGrath is the 72nd highest paid head coach yet the best his team has finished in KenPom is 245.

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UNCW administration is clearly not getting what they want from McGrath on the basketball court and it should be no surprise if they decide to release him from his duties after this season or next season.