Phillips: Team needed a “new voice” to move forward

Posted by Philip Rossman-Reich on Saturday, March 16, 2013 · 45 Comments

NCAA Basketball: Fairleigh Dickinson at Northwestern

If you want to watch Jim Phillips’ press conference CLICK HERE.

Jim Phillips did not take his decision to fire Bill Carmody after 13 years as Northwestern’s head coach, announced Saturday morning, lightly. A somber Jim Phillips addressed the media letting them know everything that Bill Carmody has meant to the Northwestern basketball program and what he envisions for the future of Northwestern basketball. In the end though, a decision had to be made and Northwestern needed to move forward.

Phillips said he expects all of the programs at Northwestern “from football to field hockey to fencing” to compete for and win Big Ten championships. And so looking at the body of work these past 13 years, it was time now to make the change.

And so Northwestern will search for a men’s basketball coach for the first time since 2000. Phillips said he will be looking for someone that will “embrace recruiting” and embrace the academic and athletic culture at Northwestern. To assist in that, Phillips said Northwestern has contracted Parker hiring services, who helped Iowa, Illinois and Nebraska in their coaching searches, to assist in the process. Phillips gave no timetable for when the decision will be made, only saying he will not come to the office on Monday with a coach in mind.

It was clearly an emotional day for Phillips as he talked about the emotion-filled meeting he had with players earlier in the day, with the coaching staff and with Carmody himself.

Phillips said he made the decision Friday, but wanted to sleep on it before making the decision final. He informed Carmody on Saturday morning of his final decision, he said. And Carmody handled the news “with class as he always does.”

For all the complaining about Carmody and the hand-wringing over his never getting Northwestern to the NCAA Tournament, he accomplished a lot with Northwestern. Phillips made sure to mention those accomplishments so that they were not forgotten even on a day the program was moving on. Carmody took a program that could not even dream of a postseason to four consecutive NIT berths and a level of respectability the program has not had in a very long time.

It was obviously difficult to say good bye to all of that. And Phillips admitted that there is a risk that the program takes a step back. But Phillips envisions more for the program than “just” NIT appearances. That is what this decision ultimately came down to.

The team was still reacting and now Phillips is working with the team to get their input on what they want from a new coach and helping them deal through the change. Phillips was asked specifically about Drew Crawford, who is expected to get a medical hardship and be eligible next year, but could very well leave the program since he will graduate this year. Phillips said he will have a one-on-one meeting with Crawford early next week.

Phillips said he hopes Crawford is the catalyst for the team coming together under the new coach and propelling the program forward next year.

As for the recruits, Phillips said he made initial contact with Nate Taphorn and Jaren Sina and will talk with them in full later today. Phillips said he hopes they will both decide to stay with Northwestern, but will respect their decisions to leave if that is what they decide to do.

Taphorn told Nicholas Medline of Scout that he will honor his commitment to Northwestern and will not make a decision until he meets the new coach. But Medline noted Taphorn did not seem happy that Carmody was dismissed.

Taphorn, though not happy, will stay. MT @rlins12Hope someone asks Dr. Jim about likelihood NU hoops takes step back thanks to decommits

— Nick Medline (@NicholasMedline) March 16, 2013

There are a lot of pieces to clean up. The current assistant coaching staff has not been ruled out for anything and their future is very much in flux.

Just like everything else. The future is very uncertain for Northwestern as the program begins the coaching search in earnest and begins preparations for the next season. The one thing Phillips wanted to do was make sure the program could continue recruiting. Phillips said he did not want recruits being left in the air as Carmody played out the final year of his contract. He now wants a coach who will “embrace” recruiting and build the program. That was often a criticism for Carmody.

The deed is done now. Northwestern will go quiet as it conducts its search. The next time we hear from Jim Phillips it will be to introduce a new coach.

Category: Bill Carmody, Jim Phillips · Tags: Bill Carmody

cece

i would just add that Phillips was pretty pointed in saying to stop the complaining about the basketball facilities. that was very interesting.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004095851781 Bob Parkman
  
  Facilities – can we at least get a decently painted floor? This last re-do really blows.
  - Scott Feeney
    
    AGREE. It looks like someone coughed up Robitusin Cough Syrup all over the floor.
  - cece
    
    well, Phillips may have told all to shut it about facilities, but, who cares. yes, that floor is not even the right color! test it in person, test it on tv feed, get the color right!
- Db
  
  I agree with him 1000%. Enough with it. Teams win before they build things (ex Nebraska, which is a special case).
  
  And you definitely can’t have your coach bitching about it undermining the university. Carmody bringing that up every time he was asked couldn’t have helped his positioning with JP.
  
  THE most telling thing by far was having to say that he needs a coach that likes to recruit. The fact that he had to spell that out defines why today happened.
  - Noah
    
    agreed, you cant publicize a negative like that, and its only one component. JP has shown an ability to get facilities done, and to hold back the info until its time for a big announcement. It will happen, but not today
Thedude

Sorry to see Bill go. But it was time to make a change. I hope that who ever they chose will push hard and move the team forward
Cletown Joe

The fact that Phillips basically stated that Carmody was fired this year and not fired last year because of the length of his contract does not bode well for our future. While I feel the move today was a mistake, the idea that he was retained last year because he still had two years left on his contract speaks volumes. Excuse me Penn St and Nebraska, is there room at the table for both Rutgers and us? I know you promised our seat to them but we have decided to stay.
- Db
  
  I would not read into that. He said one of the reasons he was fired is because he would have had to give him an extension now and it wasn’t warranted. He didn’t get fired last year most likely because it was the best team he has had.
  - Cletown Joe
    
    You can look at it two ways and both are reflective of poor decision making…either Phillips wanted to fire him last year but NU didn’t want to eat two years or he would have kept him this year if he had two years left. Phillip couldn’t honestly think Carm deserved to keep his job last year but lose it after this injury busted season.
    - Noah
      
      I agree its a bit strange to not fire him last year, but fire him this year given the relative teams and their drawbacks. But thinking long term, why keep him another year if you wont keep him past that? Rip off the band aid and move forward. Im sure NU was conflicted as we have been here on the forum, not an easy decision. But it is made, lets move forward together
- FinallyAccountable
  
  Cletown, a few things. One, reading into comments, it seems like this most recent contract extension was a make it or break it type deal. Even reflecting on JP’s comments in March 2012 regarding the decision to retain: “We had another solid season competitively, but let me be perfectly
  clear: we are not satisfied …” (i.e. Carmody knows what the bar is, and he has to hit it. We’re going to hold him accountable). Eventually, the runway for excuses has to end, regardless of how unfortunate the injuries were this year. You can’t continue to say “just wait until next year” after 13 years. It makes sense that after failing, yet again, to hit the bar, Carmody was let go with a year left due to the very reason that JP outlined in the press conference – he would have been a lame duck and therefore at a disadvantage recruiting. Seems like he got a fair shake to me.
  
  Secondly, it’s a press conference and to a large extent, in a situation like this everything needs to be taken with a grain of salt. JP is taking questions and trying to be as classy and as general as he can be to avoid getting into details. He was clearly drained after a long couple of days as evidenced by his one-word “Yes” response to one of the questions.
  
  A sad day, but one that had to absolutely occur. The program needs new life.
Cletown Joe

Given today’s decision, I would love a post on Sina’s options. At this point, who has a scholarship to offer him? Or does that depend on early exiters to the NBA? Unclear on this process. Also is it true that Cobb wouldn’t have to sit out a year because he sat out this year?
- Db
  
  No, that isn’t true about Cobb, unless he got a hardship transfer to Atlanta like prater.
  
  Sina would be crazy to leave.
  - cece
    
    while I certainly appreciate the words from Phillips that current players and recruits will be supported in choices, why was Phillips so downcast in his attitude towards NU? he said the words but it felt so unconvincing. recruits and current players should love much about NU because of all the things we love about the education, the location. Phillips said the words, but I’m not feeling it from him. why?
    - SinkHole
      
      Agree with you cece. There is no way to be optomistic about Northwestern basketball by watching that press conference.
      - cebpd
        
        optomistic?
    - Smolmania
      
      Looked to me that Dr P was downcast because circumstance forced him to do something very distasteful – fire a guy who had done great things for northwestern
      - cece
        
        having fired people before, I get that. but I also get putting on a good corporate face. there was an opportunity to bring it for the university. calling a press conference is meaningful. if you bring meaning.
    - Noah
      
      I respect JP for recognizing the difficulty in firing someone who has given us so much. While it may not be all we wanted, Carmody has accomplished something special at NU. Any coaching change usually takes a few years to work out, and JP loves his student athletes–Im sure he feels bad for them. However, you play for the name on the front of the jersey. NU will support its athletes and it is still the best university in the world to be at. Go Cats!
- http://www.facebook.com/haberstr John Haberstroh
  
  He has/had an offer from Butler, and if I were him I’d look long and hard at it. Great young coach and emerging tradition. Hopefully we get an excellent Carmody replacement in soon or sooner.
  - NU68
    
    Yep .. And he did it with crappy facilities built in 1928. The facilities excuse is utter BS.
    - PDXCat
      
      Really? So athletes at Oklahoma State are there because of the rich tradition, world class education, and appeal of the thriving Stillwater metropolitan area. Not the zillion dollar playground for pampered teenagers T Boone Pickens built. And the same non-facilities appeal is going on with Oregon. Which also happens to have an even more atrocious hoops court than NU’s. Keep telling yourself that facilities don’t matter to recruits. Fitz certainly doesn’t feel that way about his new facilities. Something about a game changer I recall him saying . . .
      - NU68
        
        You mentioned everyone (almost) except the school we were talking about … Butler … they don’t fit your steriotype: we gotta have great facilities to be great … also, look at Gonzaga a perpetual NCAA contender … the list could go on and on.
- http://www.facebook.com/prossmanreich Philip Rossman-Reich
  
  I have a post on Sina and the other recruits and everything that is in limbo due up this afternoon.
NU55MBA

I hope we get a man like Dave Paulson from Bucknell. What a super record from a school with academics and sports. He brought Bucknell from a losing record to championships in two years. And has been to NCAA in the last two years as champion of the Patriot League. His bio is outstanding. And, has worked with President Schapiro at Williams. Looks like that would give him leg up from Day 1.
- hj
  
  Sounds like a crappier version of Carmody. I don’t understand the Paulsen love.
RealityCheck

Whether you were for or against Carmody returning next season, JP’s press conference wasn’t what any of us wanted to hear. There obviously is no master plan in place to alter NU’s approach to basketball. Facility improvements directly associated with basketball appear off the table. Unless JP is one heck of a poker player there obviously is no replacement coach locked in. The fact they are hiring the same firm several other Big Ten schools have used to hire their new basketball coach doesn’t impress me. Our job is clearly less attractive than the others. Certainly the University of Illinois coaching search which the firm was involved with was a public relations disaster. The pool of potential NU coaching candidates is the same as our pool of potential basketball recruits, i.e. much smaller. JP seems intent on selling NU hoops the way it’s been sold for decades … the worth of a degree, our proximity to Chicago, the ability to compete in the best conference in the country etc … Some of those factors certainly may have sold you or I on attending Northwestern but it doesn’t work regarding high school basketball players. Most top players are thinking of majoring in “pre-NBA”, not pre-med. In reality he seemed to admit that the overriding factor to fire BC was the fact that he only had one year remaining on his contract. This doesn’t make sense to me given that no one outside the university knew how long his contract ran. I realize its early in the process and we can attempt to be unconditionally optomistic but I feel like the NU basketball time machine has sent us back to the year 2000. And believe me, that’s not a good place to be.
- Noah
  
  I am not that concerned. Jim Phillips has shown a remarkable ability to have a poker face, to play for the long term, and to “win like a wildcat.” I have a lot of confidence in him and doubt that this decision was made in a vacuum without any options. We all want all information now, but we must respect the process. Fortunately, we have a great administration that finally understands the value of athletics and knows how to be a contending program on and off the field that shapes the lives of so many in a positive fashion. Go Cats!
  - PDXCat
    
    So you have full faith in a guy that signed someone to a 2-year extension then cut him after 1 when the final decision was “about 13 years”? If it was about 13 years why not last year? And this doesn’t make a potential coach leery? Okay you’ve got 4 years to fix this and if you’re decimated by injuries in year 3, you’re gone.
Cletown Joe

I just hope that Phillips is able to avoid the embarrassment the Illinois AD experienced last year and keep the polite rejections of his pursuit out of the public eye.
Chasmo

JIm Phillips told us that Bill Carmody was fired because he can’t recruit. Think about it — four straight winning seasons, including two 20-win seasons, and four straight NIT bids — yet the best he could do was Sobo, Demps, Turner, Abrahamson, Olah, Lumpkin, Ajou Taphorn and Sina the past three recruiting seasons. Only Sina can be considered a recruiting “coup” for NU and even then it’s not as if he is a consensus top 100 player.

The new coach has to be a charismatic recruiter. And if he is a charismatic recruiter, he can recruit Crawford, Cobb, Sina and Taphorn to stay.

It’s very sad to see Carmody go because he was a good man and a great coach. But NU needs a great recruiter. As coaching legend Frank McGuire once said, “You just coach and I’ll just recruit and I will beat you every time.” Coaching is overrated. It’s impossible to overrate recruiting. A great coach is simply not as much of a difference maker as a great recruiter is.

Let’s see if Phillips can recruit a great recruiter to come to NU.
- SFTFame
  
  What does he have to recruit with? He can’t sell facilities, institutional support for the program. From the press conference, a new coach still won’t have that to work with. He cant really sell a path to the NBA. How do you sell NU? You can sell world class academics, but so can Duke, Stanford, and others, and they have facilities and institutional support. You can sell Chicago, but there aren’t any games planned for the United Center anytime soon. You can pitch being “the man” and making history, but if you think for a second that coach Carmody wasn’t making that pitch, you’re delusional.
  
  Essentially you are looking for a used car salesman.
  - Estif
    
    We aren’t recruiting against Duke and Stanford right now. Let’s start by recruiting well against Purdue, Marquette, Iowa, etc and take it from there.
- SnakeOil4Sale
  
  I realize it’s a new regime but remember that Kevin O’Neill was sold to us as exactly that.
hudhaifa3

Everybody outside the NU programs seems to think this was a dumb move. I agree. Let’s go back to the 6-9 win season. Too many damn people calling for him to be fired and the AD caved. Most of you live in a damn dream world when it comes to NU basketball. This team will never win a Big Ten Title.
http://twitter.com/jdw73 Jack White

The press conference left me with a queasy, “here comes the train wreck” feeling. After sleeping on it, I think there are two reasons for that. (1) The decision to replace BC was effectively made a year ago. Realistically, there was little chance of making the tournament this year without Shurna, yet Dr. Jim didn’t have a replacement in his pocket. Dr. Jim has had a year to get his ducks in a row, but doesn’t seem to have done it. (2) The irritation about facilities is strange. It was Dr. Jim who raised the expectations of investment by surveying season ticket holders, going on a facilities tour, incubating the egg of an idea for months, and then coming forth with an immense training facility that will mostly help recruit football players, and will have side-splash benefits for other sports (especially lacrosse, as anyone who shivered through yesterday’s thrashing of Harvard can say). Venue upgrades now appear to be back-burnered. That’s fine, money is short, but take ownership of defeated expectations.

In my time, starting with Larry Glass, NU has had a long run of BB coaches who were good coaches and good men, who flamed out under the conditions they worked under. Even KON had coaching creds, of sorts. Bill C is the only guy who persevered. The real question to ask, and to be answered, is why has this long run of good coaches and good men all fallen short of the NCAA goal (and is this a reasonable and fair goal anyway?). What are the internal barriers to “success,” however defined, and how are they to be removed – any no, I don’t mean academic standards, even more chimerical than facilities. Is there a plan? We’re waiting to hear.
- Joehaddock
  
  Agree that Carmody made us competitive whereas no one else did since I’ve been a fan – 1964 freshman at NU. We should have thanked him, bemoaned his terrible luck this year, hoped for next year, and made a long term plan to improve the whole program, facilities and all.
CliffG

Phillips is a good guy and he did something he didn’t really want to do. So of course he was downcast. What kind of a jerk is happy about firing somebody as classy as Carmody? As for optimism, it can return. If the recruits don’t bolt and the current team returns healthy, we’ve got a pretty good crew for next year. Add a coach with some energy and we’re on our way.

As for facilities, they are NOT “off the table.” Phillips knows what he’s going to do with the facilities, but there will be no announcements until it’s a done deal, same as with the lakefront practice facility. When ground has broken for that, start listening for news about Central Street.
- Barbara Baller
  
  Money doesn’t grow on trees. Lakefront facility kills any chance of upgraded BB facilities. Unless it includes BB practice court, which, per Phillips press conference, I don’t think it does.
  - CliffG
    
    On other occasions, Phillips has talked about the “athletic complex” on Central street being “next” but that it can’t be discussed (i.e., publicly) until the lakefront facility is paid for. The U is well on its way to raising the money for that and is also launching a $3 Billion capital campaign. I guarantee Phillips has an idea for what should happen on Central Street. We just won’t hear about it for a while. That doesn’t mean it’s dead.
    - PDXCat
      
      Great! So they’re in it to win it. Some day . . . Just not now. Or soon.
  - Ron
    
    And that makes no sense. Why would basketball be excluded from the lakefront facility?
Matt

The upshot of JP´s conference: NU expects to find a Gary Barnett of BB. Someone who, with our relatively abysmal facilities and Ivy league academic standards, and no commitment from the administration to give change anything, will somehow phenomenally recruit us into the dance and make us competitive in arguably the toughest conference in BB.

Well, dream on, Dr. JP and Cat fans. It ¨ainta gonna¨ happen! Oh, sure, some young upstart will take the job as a stepping stone to build his career. And four years or so, down the pike, in frustration, he´ll move on.

So, it´s going be more of the same that we have been experiencing for 75 years or so.

¨It´s the administration, Stupid!¨ They don´t give a hoot.
JimGoCats93

The quote from McGuire is appropriate.

As a teenager I watched Lefty Drisell pull Maryland up from the basement to a premier program. As an adult (some would question that label), I watched Carmody attempt to do the same at NU. Drisell was an encyclopedia salesman before coaching, Carmody was a success at Princeton. One could recruit and sell – the other couldn’t. One was fired – the other spent close to two decade having his team compete in the Dance and for conference and national championships. Lefty could not coach and everyone knew it – but he could sell and everyone new it.

I will miss Bill and wish he had hired recruiters earlier. A fellow named Knight new to do that and did fine at Indiana.

God speed BC, and good luck Jim Phillips.

GoCatsGo!

2013 NU Football Schedule

Date	Opponent	Result
08/31/2013	at California - TBA TBA	-
09/07/2013	Syracuse - BTN 5:00PM	-
09/14/2013	Western Michigan - BTN 8:00PM	-
09/21/2013	Maine (FCS) - TBA TBA	-
10/05/2013	Ohio State - ABC/ESPN OR ESPN2 7:00PM	-
10/12/2013	at Wisconsin - TBA TBA	-
10/19/2013	Minnesota - TBA TBA	-
10/26/2013	at Iowa - TBA TBA	-
11/02/2013	at Nebraska - TBA TBA	-
11/16/2013	Michigan - TBA TBA	-
11/23/2013	Michigan State - TBA TBA	-
11/30/2013	at Illinois - TBA TBA	-

2012 NU Football Schedule

Date	Opponent	Result
09/01/2012	at Syracuse - ESPN2 11:00AM - Highlights	42 - 41
09/08/2012	Vanderbilt - BTN 7:00PM - Highlights	23 - 13
09/15/2012	Boston College - BTN 2:30PM - Highlights	22 - 13
09/22/2012	South Dakota (FCS) - BTN 2:30PM - Highlights	38 - 7
09/29/2012	Indiana - BTN 11:00AM - Highlights	44 - 29
10/06/2012	at Penn State - ESPN 11:00AM	28 - 39
10/13/2012	at Minnesota - ESPN2 11:00AM - Highlights	21 - 13
10/20/2012	Nebraska - ABC 2:30PM	28 - 29
10/27/2012	Iowa - ESPN2 11:00AM - Highlights	28 - 17
11/10/2012	at Michigan - ESPN 11:00AM	31 - 38
11/17/2012	at Michigan State - ESPN2 11:00AM - Highlights	23 - 20
11/24/2012	Illinois - BTN 11:00AM - Highlights	50 - 14
01/01/2013	Mississippi State - ESPN2 Gator Bowl 11:00AM - Highlights	34 - 20

Phillips: Team needed a “new voice” to move forward

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