Fordham follies doing no favors for Atlantic 10

By Doug Harris, Staff Writer 12:36 AM Thursday, May 14, 2009

Has any college basketball coach in America had a worse offseason than Fordham’s Dereck Whittenburg? The sixth-year coach endured a 3-25 record last season, and the misery in the Bronx has escalated the last two months.

First, freshman guard Trey Blue, who averaged 8.2 points, transferred. Two weeks later, sophomore wing Mike Moore bolted with his 12.8 average.

And then star freshman Jio Fontan, who made the Atlantic 10 all-rookie team with a 15.3 average, reportedly told the coaches he wanted to transfer and even promised not to take his game to another New York-area school. But the Rams — get this — won’t release him from his scholarship.

It’s gotten so bad at Fordham that the school issued a release saying it backs both Whittenburg and women’s coach Cathy Andruzzi, who is coming off an 8-21 season.

Look, Fordham missed a chance to make a real statement with Whittenburg after last season. Any school that keeps a coach who goes 3-25 in his sixth year is simply not making a serious commitment to its men’s basketball program. And that indirectly hurts Dayton and the rest of the A-10.

A popular discussion around the league is how much better off it would be if it could lop off a couple of underperforming schools. I don’t see it ever coming to that, but I could make a suggestion on where the league should start.

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