The board of trustees at Fordham University has approved an increase in the school’s basketball budget that will bring the Rams in line with the upper echelon of the Atlantic 10.
The Rams have been a fixture at the bottom of the standings since joining the A-10 for the 1994-95 season. Their coaching hires haven’t helped matters. As an ex-NBA coach, Bob Hill was a flashy hire who brought in talented players like Smush Parker and Bevon Robin, but never put together a cohesive team.
Dereck Whittenburg took over after a fairly successful run at Wagner and showed some promise, but his tenure was marked by the transfers of several top players. The departure of point guard Jio Fontan in December was the last straw; Whittenburg was fired in December. Jared Grasso has been serving as interim head coach since Whittenburg’s ouster.
The Rams last reached the NCAA tournament in 1991, when a squad coached by Nick Macarchuk won the Patriot League’s automatic bid.
Fordham is conducting a “national” coaching search and hopes to have someone in place no later than April.
Fordham Increasing Hoops Budget originally appeared on About.com Basketball on Thursday, February 18th, 2010 at 11:42:31.
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