LEXINGTON, Ky. — The firings have come by the day.
Georgia gave Tom Crean his walking papers last Thursday. Missouri axed Cuonzo Martin on Friday. LSU pink-slipped Will Wade on Saturday. Florida's Mike White beat his employers to the punch on Sunday. And South Carolina bid goodbye to Frank Martin on Monday.
All SEC basketball coaches. All previously successful in their profession. Now, with the exception of White, who traded Gainesville for the same job title at Georgia, all are unemployed.
What's going on here?
Such is the price of enhanced expectations. This isn't your grandfather's league anymore where basketball was a placeholder until spring football rolled around. Mike Slive changed all that. Bent on reversing the SEC's roundball reputation, the late commissioner upped the ante, pledging to put more time (manpower) and resources (money) into better basketball.
The plan worked. Seven SEC teams made the 2019 NCAA Tournament with Auburn reaching its first Final Four. Last year, Alabama advanced to the Sweet 16, Arkansas the Elite Eight. This year, Auburn was ranked No. 1 in the country with Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama all inhabiting the top 10 of the AP Top 25 at one time or another.
On Selection Sunday, six league teams received invitations. Auburn and Kentucky earned No. 2 seeds. Tennessee is a No. 3, with a strong case the Vols should have been seeded higher. Arkansas is a No. 4; LSU a No. 5; Alabama a No. 6.
Texas A&M deserved a spot in the field of 68. The Aggies beat Auburn and Arkansas to reach the SEC tournament title game before coming up empty against Tennessee. Apparently, the selection committee couldn't get past A&M's mid-season eight-game losing streak.
Meanwhile, other conference members can't get past the idea of missing the Big Dance. Heads have rolled, with the possibility of more to come.
Tom Crean took Marquette to a Final Four and had a No. 1-ranked team at Indiana. He couldn't cut it at Georgia, however, where he was 45-75 in four seasons, including a 6-26 train wreck this year.
Cuonzo Martin is lauded as a good man and a good coach but the Tigers' defensive-oriented style couldn't produce wins or paying customers.
LSU allowed the NCAA to do its dirty work, firing Wade after receiving the official Notice of Allegations that pointed the finger directly at the Tigers' basketball coach. Poor Will was ahead of his time. He cut NIL deals with his players before NIL deals were cool. Or legal.
The real stunner came Sunday when White jumped from Florida to conference rival Georgia. Talk about a jaw-dropper. Guilty of not being the second coming of Billy Donovan with the Gators, White apparently decided to seek refuge in Athens, where two SEC wins in 2022-23 would double the Bulldogs' output this season.
Frank Martin was the King of Columbia when he took South Carolina to the 2017 Final Four. Alas, the glow didn't last. Not even Martin's legendary glare could save the coach's job.
So who's next on the chopping block? In seven seasons at Mississippi State, Ben Howland is without an NCAA tourney. Kermit Davis is 29-31 his last two years at Ole Miss, though word out of Oxford is the 62-year-old coach will get another try.
Meanwhile, Florida, Missouri, LSU and South Carolina are all thumbing through resumes. What should they be looking for? Their search criteria should follow the examples of the men who will be coaching this week — Bruce Pearl, John Calipari, Rick Barnes, Eric Musselman and Nate Oats.
This day and age, you need accessible coaches who play an up-tempo style and know how to sell a program. Fans have too many choices for their entertainment dollar to show up at games out of habit. And today's players want to be part of programs that play fun, exciting, non-restrictive basketball.
Winning is the bottom line, of course. Always has been. Always will be. The SEC has gotten better at that. And in the process, a new standard has been set for programs and coaches. Keep up, or be gone.
