Tulsa BB coach, John Phillips resigns.

Sportsbow · Post by **Sportsbow** » Sat Dec 25, 2004 7:25 pm

LINK: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=1953289

Saturday, December 25, 2004

Associated Press
TULSA, Okla. -- John Phillips resigned Saturday as Tulsa's basketball coach after a sharp decline in the program's performance since he took over.

After leading the Golden Hurricane to consecutive NCAA tournament appearances in his first two seasons, Phillips' team struggled to a 9-20 finish last season and he began this season with expectations that he return the program to its earlier success. Instead, the Golden Hurricane started the season 2-5.

"The last couple of months have been very difficult for me, my family and the players," Phillips said in a statement. "Sometimes, change can bring about growth. My hope is that all TU fans will support the players through the remainder of the season and we will all witness tremendous progress."

Athletics director Judy MacLeod said assistant coach Alvin Williamson would take over as interim coach. She said she hoped fans would rally around the players and coaches to as they had in the past to help "put Tulsa basketball in the national spotlight."

"Obviously, this is not the way that I envisioned becoming a head coach," said Williamson, who also played at Tulsa. "Coach Phillips has been very influential in my coaching career. As coaches we're going to put our entire energy into this basketball team and our next opponent."

Williamson, 31, is in his fourth season on the Tulsa coaching staff after previous stints as an assistant at Tulane, Illinois State and Washington State.

"Coach Phillips has helped me progress as a basketball coach, and he has helped these basketball players grow as young men and players," Williamson said. "We will do everything possible to continue instilling the values of hard work, teamwork and unity. We have a great basketball tradition to uphold at Tulsa, and we will work diligently to keep it."

In April 2001, Phillips inherited a program that had been strengthened as Tubby Smith, Bill Self and Buzz Peterson used Tulsa as a steppingstone to the next level. Smith left to coach at Kentucky, Self at Illinois and later Kansas and Peterson moved on to Tennessee.

Tulsa went to the NCAA tournament six of the eight seasons before Phillips took over.

With a roster of players mostly recruited by Self and Peterson, Phillips led the Golden Hurricane to a NCAA tournament berth and a 27-7 record in his first season. The Golden Hurricane lost to Smith's Kentucky team in the second round of the NCAA tournament that year.

The next year brought a Western Athletic Conference tournament title and another trip to the NCAA tournament. Tulsa upset fourth-seeded Dayton in the first round, but lost to Wisconsin in the second round on a last-second 3-pointer.

Phillips' run of success ended there as Tulsa struggled to a 9-20 record last season.

It was Tulsa's first 20-loss season in 16 years and the first time the program had missed postseason play entirely since 1998.

The Golden Hurricane opened this season with a loss to Wright State, then suffered a 23-point defeat against crosstown rival Oral Roberts. The final straw was a 91-85 home loss Tuesday against Lamar -- a team that hadn't won a road game in more than a season.

Phillips finished with a 61-42 record at Tulsa.

ktownwarrior · Post by **ktownwarrior** » Sat Dec 25, 2004 7:51 pm

Oh, please. He made it this far with his team and now he's giving up? I can't believe it, even if it was under pressure from the annoying alumni. You win together, you lose together, so stop whining and finish the season! My goodness, I can't stand coaches who quit just because the times are rough, because it's their job to try to find a way to pull their team out of it. Unreal, and they first thought he was going to be loyal to them after previous coaches bolted for higher programs...

warriorfan808 · Post by **warriorfan808** » Sat Dec 25, 2004 11:49 pm

ktownwarrior wrote:Oh, please. He made it this far with his team and now he's giving up? I can't believe it, even if it was under pressure from the annoying alumni. You win together, you lose together, so stop whining and finish the season! My goodness, I can't stand coaches who quit just because the times are rough, because it's their job to try to find a way to pull their team out of it. Unreal, and they first thought he was going to be loyal to them after previous coaches bolted for higher programs...

The guy made his bed and now he should sleep in it. He lived off the success of others and didn't hit the recruiting track hard enough to keep the Hurricane going. Now he coached Tulsa into the dark ages and wants to leave. Riley had two good teams them years also and he still managed to rebuild.