College of Charleston MBB Coach Under Investigation For Verbal Abuse

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The College of Charleston is currently investigating head men's hoops coach Doug Wojcik for alleged verbal abuse of his players.

The investigation is focused on the day-to-day treatment of players as well as specific instances between Wojcik and his players who, apparently, met with school officials already.

Wojcik is two years into his five-year contract and, if it gets to this point, a possible buy-out could cost more than $1 million.

here's the breaker from Charleston
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Southern University's Ban Continues

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Southern University couldn't get it done in time...

The improvements in their academic data that the NCAA wanted to have in place were not done in time for the winter sports to keep from being banned in the postseason upcoming...

Southern's men's basketball team have clinched at least a tie for the SWAC regular-season title and the women are in second place, a half-game behind Texas Southern with a few games remaining in the regular season. The men's team found at the decision at practice yesterday.

The NCAA requires information in and around the Athlete Performance Program and APR. The information initially given to the NCAA was incomplete and a full review and revision was requested. As a result, the athletic program was given a post-season ban that would be revisited for the winter sports.

But it didn't work out...

Reaction on campus is, obviously, rough...
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The NCAA and the university issued a joint statement that said, in part:

“The NCAA has informed us of the enormity of the challenge before us, but we continue to work exhaustively in our efforts to comply with their requests, and share in their goals to provide the best institutional support for student athletes,” said William Broussard, athletics director at Southern. “As stated in the initial press conference to announce the post-season ineligibilities due to the ongoing data review, the NCAA has partnered extensively with our coordinated, campus-wide effort to report data from previous years accurately, perform and recommend corrections, and re-design policies and procedures for reporting accurate data in the future.”

NCAA staff members began working closely with Southern in March 2013 in an effort to help the school resolve its data issues. Staff also expedited internal deadlines and continues to work on a compressed timeline in all matters related to the school’s athletic teams.

“Our staff is committed to working with Southern on its data issues,” said Kevin Lennon, NCAA vice president for academic and membership affairs. “We hope the result of this collaboration is a fully-functioning, robust system of tracking retention and eligibility on Southern’s campus, to help student-athletes achieve academically and get the support they need to succeed.”

USC fires head coach Kevin O'Neill

Kevin O'Neill (photo courtesy USC)

LOS ANGELES - Even defeating Utah couldn't save Kevin O'Neill's basketball coaching job.

University of Southern California athletic director Pat Haden apparently had had enough, firing O'Neill after going 1-14 on the road - the one victory came on a 76-59 victory at Utah on Saturday. O'Neill started this season 7-10, and assistant coach Bob Cantu will serve as head coach in the interim.

O'Neill had a 48-65 overall record in four years at USC, and went 6-26 during the 2012 campaign. USC has lost 9 of its last 13 games, including a losing streak of 5 games during that stretch.

Haden said the following in a release posted on USC's website:

"I would like to thank Kevin O'Neill for his four years of service to USC. He took over a program under difficult circumstances because of our NCAA issues and, despite that, he was able to do some good things. It was hard for me to evaluate him as a head coach until this year when he had enough players and veterans to compete.  As the season progressed, it became evident to me that we needed new leadership in our men's basketball program.  Despite a nice road win in our last game, I felt it was best to make a change now, with most of the Pac-12 season still ahead of us, in order to re-energize our team. I feel confident that Bob Cantu will capably guide our team on an interim basis while we search for a new coach."

The university reached out to O'Neill for a statement, and he said the following:

"I enjoyed my four years at USC.  It is a special place.  I enjoyed the people I worked with, the players I coached and our fans.  I thank USC for allowing me to guide their program.  I couldn't be more proud to work anywhere. I would encourage all of our recruits to honor their commitment to USC and help build the Trojan program in the right direction."

USC is coming off of several NCAA sanctions, going back to O.J. Mayo and Mike Garrett, and the Trojans are working hard to improve their image. Haden thinks Cantu will do just that.

We'll see. It's still Pac-12 basketball.