UNC Charlotte to hire Mark Price?

[ASUMountaineer]

Judy is under a ton of pressure to "get this one right" after blowing the previous hire (and letting Greg Marshall get away). She appears to have opted for a quick hire that may arouse at least some initial excitement due to name recognition (and yet not break the bank because of his lack of head coaching experience). Most everyone would agree, if/when Price has his first decent season in a weak (suddenly one-bid) CUSA, Georgia Tech will come calling and there will be rubber burned down I-85 South. Instead of investing the time and energy into finding a more permanent coach, Judy knows fans and media will give Price at least a couple years before calling for heads. This way, she avoids a lengthy, potentially embarrassing search, and buys some time until she can ride off into the sunset.

A 49er/Tar Heel fan (he truly did identify as such) called in to WFNZ today and said it was a win-win hire: 1) Price ends up succeeding and UNCC becomes relevant or 2) he fails and they can "finally get rid of Judy."

[asu66]

Judy is under a ton of pressure to "get this one right" after blowing the previous hire (and letting Greg Marshall get away). She appears to have opted for a quick hire that may arouse at least some initial excitement due to name recognition (and yet not break the bank because of his lack of head coaching experience). Most everyone would agree, if/when Price has his first decent season in a weak (suddenly one-bid) CUSA, Georgia Tech will come calling and there will be rubber burned down I-85 South. Instead of investing the time and energy into finding a more permanent coach, Judy knows fans and media will give Price at least a couple years before calling for heads. This way, she avoids a lengthy, potentially embarrassing search, and buys some time until she can ride off into the sunset.

A 49er/Tar Heel fan (he truly did identify as such) called in to WFNZ today and said it was a win-win hire: 1) Price ends up succeeding and UNCC becomes relevant or 2) he fails and they can "finally get rid of Judy."

That just about says it all. UNCC was once a basketball school. When that fizzled out; the greenies decided football would their new "ticket." We all know how that's going. So, Judy rides herd over an athletic program headed by men's soccer. That's not a bad thing for soccer fans--there just aren't enough of 'em to pay the bills over on HWY 49. Too bad! It's breakin' my heart!

[NewApp]

Judy is under a ton of pressure to "get this one right" after blowing the previous hire (and letting Greg Marshall get away). She appears to have opted for a quick hire that may arouse at least some initial excitement due to name recognition (and yet not break the bank because of his lack of head coaching experience). Most everyone would agree, if/when Price has his first decent season in a weak (suddenly one-bid) CUSA, Georgia Tech will come calling and there will be rubber burned down I-85 South. Instead of investing the time and energy into finding a more permanent coach, Judy knows fans and media will give Price at least a couple years before calling for heads. This way, she avoids a lengthy, potentially embarrassing search, and buys some time until she can ride off into the sunset.

A 49er/Tar Heel fan (he truly did identify as such) called in to WFNZ today and said it was a win-win hire: 1) Price ends up succeeding and UNCC becomes relevant or 2) he fails and they can "finally get rid of Judy."

That just about says it all. UNCC was once a basketball school. When that fizzled out; the greenies decided football would their new "ticket." We all know how that's going. So, Judy rides herd over an athletic program headed by men's soccer. That's not a bad thing for soccer fans--there just aren't enough of 'em to pay the bills over on HWY 49. Too bad! It's breakin' my heart!

It's too early in the football program for UNC-C for anyone to be saying benediction over them. They already got the $10,000,000 for their stadium from Jerry Richardson. It takes time to build a program from scratch.

[T-Dog]

Football for the 49ers this year should have the motto of BOHICA Their defense was giving up loads of points to FCS teams last year and struggling with Wesley College. Now they're playing Marshalll, ODU and MTSU. They'll score some points as they got some play-makers, but some Saturdays their best defender will be the goal line.

[Saint3333]

UNCC has had every advantage possible go their way off the field and the results to date are disappointing if you speak to unbiased fans.

They aren't as bad as GA St., but they resemble that startup more so than USA, UTSA, and certainly no where close to ODU.

They'll be fine long-term though, and I expect them to have improved greatly by the time we play.

[Nugget49]

Word has leaked that Price is bringing on Houston Fancher as an assistant. Thoughts?

[Gonzo]

Word has leaked that Price is bringing on Houston Fancher as an assistant. Thoughts?

Houston (at least as a head coach) was probably similar to what you're used to with Coach Major: usually a decent season, but could never quite get over that hump and go dancing.

UNCW fans could offer more insight about his tenure as an assistant. It's probably a good idea since Price has no head coaching experience and very little experience coaching in the NCAA at all.

[app97]

Word has leaked that Price is bringing on Houston Fancher as an assistant. Thoughts?

Houston always seemed like a stand up guy who had high expectations for players off the court as much as on it. He also won 25 games and beat Virginia, Vanderbilt, and Arkansas 2 years before he was let go at App. It seemed to me that he did a good job recruiting to be at a Socon, mid-major school...either that, or his assistants (Matt McMahon, Pujol etc.) were good recruiters. The APR was always good at App under his helm.

[Saint3333]

Houston would be a great assistant coach. He does things the right way, cares for his players, knows the recruiting area. Next you guys will hire Matt McMahon.

[EastHallApp]

Fancher was an assistant at App during Buzz's first, very successful tenure. How much credit he gets for that run, I have no idea. I think I remember that he was credited with a lot of the recruiting success back then, but I don't know the details.

For those who don't remember, the beginning of his tenure as head coach was undermined by tragedy and player dismissals. He should have had a lot of talent returning from a SoCon championship team. Instead, he wound up basically having to start over from scratch. Maybe things would have been different if he'd had a chance to build on the foundation that he and Buzz had established.

As others said, he did manage to put together some good teams, but never made the tournament and never could establish a consistent winner from year to year.

[AppinVA]

UNCC could do a lot worse than Houston Fancher. A lot worse.

[Niner National]

Thanks for the insights. Sounds like a solid addition.

[asu66]

Houston would be a great assistant coach. He does things the right way, cares for his players, knows the recruiting area. Next you guys will hire Matt McMahon.

Price was front page news in "The Disturber" this AM. The guy was a great player for B.Cremins/K.Cantwell at Tech and has always been regarded as "good people." The risky part for UNCC is that the guy knows next to zero about being a college coach; much less a college head coach. For that reason, Price is looking for a former college head coach with a clean, "good people" reputation who will not pose a threat to him as the head coach, but who can do the every-day leg work while he's getting his feet on the ground. Houston fits that slot about as well as anyone.

The front page of today's Disturber sports section has a large color photo of Price driving by Larry Bird back in their NBA playing days. UNCC couldn't have gotten any better free publicity than that for Price's intro party--anywhere!

[huskie3]

twitter now has uncc hiring Chris Ferguson who also has ties to APP as assistant for recruiting.

[asu66]

twitter now has uncc hiring Chris Ferguson who also has ties to APP as assistant for recruiting.

Chris is, as they say, well-traveled. Coached for us under Tom Apke and coached from Asheville to Stillwater and a handful of places in between over 30+ years. He'll be a formidable thorn in our side--again--as he was at VaTech and ECU. He's a good guy and good at what he does.