Former LSU men’s basketball coach John Brady was fired Thursday, ending his decade-long tenure at the University amid his one of his worst seasons with the Tigers. In Brady’s final news conference, he acted with an immense amount of dignity and respect. Being fired midseason is a tough pill to swallow. But instead of ducking out and disappearing from the University like some past coaches – most recently former women’s basketball coach Pokey Chatman – Brady faced a jam-packed room of reporters and spoke his final words. “One thing I did not want to do … in the history of LSU there have been too many coaches that when they have left, for whatever reason, they have left in an inappropriate way – on both sides – where they don’t speak,” Brady said. “And I was determined, as was [Athletic Director Skip Bertman], to not let that happen … To harbor those kinds of feelings over a long period of time does not do the soul well.” About two weeks ago, this board argued that Brady should resign at the end of the season. His tenure has been marked by inconsistency, making the NCAA tournament only four times in 10 seasons and earning back-to-back winning seasons in conference play only once during his tenure. The ideal situation would have been to allow Brady to finish the season as the Tigers’ coach. Brady survived more than 10 years on the job, a remarkable feat in college athletics’ current win-now-or-else climate. But Bertman said he sought advice from many people, in turn telling too many people about his intentions to terminate Brady. So Bertman made the move earlier than originally planned, and he deserves credit for his consideration of Brady. Nobody deserves to find out they have been fired via the newspaper or television. Now the program turns its attention to the future. Interim head coach Butch Pierre directed the team to a two-point loss against No. 7 Tennessee at home Saturday, but more importantly, he kept the Tigers focused enough to play one of their best games of the season. Moral victories are rare in athletics, though Pierre and his players could have easily folded to the Volunteers after a wild 24-hour ride. With a new practice facility on the way and a promising recruiting class forthcoming, the future seems bright for the LSU men’s basketball program. It was time for a change in leadership just as Bertman said. Even though the timing was not perfect, the move had to be made.
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