COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- South Carolina has fired men's basketball
coach Darrin Horn because the team wasn't competitive enough and was
losing fans, athletic director Eric Hyman said Tuesday.
The
Gamecocks finished last in the Southeastern Conference at 2-14, their
worst record in their 20 years in the league. South Carolina's overall
10-21 record marked just the fourth 20-loss season in more than a
century of basketball.
"Unfortunately in this business, sometimes
you have to take your program in a different direction. And this is one
of those days," Hyman said.
Hyman spoke to reporters in the same
room where about 500 fans gathered the day before to watch the women's
basketball team receive its first NCAA bid since 2003. He noted their
success, along with the football team that won 11 games last season for
the first time and a baseball team that has won two straight national
championships.
The AD said he wants the school's fourth high profile sport to operate on that level too.
"We
really do want to have a basketball program that fulfills the
aspirations that our board wants -- a top 25 program," Hyman said.
Hyman
said the athletic department was better financially than when it hired
Horn, so he hoped to have more flexibility in the search for a new
coach. He refused to speculate about any potential candidates.
Horn,
who just completed his fourth season as the Gamecocks coach, has three
years remaining on his contract and his owed a total of $2.4 million.
Horn
was hired from Western Kentucky after leading the Hilltoppers to the
Sweet 16 in 2008. His first team at South Carolina went 21-10 and 10-6
in the SEC, winning the Eastern Division. But it wasn't enough to get
the team's first NCAA tournament bid since 2004, and his teams won fewer
games each season.
Horn wasn't at the news conference, but issued a statement thanking fans for their support.
"My family and I have thoroughly enjoyed our time in Columbia and wish nothing but the best for the Gamecocks," Horn said.
The
Gamecocks have lost 24 of their last 27 SEC games. Horn finishes his
career at South Carolina 23-45 in league games and 60-63 overall with
three losing seasons in a row.
Fans had already expressed their
frustration with Horn by not showing up. Average paid attendance this
season was 8,900 people in the 18,000-seat Colonial Life Arena. It was
down about 1,500 fans with most games seeing less than half of the
announced number actually in the stands.
Horn improved his team
grade point average, but had trouble keeping players. Expected starter
Murphy Holloway returned to Mississippi after agreeing to play for Horn.
Star point guard Bruce Ellington chose to play football, keeping him
out of the opening games of this season. Several other players
transferred.
Horn has been a head coach at Western Kentucky and South Carolina for nine seasons with an overall record of 171-111.
