Any decision to terminate a Head Coach of a P5 Men’s BB or FB team should first begin with a reasonably high probability of knowing who will ultimately be the permanent replacement. The likely interim position will be easy to assign, but even that more simple selection provides no assurance of resolving or improving the existing malaise.
The last time UL’s BoT stepped in to address the situation with the MBB Program, they did so without any real strategy on what the long term consequences might look like. My fear is the decision to terminate Mack now, particularly in mid season prior to hearing what penalties are forthcoming from the NCAA, will severely limit the number of qualified candidates willing to even consider the opportunity.
This University’s recent track record on replacing coaches (Pitino, Petrino)), hiring executives (Bendapudi, Tyra) or investing wisely in legal actions against former employees (Ramsey) has been both expensive, and failed to accomplish a successful outcome. Yes, I suspect there is a strong likelihood that UL will reach out to some very expensive law firm to suck more money out of the school in an effort to either defend, or sue someone over this premature decision.
I have very little confidence this is going to turn out well for the future of UL.