Coach Jordan was 83-74 in his five year tenure as Butler Head Coach.
It’s been 22 days since Butler was eliminated from the Big East Tournament. Believe it or not, Al Durham hit a huge shot for Providence to win a close game. Never heard that one this year, huh?
LaVall Jordan had a record of 83-74 in his time as Butler Head Coach, with one tournament appearance and win in his first year (they would’ve made it in 2020, had well that pandemic thing not happened), beating Arkansas and then head coach Mike Anderson, before losing a nail biter to Purdue.
This was the second straight time, and the third time in four years, that the Dawgs finished the season with a losing record. Add on that the gigantic senior class was graduating, and it makes perfect sense to move on from LaVall Jordan.
Again it’s been 22 days since the season ended. I was incredibly confused why they would do this so late, especially with a lot of the high-profile mid-major coaches already getting hired, including Shaheen Holloway to Seton Hall. And then I saw this tweet from Jeff Goodman and it all adds up.
Butler’s last game was 22 DAYS AGO, but Collier waited until today because the buyout dropped SIGNIFICANTLY.
All he did here by waiting this long was hurt the chances of Lavall and more importantly, the assistants, getting other jobs.
This is really sad on part of Collier. https://t.co/sJLPnBFEUU
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) April 1, 2022
It was time for a move, and as they say, better late than never. But it is so hard for a new coach to take over a program in April. By the time the new coach takes over, the transfer portal is already popping.
With Bo Hodges expected to move on, and the transfers of Bryce Golden and Mike Parker, the roster looks very shorthanded. Butler loses guys who combined to start in 120 games, out of a possible 165, a staggering 72.7%. With a roster that needs some quality starters in the portal, any new coach will already be behind in working the transfer portal.
This Butler team won’t look much like any team from the past. Butler basketball staple Aaron Thompson leaves after his fifth season repping the Dawgs, joining fellow seniors Bryce Nze, Jair Bolden, Bo Hodges, Christian David and Ty Groce, along with the aforementioned Bryce Golden and Mike Parker (walk-on) already entering the transfer portal.
This is all before any additional transfer enters the portal. At this point, the only senior would be center John Michael-Mulloy who has only suited up in 46 games, averaging 5.8 minutes per game over the course of his career.
Not only does delaying this move set the team back, but it also sets former coach LaVall Jordan back a ton. I’ve only had one or two interactions with him, but from my small amount of interaction with him, I can tell you he was an excellent human being. Everyone I know who has interacted with him would say the exact same thing, I guarantee it. It’s now going to be so much tougher for Coach Jordan, and all of his assistants who aren’t guaranteed a job either, to get another job. They’ve got families, man.
If you want to fire LaVall, that’s fair. But do it quick enough to give he & his assistants time to get other jobs.
Lavall played at Butler, was an assistant at Butler, was head coach at Butler.
And you will not find anyone who says a bad word about LaVall Jordan as a person. https://t.co/zHQaL4kIcv
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) April 1, 2022
LaVall played here, he was an assistant here and now he coached here. He loves this school. The school absolutely did him dirty. Maybe there were bad negotiations behind the scenes, but regardless, this is a bad look on the school’s part. Nobody is questioning how LaVall Jordan is as a person and screwing him over, while also screwing over his assistants, and potentially the next coach is just horrible.
Look, I think the move was necessary. Not many coaches are going to be allowed to enter a rebuild after a 24-34 record over the past two years. Only one tournament win in five years is a huge drop off from where the program was before LaVall took over, but making this move so late in the cycle is crazy.
It was time for a move. But, for a school whose motto means “Demand Commitment, deny selfishness, accept reality, yet seek improvement every day while putting the team above self.” This move reflects none of those values. It was selfish, clearly ignores the reality of recruiting, and put self above the school, and the program as a whole.