Weaver discusses Greenberg firing
BLACKSBURG — Seth Greenberg no longer has to look for new assistant coaches.
That’s because Virginia Tech is looking for Greenberg’s replacement.
Nine years after hiring Greenberg to be the Hokies men’s basketball coach, athletic director Jim Weaver fired Greenberg on Monday.
Weaver informed Greenberg in a 1:30 p.m. meeting, about two hours after Tech alerted the media that Weaver would hold a 4 p.m. news conference about an unnamed topic.
“I was completely shocked and blindsided by the decision of Jim Weaver and the administration,” Greenberg told ESPN.com.
In late January, Weaver said Greenberg was not on the hot seat and would “absolutely” be back for a 10th season at Tech.
But three weeks ago, assistant coach Rob Ehsan and director of men’s basketball operations Jeff Wilbrun left to become assistants at Alabama-Birmingham. Two weeks ago, associate head coach James Johnson left to become a Clemson assistant.
“I did not like, quite honestly, the way things unfolded with coaches leaving an ACC program that had the promise on the court that this program has for next year,” Weaver said at his news conference. “We needed to make the [Greenberg] decision now.”
This is the fourth straight year that at least one of Greenberg’s assistant coaches has left to become an assistant at another school.
“I can certainly understand some coaches leaving, but to have as many leave as we had sat the wrong way with me,” Weaver said.
Weaver said he and associate athletic director Tom Gabbard decided last week to fire Greenberg.
Tech had a losing record this year for the first time in six seasons. Tech has not made the NCAA tournament since 2007. But Weaver said those facts had nothing to do with his decision.
“It had something to do with people leaving and it had something to do with me wanting to change the direction and leadership of the program,” Weaver said. “I want to change the leadership such that the person at the top of the program has same kind of family environment that the other part of our department has. And it became crystal clear to me last week when I closed our [athletic department] workshop that we didn’t have that in the men’s basketball program, especially with people leaving.
“I was standing in front of the 182 full-time personnel that we have in our athletics department and it hit me. … The relationship of that program to the rest of the department is what hit me.
“If you could have been at our compliance and staff workshop and seen the camaraderie that we have, it would be easily understood.”
Weaver praised the continuity that football coach Frank Beamer has with his staff.
“Continuity goes a long way to establishing successful operations,” Weaver said. “That’s what I’d like to see in our entire department.”
Greenberg did not attend the annual workshop, but Greenberg told ESPN.com he was away recruiting at that time.
Weaver said he informed Virginia Tech President Charles Steger of his decision Thursday and confirmed it with him Monday morning.
Greenberg, who was 170-123 with one NCAA tournament bid and five NIT berths at Tech, had four years left on his contract.
“One year from now, in 2013, we were not going to extend the contract at all, nor would we extend the contract the year after that,” Weaver said. “Because we have three vacancies now on our staff, it made all the sense in the world to us to move forward and change that direction of our program and hire a new staff that’s going to be here, rather than bring in some staff that are here possibly for a year.
“If we’d have this press conference a year hence, then we’d end up paying for two staffs for three or four months, and we did not think that was the way to go.
“The first and primary reason that we’re making the change is because … we made the decision that we’re not going to increase [the contract] next year or the year after. And with three full-time vacancies on our staff, it became clear to us that we might just as well make the decision now.”
Greenberg had not asked for another contract extension, said Weaver.
Greenberg, who declined comment to The Roanoke Times on Monday night, earned $1.2 million in total pay this year. He will reap a buyout of $300,000 per year for the next four years.
“Our program was built on family, trust and relationships,” Greenberg told ESPN.com. “I leave the program in far greater shape than when I was hired nine years ago.”
Would Weaver still have decided to fire Greenberg if the two assistant coaches had not left this month?
“In all likelihood, yes,” Weaver said.
Assistant coach John Richardson said after the news conference that he was now unemployed. But Old Dominion, where Richardson once served as an assistant, announced after the news conference that Richardson was rejoining its staff.
The (Norfolk) Virginian Pilot reported Monday that an anonymous source said Richardson had agreed Thursday to return to ODU. Gabbard said at the news conference that Richardson was still on the staff “as far as we know.”
Tech paid Richardson, Johnson and Ehsan $406,651 this year, less than the sum paid to the three assistants at Maryland, North Carolina State, North Carolina, Florida State, Clemson, Virginia or Georgia Tech.
The day after Johnson opted to leave for Clemson, Weaver got permission from Steger to pay next year’s assistants the same sum of $474,750 that Clemson paid its assistants this year. Johnson left for about a $50,000 raise, according to Weaver, but Weaver said Johnson told him his exit was not because of money.
Ehsan will make $122,666 in total pay at UAB, including a car allowance. His Tech salary was $120,000 .
April 23, 2012 - 8:20 PM
Hear it here first. Miami’s Jim Larranaga would move to Blackburg from Miami if asked. He’d move by week’s end. He went to Miami for the ACC, not Miami. He fits perfectly into the Blackburg Beamerball culture like nobody else in college basketball. The Hokie Nation would love him and vice versa. And he can recruit well immediately. He also is a proven tireless program saleman, completely loyal to the cause. He’d completely pay for himself. Don’t dismiss, even if he claims “no” at first. It would be a perfect mutual fit and at a reasonable price.
Looking at Weaver’s track record of hiring coaches this has disaster written all over it. Seth was a great coach. How quickly people forget how terrible the Hokies were before Seth arrived. He should have been given two more years to see it through with the freshman class. Tech will be perenial ACC cellar dwellers.
Maybe they can hire Dennis Wolff to coach both the men’s and women’s teams. That way Weaver saves more money to put towards football because let’s face it, nobody in Blacksburg cares about basketball anyway.
This is the most poorly handled firing I have ever seen. Stay classy VPI.
Bye Bye finney-smith, he is all but gone with richardson leaving. Don’t really care he defently was very over rated coming out of high school. Gregg marshall would be the perfect fit roanoke native cave spring high school, good coach great recruiter. He had Wich St ranked in the top15 this year did greenberg ever have us ranked that high HELL NO.
Greenberg needed to be fired and it was the right thing to do.
Wolff should be fired also. He was a terrible choice for a coach.
Weaver needs to go also. He has done enough damage at Virginia Tech.
Start new with three new people at Tech.
I agree with comments that weaver should be let go …..He may have been good at one time but wow he sure looks and acts like he is missing a lot as AD currently…..Tech is a big time athletic school and they deserve and need a good AD….
I totally support Weaver’s decision.There are a lot of things that we do not know that Weaver may have learned about Greenberg’s program once the season was over.He probably learned the real reasons the coaches were leaving and didn’t like what he learned.Greenberg has treated both coaches and players with very little respect.It’s not all about winning or losing.It’s what kind of character a head coach has also.A head coach cannot yell and cuss out his coaches just because he has no self control.I watched him do this and watched him do the same to his players as well as bully them.Yes, coaches yell and scream, but they can still treat people they work with with respect. He is another Bobby Knight and each year his lack of self control got worse.
Weaver has responsibility for Tech’s non-conference schedules. Tech’s RPI in football does not support its press notices. What is being done about the dismal offense Stinespring puts on the field and he stays on? Weaver takes the opportunity to fire Greenberg so he can start the program over from scratch and save his position for the next two to four years. Greenberg should have been given one more year. Hopefully Tech is not retreating to the Stokes or Campbell eras.
I have no idea if they should have fired Greenberg, but I do know that after almost a decade at the school he deserved better than the embarrassment that Weaver created. Not exactly the family feel Weaver preaches.