Got the word from WWCJ at 5:01 today(Tuesday), Mike Dement fired/steps down as UNCG’s mens basketball coach…Coach Dement is out and what is next on the men’s side of basketball at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro???
Could Wes Miller be taking over?
Just in at 5:35pm:
from UNCG site:
GREENSBORO, N.C.—UNCG men’s basketball head coach Mike Dement and Director of Athletics Kim Record today reached a mutual agreement that Dement will no longer serve as head coach, effective immediately. The Spartans are currently 2-8 following Sunday’s 75-60 loss at Florida State.
Assistant coach Wes Miller has been named as interim head coach for the remainder of the season.
“In the interests of the long-term health of the men’s basketball program, Mike and I have agreed that a change is necessary in order for the program to move forward,” said Record. “Coach Dement has always exhibited the highest ethics and put the program before himself. He has been professional and committed to leading our efforts to enhance men’s basketball with the program’s move to the Greensboro Coliseum and the nonconference scheduling philosophy put in place over the last three seasons. We thank him for his contributions to UNCG’s basketball program.”
Why is Miller the Interim when the Associate Head Coach was Corey Gibson? Get out of there while you can!!!!!!
Expect UNCG to hire a coach with ACC ties.
over scheduled for level of team. Not sure anyone can turn this around this year but for the future, a young guy like Wes with all his connectionswill become a very sucessful head coach. Definitely got the right guy for head job.
That’s what UNCG was looking for when they hired Wendy Palmer from Virginia to coach the women(ACC ties) and that’s what they are looking for the Wes Miller elevation to interim head coach(UNC/ACC ties) and that is what they got when they brought in Kim Record(Florida State/ACC ties)…..Even Mike Dement had the ACC ties going back to his days at Duke…..We said it here last week, Born to die, hired to be fired……UNCG should have never made the Big Move to the Greensboro Coliseum for a full time home schedule….Play a game or two there on occasion, but you need an on-campus home court advantage in the setting like they have at Fleming Gym…..UNCG did it back in one day with guys like Scott Hartzell, Eric Cuthrell, Skeet Woolard, Scott Brunson, Keyford Langley and others and it could be done again…..They had that Hines kid there just a few back…..Get the team back on-campus and go after and lock down some local talents…..You have to start recruiting these kids when they are in the 3rd grade with your camps, clinics etc…..Would you rather sit on the bench at an ACC for four years or come start for most of your career at UNCG??? We shall see……
Get me Jackson Kent, Jaquel Richmond, Reggie Dillard, Tracy Gathings, Donovan Gilmore, Brian Spain, Sam Hunt and one or two of the Nigerians from over at Caldwell Academy and we could start to build a team at UNCG……
@ Andy, I agree 100%. I remember telling the coaches about Theo Pinson when he was 9 years old, Braxton Williams (fomer Dudley) when he was 13, most of the Greensboro Warriors group that Calvin Hunt had and it fell on deaf ears. When the kids started to show up in the scouting services they showed interests, but it is too late. Theo’s dad is constantly in the UNCG offices and they never approached him until son is #1 in the Nation! I remember giving them an AAU coaches name and number, even when as far as introducing him to the staff. That team had some kids that you see on tv now, Dez Wells…; I wish Wes well and hope that he go after some local kids!
I tell you a kid that is a sleeper and he would do any team a great job and that is Jonathan ‘J.T.’ Terry at GDS…He would make any team better…..Don’t want to put any pressure on the kid, but he can play and he is very coachable based upon what I have seen….Speaking of another Jonathan, I would go find Jonathan Frye and see if he still wants to play…Was at Tulane and had an head injury and then left New Orleans and came up to UNC-Wilmington(not playing for Buzz)….UNCG could use a kid like that and why are they losing kids in their own backyard to Appalachian?….Mike Neal(ORMA/NG) is up there, Jay Canty(Ragsdale/ORMA) is up there, Kellen Brand(HPA) was there, Jeremy Clayton(Smith) went there…..They need to be getting at least some of those kids at UNCG……Nathan Jameson from Wesleyan went to UNCG and he was one heck of a player in many ways….Got to get some of these kids to UNCG and you get with a kid like Theo Pinson when they are first getting started and help them with some loyalty, some of them will end up being loyal to you later on……
Dement blew his opportunity by not recuiting local talent. He is in a hot bed and doesnt have any kids from Greensboro on his roster. Instead you find kids from Washington State, Minnesota, and all over the country, but nobody from NC and in particular Greensboro. He never established rapport with local coaches and did not show face at many high school events. The recruiting budget at UNCG should not be much because there is no need to travel across the country. If they want to make the next step they have to start to steal local talent and offer them early. Kids like Jackson Kent or Reggie Dillard were obvious future D1 players. UNCG doesnt come into the picture until late when they should be the first one’s there. Same goes for most local D1 schools. They snub local talent and feel that they need to look elsewhere. The consistently best college in the area is Guilford and that is because they recruit local and develop local talent. Guilford teams with Tyler Sanborn and Ben Strong were just as good if not better then any local D1 team (they beat Elon back in 2007 I believe) and they cannot even offer scholarships. They simply recruit local talent. Imagine what some of these mid major programs could do if they would lock down local talent.
Over the course of time you would think that they should have made an effort and had a shot at guys like Cameron Bennerman(Grimsley/N.C. State), Walker Holt(Grimsley/Clemson), Julius Brooks(Page/Loyola Maryland),Brandon Clifford(Page/UNC-W), Steven Rush(GDS/N.C. A&T), KJ Garland(GDS/UNC-A), Matt Kovarik(Grimsley/Maryland), even Wes Miller should have given UCNG a look coming out of HS since he was from the roots at GDS……Maybe this is far-fetched thinking, but maybe there is some reality to what we are saying here……
There was another kid named Robert Caffin out of Grimsley a few years and he went to UNCG and I know he could have played there and helped the Spartans, but he lost in interest in basketball at the collge level when they showed no interest whatsover in him…..I saw him at the outdoor courts a few times and the kid could play….
Keyford Langley, who played for Coach Bob McEvoy at UNCG back in day, has two young sons that are among the best in the U.S. in the 9-10 year-old age group….One the young Langleys, Kobe I think it is, is considered to the one of if not the best young basketball players for his age in the nation….UNCG has to be aware of these things and with Keyford coming from the Spartan program, one of his sons would have to be going there if the Spartans are doing things the right way…..The kids will be highly sought after in about 6-7 years and I know it and now you know it, but does UNCG have a clue on this one??? I met the Langley kids last night and they are going to be up there….Need to have the family over for all the Spartan Summer Basketball Camps and if not somebody’s head should be rolling…….Not the B-ball rolling down the hill over on Aycock at Walker, but somebody on staff rolling down the road/street toward 85-40…..
Need to market over on West Market…….Market the product/hoops……
Come on, Andy, and get real. UNCG did recruit Walker Holt, Cam Bennerman, and lots of other good local talent over the years and many just either did not want to stay at home or felt they could play at a higher level. (which they did). Sure, UNCG could recruit Theo Pinson, but they would never have a chance with him. Dement could not coach or recruit and that’s why he is gone. If the previous AD had not given him a “good old boy” contract when he knew he was leaving, then he would have been fired years ago. The taxpayers are “on the hook” for this contract and we can thank Nelson Bobb for that. Look at the history of those two guys.
If these 9-10 year olds are as good as you say, let’s get them in the Lower school now, so we can get that #1 position in the USA Today poll in 6 years! LOL!!!
For such an in-bred GDS fan, he’s probably not far from the truth.
We have asked the question before….Do you want to go to an ACC school and sit for four years or do you want to play in DI college ball games??? How hard did UNCG recruit these local kids? Two part answer, I would say….”Not very hard and not hard enough”…..Jordan Weethee would have fit in nicely there and he is doing a great job up at VMI, with 18 pts. versus Pitt at Pittsburgh last week….Do you want to be on the team and sit at UNC for four years or do you want to come to UNC-G and play????? Many of you that know so much about this situation need to get behind this local school and help keep these kids in town instead of letting them get/slip away….All I can do is be a facilitator/messenger……Ed Hardin said Coach Dement was set up to fail by the increased Kim Record schedule, which help lead to some of the most recent horendous records for the Spartans’ mens basketball teams….In many ways I agree with Ed, but unfortunately where I come from, failure is not an option……Where I come from, you are on your own and you better go get it….