After just three years at FI, head coach Isiah Thomas has been let go from the university. The news comes just hours after a press conference announcing Razorbacks coach Bobby Petrino’s leave of absence after he admitted to an affair with a co-worker.
Officials released a statement about their decision today, which was brief to say the least.
“We want to thank Isiah Thomas for his three years here at FIU,” sports and entertainment director Pete Garcia said. “However, we have decided to take the program in a different direction.”
The Panthers had a rough go of it before Thomas even came on board; their last winning season was in 1999/2000 and game attendance has steadily dwindled since. Thomas took on the job in 2009 eager to change things around.
“I like taking something from the bottom and trying to build it to the top,” he said. “There’s a lot of risk in that and there is a lot of reward in that.”
But the team never improved in the ways the school had hoped, and the wins amounted to no more than 11 games in any of the three seasons Thomas was with them. This isn’t the first time a team has gone downhill under his reign, either; he was fired from his coaching position for the New York Knicks after just two seasons, during which the team went 56-108.
Now that FIU fired Isiah Thomas, I think it’s time he stops getting jobs.
Florida International fires Isiah Thomas, ending three years of awkwardness http://t.co/1uOohEFB
FIU fires Isiah Thomas. Been a failure everywhere he’s gone. But on the upside he’s available to takeover the Knicks. http://t.co/mUaaCSPu
Isiah Thomas got fired from his coaching job at FIU. This makes me laugh, but it’s scary too. What if he returns to the Knicks? #horror